What beer are you drinking now? #1533

So for me 2016 was the greatest Beer Advocate year for me yet. I traded my first box in late winter with @jzeilinger who sent me my first Hopslam, we have sent many boxes back and forth since and thanks to that I tried Free Will, a brewery I never knew about and has done nothing but amaze me. I feel like this year besides achieving many of my beer goals, I have made many friendships on WBAYDN and it has amused me and made the best virtual beer bar in the world more enjoyable. I am a weekly contributer to New Beer Sunday, my favorite weekly thread thanks @cavedave and @utopiajane for that weekly pleasure. Thanks for an amazing year in beer and I wish everyone a happy and healthy 2017. Let the good beer flow!

 

Just a quick wish for a Happy New Year to all the WBAYDN crew. Haven't been checking in so much lately as I have cut down greatly on beer drinking, and I will be reading and drooling from all of your posts for the month of January, but not drinking beer, nor checking in, as I attempt to get this old body into better condition. I'm hoping it lasts me a few more years. See ya in February!

Cheers y'all!

 

Good morning BA, have a great New Years eve! Looking forward to seeing what bottles everyone has lined up for later tonight. I am going to open some special stuff to review later on.

Delicious sweet stout, 1 year old bottle and tasting great! Flavors of big milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, caramel, toffee, brown sugar, toasted dark bread, cream, light coffee/vanilla, and a touch of herbal hops. Light herbal hop and roast bitterness on the finish. Great creamy/silky medium-full body mouthfeel. One of my favorite seasonals. Will definitely brew a clone of this at some point. They don't use lactose in this beer at all, it has 10 specialty malts to to get the mouthfeel and complexity. They claim the OG is 1.080; so for a 6.1% beer, that is a really high FG. Yet it is never overly sweet.


Amazing as usual. Flavors of big pineapple, grapefruit, tangerine, peach, lemon/orange zest, and light mango/pine hops; with wheat, bread, light honeyed malt balance; and floral/grassy hop earthiness. Light-moderate pine/grassy bitterness. Medium bodied; balanced grainy malt creaminess and hop stickiness in the mouthfeel; touch of resins. Light-moderate increasing bitter dryness, zero hop astringency. Really well balanced IPA, nice and juicy. Never dissapoints. I need to get this more often. The 6 pack I bought this week was the first full pack I've probably bought in a year.


World class RIS as always. Flavors of huge dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, molasses, toffee, biscuit, toasted dark bread, and smoke/char malts; with moderate herbal, peppery, piney hops; and lighter notes of raisin, plum, date, and licorice fruitiness. Moderate pine/spicy hop and roast/char bitterness on the finish. Full bodied; very creamy/silky, with some hop stickiness and roast malt chalkiness in the mouthfeel. Increasing roast/char and hop resin dryness on the finish. Extremely smooth sipping,mildly warming ABV. One of my favorites, a true style classic. I prefer it with some age to mellow the hop presence. It is really bitter, but not exactly hoppy (the malts still dominate the flavor profile). Still amazing fresh, but even better with a year or more on it. This was 2 months old.


This is incredible! Grabbed another bomber earlier this week, need to get more. Flavors of huge lightly tart blueberries, milk chocolate, cocoa, caramel, toffee, fudge, vanilla, toasted coconut, bourbon, oak, and dark bread; with some lighter notes of molasses, licorice, and raisins. Light roasted bitterness and fruit tartness on the finish. Full bodied with an amazing creamy/silky/rich mouthfeel. Some light roast malt chalkiness and fruit acidity as well. Touch of drying character from roast and fruit acidity. Never cloyingly sweet for me at all, but definitely a dessert beer. Insanely smooth sipper, very mildly warming 10.5%. A near perfect balance of berries, cocoa/vanilla, malt, and barrel character. Tons of flavor complexity, but it all comes together extremely well. I've always been a big fan of fruit stouts, so I'm not surprised how much I enjoy this one. Seems pretty polarizing to most people.


Cheers

 

Crux Fermentation Project • [BANISHED] Tough Love Bourbon Barrel Russian Imperial Stout

 

Boon Oude Geuze A L'Ancienne Vat 77 Mono Blend

Bottled in 2011. A surprisingly rich head for a lambic but without much of retention or lacing. The nose is full of funk, and a smell that resembles sunflower seeds. Same goes for the taste, plus a nice bitter aftertaste that accompanies a mild sourness. A very very very nice lambic with a lot of unique characteristics. Too bad it's so hard to find!

 

Staring the day with leftover mac and cheese with buffalo chickpeas.
Drinking Predestination from Deciduous Brewing. It is their first anniversary blend, and it is very tasty.
Food, drink, and football for this New Years Eve



We had a lot of rain from the big storm, with a late changeover to snow



I'm sure I'll be back, but let me wish a safe and happy new year to all!

 

Happy New Years Eve!



A chilly 36 this morning, but should warm up nicely. Hope to go to an early party tonight, then early to bed. Cheers, and wishing everyone a wonderful new year!

 

Time to try my second homebrew I was traded. This time it'll be the Irish red. Lets hope it was better than the Cream Stout I had last time. My background is of my wife's current video game collection. It steals some spotlight from the brew, but at least it's interesting!



Well, lets get this started. It's not really what I'd call red. A deep brown, with amber highlights I really look for them, sure. But not red. There is a nice tan head, originally larger than the picture shows. This falls quickly to an exceedingly thin cap, leaving slight lacing. I get more bread from the nose, but this time I get hints of nuttiness. I the beginning I get a slightly sweet scent that transitions at some point to bitter. Over all the nose is soft.

The initial flavor is, again of sour dough bread. I can't get much else out of the mouth full, as a wave of aggressive carbonation and warmth from the poorly hidden alcohol quickly dominates the rest of the experience at this stage. Upon swallowing, I get a short spike of sweetness, that quickly turns to bitterness, as I get a rush of flavors ranging from a soft nut to what I can only call fresh cut grass. Sadly all other flavors are railroaded again by the poorly hidden alcohol, and another brash hit of carbonation. The after taste is lovely, nice soft nuttiness, caramel and pine, serving to tease me at what this brew could have been.

Mouth feel is medium, and when the carbonation isn't assaulting the tongue, it's quite pleasant. If only I could have given some of this brews fiz to the cream stout, both are on opposite ends of the spectrum here. Overall, another let down for me. I would put this at the same level as I put yesterdays beer. Okay, but only just. Something I wouldn't turn down, but I wouldn't be ordering or asking for any more of this particular recipe.

Now for some tunes. I'm currently jamming out to my pandora, so you'll get to experience some of that below. Now we are all listing to the same tune.

 

Happy New Beer, I mean new Year, BA's!

It has been a pleasure to see everyone here over the past year and I enjoy sharing beers and pics on a regular basis....very fun place for sure!

Reflecting on the year, we have lost many great musicians in 2016, and while sad, makes us appreciate their creative talents and musical poetry even more.....

Not feeling great today, came down with a bit of a head cold late yesterday, so will likely be taking it slow and easy today.....

Cheers everyone, happy new year and be safe out there!

 

Smart man! Those are the only goals that matter at the end of the day. Best wishes in your quest for self improvement.

 

I've never sworn in a post before but F**K me this could be the best beer I've ever drunk.

Brooklyn: Improved Old Fashioned.
Worth every penny!

 

Namibia's Finest!

 

Last one of these in 2016.

 

Good morning BAs! Happy New Year to one and all! Inventory reduction continues with this:



For the beer and for my Swedish immigrant ancestors:

 

Starting off the New Years Eve celebrations with this delicious DIPA! Thanks to @Dogleg for sharing.

 

Good Morning Folks.

Enjoying some intense coffee while the wife and child sleep.



Actually a recycled pic from last night.

Enjoying one now in a xmas mug.

Nonetheless, enjoy the last day of the year!

Cheers Geeks!