New Beer Weekend #52

I’m back in DFW for work, this is Paleta de Mango from Rahr & Sons, a kolsch with mango and Pequin chiles. I’ve never had a kolsch with chiles, so I’m intrigued to see how this works.



3.67/5 rDev -1.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Pours a slightly hazy mango-tinged golden color with a nice sudsy white head. The nose is really influenced by the mango, which is nice, and there’s a bit of lime as well. No sign of chiles, though, which actually didn’t surprise me.

The chiles are present on the taste, though, a nice heat at the back of the taste after the mango and lime flavors up front. But they’re not refreshing, which I expect in a kolsch, so my rating reflects that.

The mouthfeel is fairly crisp, but again those peppers don’t allow this to be a refreshing beer, especially for something that should be a summertime refresher, IMHO.

 

Apparently joining @Whyteboar on the peanut butter stout boat, but I'm adding in some Mexican chocolate. Viva La Beaver from Belching Beaver.

Sorry for the weird picture. Not sure what happened there. But, after reviewing the beer, I headed off to the beer + whisk[e]y thread to pair it with Bib & Tucker 6 year old bourbon. Here are my thoughts on the beer alone:

16oz can served in a WABL sample glass. Date 02/16/2021. Gift from a friend.

Pours black with a big creamy head, dark khaki. Head fades into a millimeter thick creamy layer. Smell is mostly peanut butter, a little cinnamon and milk chocolate.

Taste is actually much less unbalanced than I feared. Clear peanut butter flavor, sure, and definitely some cinnamon, and fairly sweet, but still some roast grain flavor that works really nicely with the peanut butter sweetness.

Mouthfeel is medium, maybe a bit oily. Overall, it's interesting and not bad, but it's not generally going to satisfy a craving for a stout or any other kind of beer.

Gotta say...I'm glad the cinnamon didn't dominate.

 

At Holler Brewing in Houston, and one more new beer for me this weekend. As always, they have lots of lagers...6 of them actually.

This is their "Italian Pilsner" honestly I have never really had anything actually called that style. I mean some beers a really like have retroactively been called that, but was never marketed as such by the brewery.

Anyway...

Bravissimo, 5.3% ABV, Hallertau and Saphir hops, Italian Pilsner malts.



There is really no good style for this. An Italian Pilsner, with Hallertau and Saphir hops. German Pils is the best I can do for now.

Pours a beautiful clean golden orange color. A dense white head forms. Over two fingers of head with excellent retention and rings of lace left behind.
Peach and tangerine in the nose. Lots of hops here. Grassy, with a peppery spice. Simple, and more new world hops, but still enjoyable.
Taste wise, like the nose, that peach and tangerine, even grassy hops. A touch of sweetness in the middle. Though a cracker and bread like malt character balances and drys it out. Along with a peppery spice and bitterness lingering.
A light to medium body. Crisp and effervescent. Supper clean and finishes dry. Yeah, this is a good one to drink. I can come back to this with ease.

Another example of Holler messing around with a Pils, and that is perfectly OK by me. Even if I'm still not exactly sure what an "Italian Pils" is, and even though the hops ore more new world than old. Its still clean, really enjoyable, and just moreish. Which is all you can really ask. Well done.

Overall score is 4.06, A- for me.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/45647/559802/?ba=champ103#review

And finishing up the wonderful novel Giant, really different than the movie, which I love as well.

 

Back after a week off. Heat in the kitchen I work in is killing me. It averages over 100°f. I constantly drink pitchers of ice water but its never enough. Always cramping in my back fingers and toes on the way home and tired as hell the next day. That being said this summer is flying by.
Not usually big on the Milkshake brews but I like alot of what these 2 brewers do so thought Id give it a try.
DaddyOh Fruited Milkshake IPA
Pours a very hazy(but not turbid) golden orange with a large bubble foamy head that recedes quite quickly to zero with very little lacing.
Aroma is orange, tangerine, grapefruit, touch of cantelope/melon
Taste is simply put - Orange Creamsicle. Juicy orange and citrus with a touch of vanilla. The orange has a touch of acidity - like Tang, but not artificial. A fine pity bitterness tries to balance the lactose sweetness and does a decent job.
Body is medium, lighter than I expected from a Milkshake IPA which makes this drink easily for its 8.1% abv which is not noticeable.
Honestly its not bad. Pretty good, and not thick like I expected. A nice change of pace. Not dissapointed I bought the 4 pk.
Cheers all and have a great rest of your Sunday.

 

Rye Barrel Plumbus by Barrique Brewing & Blending

4.25/5 rDev +0.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Sour saison ale with TN grown Ozark premier and Byron gold plums finished in a TN rye whiskey barrel

16.9 oz caged and corked bottle poured into a chalice , any foam cap immediately evaporates to a thin ring a swirling tiny islands caused by frequent micro carbonation over an iced tea / Arnold Palmer hazy liquid

Aroma is tart , funky , yeasty, plum cider

Taste is funky , earthy , yeasty , subtle rye, subtle plum

Tart, crisp , dry , low sudsing

Good beer

 

Well, well, well; I'm back!
(For a minute.)
I just need a beer after the lacrosse weekend in Stowe and all those thirsty parents. It never fails that one of them asks if we have Dr. McGillicuddy's Root Beer nips; we don't, never had 'em, never will!

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/20681/435719/




500 ml. bottled 29JUN21.

First beer this month!
Moderate to vigorous pour yields a one inch white head over a golden orange body with some sticky lacing. Nose of tropical fruit, floral, slight citrus, and even slighter pine. Taste is sweet tropical fruit with citrus and finishing with a slight citrus pith while having a pleasant, earthy bitterness. Nice feel, very smooth and well balanced. I'd have another and would definitely recommend to everyone.
I could crush a few pints of this for sure!
Cheers!

 

Poured into a 13 oz Nordic pint glass canned 6/4/21. Pours a very hazy orange with a finger white head that leaves thin lines of lace with nice retention. 4.25

Aroma is guava, peach, mango, mandarin, apricot, grapefruit rind, and hints of alcohol. 4

Taste guava, peach, mandarin, mango, apricot, grapefruit, and is the alcohol is present for sure. 4

Mouthfeel is big, soft carbonation, a little sticky but not dry, and at 10% it goes down pretty easy, but massive flavor. 4

Overall this is really nice, maybe a tad more alcoholic than I would want for the style and ABV, but still nice. 4

 

Here is this week's honoree...



Allagash Truepenny Pilsner, Belgian style. Even before the pour, the aroma announces this is an Allagash brew. Very familiar yeast aroma profile. Big, but brief. Pours clear golden color, huge head in whatever glass that is, and it does cling. Falls to a ring. Steady bubbles from the bottom.

Grainy sweet on the aroma, some fruity notes of white grape, estery and herbal hops, maybe a bit floral. Earthy.

The taste is very pleasant, but it isn't dead on point for a pilsner. The Belgian character brings it outside the realm of most pilsner, and the taste is not clean and crisp. Sweet malts, fruity white wine, the Allagash Belgian signature yeast profile. A bit of lemon on the finish that I miss in the smell. Nicely earthy, appropriately hopped.

The feel is a touch heavy for a pilsner. Carbonation is moderate. Not as clean and refreshing as most beers in this style.

Overall, I enjoy the beer but it is a bit of a miss in the true to style category, but it is a tasty beer. I'm not a style maniac, so I can acknowledge the miss, shrug my shoulders, and land this one around 3.8, maybe a little higher.

 

Post lawn mowed and dogs walked beer- this one from @SP23 in the recent Can-Cans BIF (and if you don’t know what a BIF is, you’re missing something amazing)
Any ways, the beer-

Dog ate my homework from Brouwerij West.
They called it a Blackberry Ale and they were not wrong. Excellent beer after working in the yard on a warm summer day.
Poured raspberry red with matching pink head.
The aroma was what I was hoping for, it’s a sour. Blackberry and what I am guessing are currants are present as well.
The taste was far less tart than the aroma implied, but so nicely balanced that I thought little of that during the drink.
The feel, what can I say, good for the genre, not too thick or thin.
I liked this more than I expected after seeing it in the glass, they did a nice job with it and if they were local, I suspect I’d have a 4 or 6 pack in the fridge all summer long.
Good beer! Thanks Joe!

 

This is a great post for illuminating why I like NBS/NBW so much.
Big fan of Off Color but not everything they do flips my switches. Now I know from this review that Beer For Movies is one to skip. Obviously @ChicagoJ and I don’t share the same palate (see M-43) but the description of the BFM is so well done that I know it like I’ve had it.
Any ways, thanks to you all for taking the time and effort to post here, it’s seriously helpful!

 

I’m on vacation time so why not put up another review while my wife takes a nap, Dovetail Hefeweizen, thanks @FBarber!
4.06/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Thank you FBarber for this
16 oz can poured into a mug

A- A hazy golden copper with a small white head.

S- Bananas, wheat, cloves, some citrus, a little earthy, hints of pears.

T- Banana, cloves, wheat citrus, some pears, slightly earthy.

M- Smooth, light to medium body.

O- A nice Hefeweizen but a little banana heavy instead of being more balanced. Still enjoyable and easy to drink

Cheers!

 

New beer is on the left... Avec Les Bons Voeux de la Brasserie Dupont

I'll do a lightweight comparison shortly. For now...

750ml bottle served in a little Cantillon glass.

Pours a clear light honey color. Medium sized head that looks kind of coarse until it collapses into a thick ring and it looks pretty creamy. Smell is light, grassy, earthy, a little honey. Maybe some flowers and grass.

Taste is a funky punch in the palate with a kick of alcohol. Earthy, yeasty flavors, mild tart apricot, grape-musty-bitterness.

Mouthfeel is highly carbonated but not very light-bodied. Overall, it's a very nice beer.

 

Back from my niece's Eagle Scout award party. So proud of her, and all she's achieved.

I picked this up on the way home, because I took a different route home, thanks to I-94 having road construction from the cities, to almost where I live.

Jam Session - Spilled Grain Brewing - Annandale, MN - IPA American/Milkshake - 6.1% ABV.

I'm not going to lie here - I'm really getting almost no IPA in this beer. I just get the faintest hint of hops. I'd say if you didn't tell someone this was an IPA, they wouldn't know. Still good, but not too sure about the style.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/41674/559832/

3.62/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

This beer has a nice red color to the pour. Fairly murky looking, and not really clear at all. The head has a slight red tint to it, but more white than red. The bubbles of the head look a bit fluffy. The head retention is ok, but nothing special. There's very little lacing on the glass.
The nose has a nice raspberry aroma to it. The aroma also has hints of vanilla along for the ride. I'm not really getting any hops at all in the aroma. It's billed as a milkshake IPA, but I'd expect some hops.
Taste - There's a nice raspberry flavor up front. On the back the vanilla comes along for the ride. There's also just a faint hop presence that also hits on the back.
The body is crisp clean and clear. I also get a hint of a creamy feeling in this beer. I am not getting any feeling from the hops.
not a bad beer at all, however, I don't know I'd call it an IPA at all. The hops are so minimal in here.

 

Boulevard Pint Sized Hawaiian Pizza Party IPA, 6.8% ABV; 4.33 overall

Pours a slightly hazed gold with a pinky of beige head. No head retention or lacing

S: Oranges, guava & pineapple

T: Sweet oranges & guava, plus a little pineapple & vanilla up front. A little dryness goes with tropical sweetness as this warms, plus a little orange creamsicle. Finishes with passion fruit, guava, sweet oranges & vanilla

MF: Medium body, creamy carbonation, skews sweet,, but I believe this was what they shooting for

Drinks so easy, loving the flavor profile

 

That sounds like a very interesting brew- worthy of a try. Ive never heard of a Belgian style pils. Is that a thing?

 

I'm glad that another work week has come and gone as it seems like moreso than normal it's next to impossible to escape a week without at least some drama. But enough about the past, let's talk about the present! Tonight I'm dipping into my first offering from Ferment brewing, based a bit to the south of me on the Hood River in Oregon. Woodsman Porter is a porter brewed with Douglas Fir tips, a flavour/addition I've surprised myself a bit in learning that I really enjoy. #hashtagletseatsometrees



Ferment - Woodsman Porter

First off this is a beautiful pour. Clean clear not-quite-black body with a soft towering light brown head. Lingers nicely, and leaves intricate patterns of lace along the glass as I drink.

Nose is initially a rounded roasty/nutty/woody kind of character. There's some cocoa chocolate and an almost mildly spicy note. Spicy in this case referring more to noble-hop-esque spice, not chili spice. A bit creamy.

Definitely more dry once you start sipping. Dry and a bit creamy, if that makes sense, and a touch thinner than I'd expect, but it works for this profile. The hops are certainly more present on the tongue than they were the nose. I could see some folks thinking of this as almost CDA-like, though I don't think it gets quite that far. Dry and mildly ashy, with bakers chocolate contributing to the dry impression, as well as some of the bitterness we'll get to later. Some touch of cocoa, and then it gets into the pine (fir), and the hops bringing a nice bitterness to the finish. The bakers chocolate and the pine and kind of nondescript general 'hoppiness' give it a nice bite to the tail end.

I'm really enjoying this brew. I could see some thinking of it as crossing over to the Cascadian Dark Ale territory, but personally I don't feel like it quite crosses that plane, though I'm not sure why. Whatever you want to call it, I like it a lot, and would gladly pick up another one when I'm at the store.


Cheers, all!