New Beer Weekend #74

Good day BAs! Thanks to @SawDog505 for starting this week's thread! Since my last post I've been listening/watching tunes on YouTube (currently Kashmir, a little Led poisoning in the morning) while I kill time waiting for Mrs. Lizard to arise from her slumbers. Today's New Breakfast Beer is from a load of Rare Beer Club/other brews I picked up back in March at Hoppin' Frog:



Damn good!

Double Barrel Boris from Hoppin’ Frog. 22 oz bottle purchased at the brewery 30 Mar 21 as part of a mixed 8-pack. $128.10 (including tax) ($0.728/oz). Stored at room temperature in store and at 40 degrees after purchase. Reviewed 18/12/21. Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Undated bottle. Served at 55.2 degrees (couldn’t wait any longer) in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. Final temperature 57.9 degrees.
Appearance – 4.25
First pour – Brown (SRM 20), generally opaque but an occasional translucency occurs.
Body – Black (SRM 40), opaque. When rear-lite, slightly translucent around the edges, and distinctly reddish orange.
Head – Small (Seven to ten mm, aggressive center pour), earth yellow, fizzy with short retention, diminishing to a two mm crown and no cap. This continues to decay until there is only a partial ring of miniscule bubbles. Second pour produces a two mm brown sugar crown which is nearly instantly gone.
Lacing – None.
Aroma – 3.75 – No malt, no hops, no yeast. Weak chocolate and (maybe) a touch of char. No coffee, no bourbon, no port.
Flavor – 4.5 – Begins with chocolate and a bit of coffee, no malt, no hops, no yeast. Bitterness builds in the aftertaste but never gets very high – mostly vinous. It appears the port barrels have overwhelmed the bourbon. No ethanol (9.4 % ABV, as marked on container) taste or aroma. Moderate gastric glow. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl.
Palate – 4.5 – Full, less-than-creamy, soft carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 4 After deducting 0.25 points off the top for an undated bottle. Distinctly BORIS leaning a bit to port.
Rating 4.21, rDev + 21%

 

Jingle bells, jingle bells - Jingle all the way

Today’s new (to me) beer is from the Bell’s Jingle Bell’s Variety Pack: Bell’s Christmas Ale – Scotch Ale.



Below is how Bell’s describes this beer on their website:

“This traditional Scotch Ale is rich and malty with notes of caramel and a warm finish. Certain to make any occasion festive, or at least a bit more bearable. Enjoy with the company of friends and family.

Alcohol By Volume: 7.50%

Original Gravity: 1.075

Shelf Life: 6 Months

https://www.bellsbeer.com/beer/specialty/christmas-ale

There has been quite a bit of discussion in this weekend’s online tasting thread about how it can be challenging to find Scotch/Scottish type beers so I consider myself fortunate that I obtained a Scotch Ale as part of this variety pack.

I wonder how a Bell’s version of a Scotch Ale tastes; let’s find out.

Served in my Spiegelau IPA glass

Appearance:

Dark brown with a ruby red hue. A small tan head which dissipates quickly.

Aroma:

There is a subtle malt aroma; a hint of caramel.

Taste:

The flavor follows the nose with a subtle malty (caramel-like) flavor. There is a low bitterness.

Mouthfeel:

Medium body with an off-dry finish.

Overall:

This beer is rather simplistic; I enjoyed drinking it.

Cheers!

@rotsaruch @RobH

 

Thanks @SawDog505 for starting this thread off. Your beer has a striking appearance. I'm not sure I could drink it without a blindfold!
My wife and I have started watching some of our favorite Christmas movies. Last night was Die Hard, one of my favorites. Nothing says "Merry Christmas" and "Peace on Earth" like Die Hard.
My new beer for today is Popfuji, brewed by Brouwerij West in San Pedro, CA.
The beer is a pale gold color with a bit of haze. Fluffy white head, a good amount of lace.
Aroma of citrus, bread.
Taste of lemon, bread, hop bitterness late.
The lemon is balanced nicely with the hops.
Very nice beer!

 

Bought two six packs for the weekend tasting, hoping these hold up well since I have five more of each. The second is Anchor's 2021 Our Special Ale, and I've liked (not loved) that beer in the past. This one is new to me, in a style (Scotch Ale / Wee Heavy) I've not had many beers in the past. Really loved the barrel aged scotch ate from local brewery (Lake Effect Loch Effect) I reviewed yesterday in the thread. Hope this holds up as well.

Bell's Christmas Ale



Bottle Notes: 6 pack purchased on sale ($10.99 + $1.33 tax) at Jewel Osco, 12 oz packaged 9/27/21, 7.5% ABV, shelf life 6 months. Scotch Ale Brewed and Bottled by Bell's Brewery, Inc., Comstock, MI.

This traditional Scotch Ale is rich and malty with notes of caramel and a warm finish. Certain to make any occasion festive, or at least a bit more bearable. Enjoy with the company of friends and family.

Appearance: Full single pour into a large snifter. Dark clear copper ruby base, medium carbonation, creamy tan/egg white head dissipates relatively quickly, leaving a cream ring around the top of the base and fine cover over half of it. 4.0

Aroma: Roast malt backed by caramel, and pumpernickel, consistent both cold and as it warmed. 3.5

Taste: Consistent with the aroma, an OK caramel covering roasted malt. Perhaps a splash of cinnamon. OK, mild in strength and enjoyment. 3.25

Mouthfeel: Fizzy carbonation persistent throughout, light body, clean crisp easy drinking and finish. 3.0

Overall: Malty as expected, lacking complexity. It's OK, will enjoy the rest of the six pack but wouldn't seek this out in the future. 3.25

Hoping you get your favorite beers under the tree this year. See you tomorrow.

 

I was like “oh I wonder if you and you’re wife watched home alone like us last night.” Then I read Die hard, love it!

 

This is a new IIIPA from 3 Sheeps Brewing. 10.4% ABV. The look is murky, hazy, honey-yellow-orange. Very similar to the apple juice I currently have in my refrigerator. The smell is strong with honey and citrus, with an aroma of toast covered with marmalade. The taste is loaded with honey, tangerine, lemon, white wine, muffin, and lightly-toasted white bread flavors. The mouthfeel is champagne-like. High carbonation. Very effervescent. Overall, this is a unique IIIPA, attributed to the characteristics of the hops that were used. It is a nice change of pace, but I do not anticipate chasing after beers created with these hops very often.

 

Firstly, permit me to caveat that I personally do not drink many Scottish/Scotch Ales; just not my ‘thing’.

Below is an extract from the BJCP style guidelines for the Wee Heavy (Scotch Ale) style:

“Overall Impression: Rich, malty, dextrinous, and usually caramel-sweet, these beers can give an impression that is suggestive of a dessert. Complex secondary malt and alcohol flavors prevent a one-dimensional quality. Strength and maltiness can vary, but should not be cloying or syrupy.”

So, Bell’s Christmas Ale is consistent with “malty” and “caramel”.

I personally do not perceive “complex secondary malts”.

I suppose if the beer evaluator values “malty” and “caramel” they would assert that Bell’s Christmas Ale is consistent with the Scotch Ale beer style.

But, if the beer evaluators values “complex secondary malts” then perhaps they would state that Bell’s Christmas Ale is lacking?

To re-enforce what I stated in my previous post I did find this beer to be simplistic but I also enjoyed drinking the beer since it was very cleanly brewed in a technical brewing sense (e.g., no off-flavors, not syrupy, not…) and the flavors that existed were pleasing to my palate.

Cheers!

 

Hey all. I was out at a local time machine to find some Wulver, being that I was successful in that I grabbed this on closeout. Don't believe I've had anything from 14th Star, other than perhaps their dipa, at a dive in ME. This is a foggy memory but it's tactile because I remember drinking it from the can in a kind of "grab a craft" thing they were doing. For say, 4 bucks they pulled a random can for you.

In any event.. This beer is interesting. There's a kind of malty ale character about it. Like those copper ales or rustic ales and the rest. You see those all the times and they're some variation of a lightly hopped, malty, easy drinking amber. This feels like that. Visually, it's really pretty. The nose isn't anything particularly special, just your standard vienna characters - bready malts, some sweet sugar, molasses, maybe a little piney bitterness (???).

Overall it's good. I enjoy the finish which is so sticky, and heavy. There's a huge sticky swath in the middle of it that just runs and runs like caramel or malt sugar in like cask strength bourbon. You almost can't believe it's an adult beverage. I really like this though, I'm just a little surprised by it given it reads "classic German marzen". Anyway, cheers and have a great weekend. Hopefully back with something special today or tomorrow.



Maybe I'd say that festbiers have become so attached to this zeitgeist that I think many breweries do them out of necessity which kind of harkens to this style of sorta genre-melding. By that, this is a good beer in a sea of good beer. No reason to overthink it. That, or I've just had something for lunch which's caused it to feel heavier than it is. Cheers!

 

Hey what's going on!?

Trying to get my groove on for the Holidays, it really just feels like the time is flying by so quickly.

Getting much done, but was losing track of my new beer calendar, and needed to get caught up!

Well... let's see what Santa is bringing today.

What's new for our hero?!



Poured from the can into a Libbey style pilsner glass.

A gleaming dark brass body color, like deep 24 karat gold and crystal clear. Shiny amounts of fine carbonation just slowly crawling up the body. Head is frothy rich and good white colored, not horribly bright either. Easily three plus controlled fingers tall and thick retention, just a big bold aggressive looking pils.

Fairly pleasant if somewhat neutral nose. Lightly sweetened malt backbone, flirting with honey notes and a bit of bready sweetness. Thick sensing, minimal herbal hop presence but some. A bit closed, but aroma is nicer when examined a little more finely.

Nice simple palate. Rich bodied, hints just a little bit of alcohol sweetness kicking up a good malt base. Flirts with classic clean flavors but the heavier weight of imperial kicks in. Slight sensing thick honey, with a good bitter herbal contrast. Flirts with grass bitterness like tones, but more honey sweetness kicks in to be the forward flavor. Good rich finish, not too slick or syrupy. A bit of playful hop bite, and maybe even a little steely twang at the end also.

Good take on an imperial pilsner.

look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4 | Final Score: 4.03/5

Cheers!

 

I struck out trying to find some Scottish/Scotch Ales for the online tasting. I did visit Lost Forty Brewing in Little Rock while traveling through, going up to see my family for Christmas in Illinois. I have always enjoyed Lost Forty, and this is no exception.

Puffy Jacket Baltic Porter, 9% ABV.


Pours an opaque black color. A one finger tan head forms. Plenty of lace is left behind.
Big toasted malt aromas up front. Dark bread and roasted coffee. A simple malt character that works, but a bit by the books.
Taste wise, like the nose, toasted malts and the big baked bread flavor is really nice. Roasted coffee and light chocolate. A bitterness lingers and I really enjoy this.
A full body with good carbonation. A crisp bite but smooth at the same time. This becomes silky smooth after it breaths a little, and not heavy or viscous at all. A really nice one to sip on.

Yeah, I like this a lot. The malt character is just simple and roasted/toasted like. Though the body and feel are great, and its makes this a great warmer to drinking. Again, Lost Forty hits it.

Overall score is 4.02, A- for me. Added this to the database, they have another Baltic Porter but this is higher ABV, and its own seasonal release I believe.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/38015/581852/?ba=champ103#review

I also have Spencer's Trappist Holiday Ale for later, which is their seasonal Belgian Strong Dark...might not be perfect but should fit in with the online tasting.

 

Happy weekend! Another long busy week. Our oldest turned 5 yesterday, which I still can’t comprehend. Our dogs ACL recovery is going well, a stitch popped off Thursday but they stitched her up hockey player style and she’s back on track. I’m hoping to add two non tasting beers here, here is the first…

East Rock Brewing - Black Lager



Pours clear and very very dar brown. Initial head settles pretty quickly, leaving a light brown carpet with some thicker pockets here and there. Minor lacing.

Aroma is dark chocolate, slightly burnt bread, toasted grains, a whiff of something fruity, dried cherries or raisin, a touch of smoke.

Taste is chocolate forward, but not the dark chocolate I expected from the nose. Followed by roast that finishes with the hint of smoke noticed in the aroma. The highlight for me is the lingering roast flavor that presents itself in the after taste. As this beer warms up there is something reminiscent of black licorice present as well.

This beer has a light-medium body, if has a nice heft to it but it in no way impedes it’s drinkability. It has a soft and creamy carbonation that makes it very smooth. No bitterness, or maybe just a touch. Roast and bitter always play tricks on my tastebuds.

This is a really great beer, I think the 6.2% gives this beer a nice little oomph to its mouthfeel but it still goes down so clean and easy. If you have the chance, give this beer a try.

@smutty33

 

That is one beautiful beer, that head looks perfect.

 

Howdy all! A very wet, rainy, chilly day here in the PNW. Very Novemberish. At least we start getting some light back this coming week.

A couple weeks ago I noticed that I was approaching a round number on my list, and I also noticed that the end-of-year was nigh approaching. Could I reach my round number by the deadline? Well, thanks to some BIF boxes and trades, I think I'm gonna make make it. Today we start with a Ninja strike from @Roguer , NEBCOs Imperial Stout Trooper. Very nicely done. I think the thing that impressed me most was the fact that it formed a nice, thick head, had very good retention, and good lacing, which is rare in the style.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/357/34484/

 

This can't be the first time you've read The Corrections, can it?

 

Up next, another ImpStout, this time from North of the border, courtesy @Coronaeus , comes Bellwoods brewing Hellwoods. A very nice, solid, enjoyable example of the style.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/28820/85181/