What beer are you drinking now? #4344

Crazy Lady Honey Blonde in Key West

 

1) Benediktiner Oktoberfest (5.8%): A German Festbier with flavors of earth and pale Munich malts. Floral and bready notes.
versus
2) Hofbräu Oktoberfestbier (6.3%): A German Festbier with flavors of earth and pale Munich malts. Floral and bready notes. Smooth and sweet. (Correctly matched the two beers blind)

Winner: Hofbrau Oktoberfestbier
I'm embracing Oktoberfest finally and continuing with a German Festbier Battle. First is Benediktiner. One of my favorites from last year. Authentic, clean and smooth.
Next is Hofbrau. Authentic smooth German pale malts and bready notes. Very similar flavors, but more robust and slightly sweeter. Sometimes all I can find is it old and light-struck but this was well-conditioned and drinking excellent. Giving it the win as an outstanding Festbier.

 

Headed outside...after this New Galarus Totally Naked Lager

 

1) BlackStack Crowd Control (8.0% no canning date): A NEIPA from Minnesota with Mosaic, Cashmere & Strata for flavors of grapefruit, pineapple, strawberry, green melon, and mango
versus
2) BlackStack Pseudoscience (8.4% no canning date): A NEIPA from Minnesota with Citra, Nectaron, and Nelson for flavors of Orange citrus, pineapple, white grape, berries, and mango. Clean. (Correctly matched the two beers blind)

Winner: Crowd Control
BlackStack IPA Battle. BlackStack has become one of my favorite IPA breweries. Top notch NEIPAs and they seem to put out new ones every week.
First is Crowd Control. A new release which I had reviewed a couple of years ago and rated it as one of their best. I was on a Strata kick and this is an excellent example. Grapefruit, strawberry, and mango flavors. Again, an amazing IPA.
Next is Pseudoscience, a collab with Toppling Goliath that is starting to get some age. Also one of their best releases with New Zealand hops. It's similar, but a bit sweeter and less zesty.
Side-by-side Pseudoscience is starting to fade a bit with age. These two fresh would have been a more fun and fair battle. Nevertheless, these BlackStack IPA battles are fun. Crowd Control has a more grapefruit and strawberry zest from the Strata. Probably the best Strata IPA I can remember.

 

One of the better tasting Pumpkin Ales out there, imho.

Still waiting for Oktoberfest beers to show up other than Sierra Nevada, Breckenridge, and Samuel Adams.

Prost!

And Shiner. Almost forgot aboot it.

 

Good afternoon BAs! Starting the post-workday off with a light brown ale, What The Frack from Black Gold Brewery in Petrolia, Ontario. Cheers

 

Having a Guinness pint at the Gravity Bar in Guinness' Storehouse in Dublin.

 

Balcones 2024 from De Molen.
Cheers

 

Awesome pour !
Cheers

 

Elm Creek Hybrid Minds: Portage (5.5% No canning date): A NEIPA collab from Minnesota with Amarillo, Citra, HBC 1019 and Mosaic for flavors of citrus and melon, coconut, pineapple and blueberry.

A collab between Elm Creek and Portage in Minnesota. Pretty standard hop flavors. A bit lighter leans toward an IPL at 5.5%. Clean, but slightly sudsy flavors that I sometime get from the hops in IPLs. Nice flavors altogether, I like a little more IPA and less IPL.
I have 3 posts in a half of a WBAYDN page. Must be a slow day here. Cheers BAs!

 

Enjoying a hazy from Foothills in Winston-Salem, NC after a hikeabout this morning. This view is from the top of Whiteside Mountain in Cashiers, NC.
Cheers!
Tom

 

Having another.


Downtown Dublin and river Liffey.

 

2024 BA Speedway Stout: Vietnamese Coffee Edition

Slowly chipping away at the BA Top 250. My bottle shop in Chicago regularly gets Speedway and some variants and I've been keeping my eye out for this one. Stoked to finally enjoy it.

Nice barrel character on the nose. Relatively thing body by today's standard. Sweet with some coffee bitterness on the finish. A little syrupy on the finish. 13.6% beer and drinks closer to 7%. Glad I got to enjoy it!

 

King Sue ~ Toppling Goliath

 

Second Fiddle ...



Anyone know what kind of spider this is? I suspect it's some sort of orb weaver?

 

At OIA aeopuerto on way to Calgary/Banff tomorrow …..enjoying a Jai Alai and crawfish chowder at McCoys. Cheers!!

 

Jai Alai ~ Cigar City


Steppin’ Stone ~ The Monkees

 

Sorry, reflex action.