What beer are you drinking now? #855

Great shot. Cheers!

 

Horns...


Horns...

 

Great movie The Time Machine. Watched it with my dad as a kid and it turned my young brain inside out. I love that movie!
Was not watching CEOT3K. Still think of it as a "modern" classic.

 

No fancy pics, but at least I'm done working on the car.

 

Housework is fun ... with a decent cream ale around, i.e.

Cheers!

 

1/13 so good

 

Much needed hops after the three previous beers from today.

 

Cheers!

 

Just working through the case.



And now?



Tonight (in order): Sculpin. Hop Slam. Rebel Rouser.

Sculpin has been the golden child in this thread as of lately, Hop Slam has been pretty solid in this thread with the expected haters since it's considered "old school and over hyped". Rebel Rouser? The underdog from a brewery that gets no respect.

Personal verdict? Sculpin = $17.99/sixer, 98 rating, two weeks old and really solid but not mind blowing, Hop Slam = $20+/sixer - boozy, honey sweetness forward with hoppiness, and this great classic is starting to wear me out. Rebel Rouser = $10.99/sixer, spicy, hoppy, resiny, and no brainer (at least for me), Rebel Rouser won tonight, hands down.

I dunno, I appreciate the underdog and ratings aren't always an indicator.

 

Seems appropriate to drink this with Downton Abbey.

 

NBS X-Post! A little backstory on my beer journey as of lately is that I literally ran out of new Single 12 ounce to review and hadn't made an actual beer haul/hunt in quite a while. So It had ended up with me digging into my hard and heavy beers I had in my cellar for my new beer reviews(which were starting to get low too). But good news today! I woke up really early and couldnt get to sleep, so I drove down to Livonia to my old standby shops I haven't seen in a couple months and procured 1.75 cases of single 12 ounce and 1.5 cases of large format NEW beers and a 2013 Old Guardian at shelf price (I know they aren't all going to winners to be quite honest, but I love trying new stuff) A nice 4 hour shopping trip there. I look forward to sharing them with all of you during the week in WBAYDN. They include a lot of American beers in all kinds of different styles, and some really new bottle releases out from Belgium which were steeply priced, but I really wanted to try them. So on with my new beers tonight!


This is very lively carbonated, but not infected from what I can tell at first aromas. Dense foamy lacing coats the whole glass though the drink. This was really nice. Very nice classic witbier nose with lemon, pear, apple, and light banana with orange peel/coriander spice, clove yeast, and wheat/honey/bread malt. Nice prominent strength and great balance. Taste of lemon, pear, apple, light banana, orange peel, coriander, clove, wheat, honey, bread, herbal, grass, and yeast earthiness. Light earthy herbal/yeast spice on the finish. Really spot on balance between malt, spice, and yeast ester flavors. A smooth, fairly crisp, and lightly creamy mouthfeel from the flaked wheat. Overall really there are minimal complaints about this. I have had some other witbiers that seemed maybe a bit bolder flavored than this, but this still lines up to pretty much exactly what I expected for the style. The honey does add a bit of a new angle, but it blends in well with the wheat malt character. The lively carbonation seemed to dissipate pretty quickly, and even though there was still rapid steaming carbonation; the mouthfeel lead to more wheat creaminess and dropped out the some of the crispness on the finish. It never felt sharp or prickly at all. Very enjoyable.


This is a superb session IPA. Nice slightly hazed appearance and sticky coating lacing down the whole glass. Nice sized bright hoppy aromas with grapefruit, tangerine, pineapple, mango, lemon zest, orange peel, and light pine with some floral/grassy hop earthiness and a tiny bit of bready/honey-like malt in the far background. Taste of big grapefruit, tangerine, pineapple, lemon zest, orange peel, mango, floral, grass, pine, and light honey/bread malts. A fair amount of pine/grassy bitterness on the finish. Once again very bright and juicy on those citra hops in the taste. Malt flavors are light, but definitely noticeable; and just enough to really give it some balance and really kill any sort of watery flavor quality about it, as far as I expected give the ABV level. Nice crisp ans moderately sticky hop finish; well balanced bitterness with no cloying flavors. Extremely impressive, and it really showcases the citra hop perfectly with the restrained malt character of this beer. This beer expired on 2/4/15 and its still just as bright and juicy as I would have expected it fresh. I will have to keep an eye on GF's website for more of this series(never seen them around my area). The beer finder led me to a store in Livonia today where I got this, Cedar, and Symposium. Love it.


Brand new Griffin Claw bottle release. Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Coffee Stout. This is awesome stuff all around. Really great aromas with dark roasted coffee, milk chocolate, cocoa, toast, toffee, vanilla, and bourbon/oak notes with some light coconut. Really well balanced with the bourbon barrel character with plenty of nice roast malt complexity. Taste of big dark roasted coffee, milk chocolate, cocoa, caramel, brown sugar, toast, toffee, vanilla, bourbon, oak, and light coconut. SOme slight roast/oaky bitterness on the finish. Superb balance between the coffee, roast malt, and barrel qualities. None are overpowering, and there is zero booziness. Very smooth sipping finish with nice creaminess and not really all too heavy for 12%. A fair amount of warmth after the finish, but not overbearing. Extremely well done overall. There are some coffee stouts that just get all up in your face with coffee, but this shows some restraint and really blends together nicely with the barrel and malt flavors. Seriously impressive.


Cheers

 

Next up a Lorenzini DIPA from Maui Brewing. I dig that it supports some sort of Shark Research around there. Saw quite a few diving off of Molokini crater, always a thrill! I will need to borrow my Wife's glasses to read the tiny print on the can...

 

In NorCal for work this week, so drinking local!

 

Perfect for a cold night.



Thanks to @TheMonk41 for this one. Cheers!

 

Decided to open my 2014 Abyss. Love the aroma, like a red wine.

 

Today's selection:

 

Now onto this, ok, not bad, not great either, but intriguing enough to justify buying and trying it:

 

Edit: Nice glass! ^^^

Definitely one of my favorites