Ymm, Beer!

[devildeac]

Baby Maker-Triple C Brewing (Charlotte)

Bomber trader from fuse a couple months ago that I divided over the last couple nights. Poured a surprising cloudy, amber color with pine and resin scents with tastes of the same with hints of mango and caramel. Foamy head which lingered. Statistically "balanced" DIPA with IBUs of 80 and ABV of 8.5% but not that balanced on the palate as I thought this a bit rough. I suspect this would be a bit smoother on draft and would probably pair well with spicy/hot foods or some ribs. Not one I'd re-visit or seek out. I've got a bomber of Triumphant, the NoDa triple that I'm probably going to enjoy tomorrow/this weekend that I am highy anticipating after I had it on draft at Brewgaloo in Raleigh a couple months ago.

I love the name of this beer.

Cute label, too:

[CathyCA]

Baby Maker-Triple C Brewing (Charlotte)

Bomber trader from fuse a couple months ago that I divided over the last couple nights. Poured a surprising cloudy, amber color with pine and resin scents with tastes of the same with hints of mango and caramel. Foamy head which lingered. Statistically "balanced" DIPA with IBUs of 80 and ABV of 8.5% but not that balanced on the palate as I thought this a bit rough. I suspect this would be a bit smoother on draft and would probably pair well with spicy/hot foods or some ribs. Not one I'd re-visit or seek out. I've got a bomber of Triumphant, the NoDa triple that I'm probably going to enjoy tomorrow/this weekend that I am highy anticipating after I had it on draft at Brewgaloo in Raleigh a couple months ago.

I love the name of this beer.

Cute label, too:

It is a cute label!

[devildeac]

Aug. 7 is National IPA Day. Ladies and gentlemen, start your tastebuds.

[CameronBornAndBred]

I went shopping for the first time in a long while at our local homebrew shop. Gotta start getting ready for tailgates.

[Bob Green]

Gotta start getting ready for tailgates.

Where is the "Like" button?

[devildeac]

Unicycle (draft)-Crank Arm Brewing (Raleigh)

Drink local!

Tis always better to drink with a friend and early this evening I had the pleasure of connecting with fuse at Bottle Revolution in Raleigh for a beer trade (I gave him some New Glarus beers and he gave me $$.). We each had our own pint but I should have tasted his too so I could have had another post. Mine was a single hop pale ale with Belma as their featured hop. This particular offering from Crank Arm features a different hop each time they brew it. I've never heard of this variety before but it kind of resembled the Nelson Sauvin variety with some floral and winey notes on the nose and the same plus a bit of slightly under-ripe apples and pears on the palate. Poured a cloudy amber-orange with a foamy head. IBUs were 35 so it was not very bitter and fell in line with other pale ale stats. ABV was a bit low at 4.8% but made for a nice sipping beverage as we talked about future brews and perused the inventory at the store. A very pleasant way to end the work week.

[devildeac]

Time for a trip to Johnston and/or Harnett County?


http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/07/31/ ... round.html

[devildeac]

Time for a road, err, plane trip to Barcelona?

http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/07/31/ ... hirst.html

[devildeac]

Darkest Hour-Anchorage Brewing

I purchased this last fall at the Liquor Barn in Lexington, Kentucky while visiting family. The clerk actually went upstairs to retrieve this after chatting with me for a moment about my (fill in the blank) beer tastes. He said they simply did not have enough room on their shelves for all their inventory and that's saying something as this place is ginormous. So, I ended up with two 750 ml caged and corked bottles of this and another Anchorage brew. On to the review.

This may be one of the most complex beverages I've ever tasted. It's a Belgian imperial stout (yep, brewed in Alaska) brewed with Summit hops but they have little if any role here with an IBU rating of 40. It's triple fermented, first with a Belgian yeast (Saccharomyces), second in French oak Pinot Noir and rye whiskey barrels and then finished with a wine yeast. It's not Brett but this yeast imparts a mild amount of sourness. The wine aging imparts rich flavors of plum and currants and the rye imparts the expected boozey, vanilla and woody tastes. The imperial stout style is responsible for rich, dark chocolate and cocoa flavors along with hints of black molasses and licorice and a stunning ABV of 13%. Brewed in March, 2013 and listed as batch #1 but sadly, not described on their website now. I had about 10 ounces last PM in a cute little Allagash tulip and am finishing the remaining ~15.4 ounces tonight from a traditional pint glass with a tear rolling down my cheek as I'm not sure what I'll do with the other 750 ml bottle in the fall or winter.

[devildeac]

Gose-Anderson Valley Brewing Company

Too complicated for me to explain this style of beer I had never heard of until folks started posting in this thread. From their website:

"Originating in the town of Goslar, Germany in the early 16th century, the Gose style (pronounced “Go-zuh”) was traditionally brewed using salted water and 50% malted wheat and was spiced with coriander and hops. It was fermented with both traditional yeast and lactic bacteria, giving it a slight tartness, similar to that of a Berliner Weisse. The brewing of Gose eventually migrated to Leipzig, Germany by the turn of the 18th century and became the most popular style in the region by 1900, only to virtually disappear after World War II brought destruction to the breweries and hard economic times.



With a bright, golden color and tight creamy head, the earthy wood undertones in our Gose develop into a light mineral aroma with a hint of lemon zest and tropical fruit. Before boiling, the wort is kettle soured with lactobacillus, imparting an initial refreshing tartness that gives way to a subtle fullness. Flavors of guava and peach are followed by a slight sea salt dryness and lemon sourness that is enhanced by coriander and post-fermentation additions of salt. The finish is dry, effervescent, and lemon tangy, reminiscent of a fresh sea breeze.

FOOD PAIRINGS: Smoked Salmon, Oysters, Pad Thai, Bitter Greens (Arugula, Mizuna)

GLASSWARE: Stange, Pint glass

ALC/VOL: 4.2%

MALTS: Pale Two-Row, Cara-Crystal Wheat

HOPS: Bravo"

I only tasted a 2 ounce sample after my Crank Arm one year anniversary pint with fuse last week and thought it was a light refreshing ale. Poured a pale yellow with a modest head, it has aromas of lemon and orange with s slightly dry, spicy finish. I'd guess IBUs about 10. I'd re-visit this with a 12 ounce can or pint if given the chance again this summer. I respectfully disagree with the food pairings and think it would be better with something lighter.

[devildeac]

Nemesis 2009 edition-Founders Brewing

Highly enjoyable barleywine style ale enjoyed after a 13.5 hour trip from Raleigh to Hartford on Friday. Shoulda been about 12.5 hours but we turned lunch into dinner and had some construction delays in central/eastern Pennsylvania.

This was a maple bourbon barrel aged brew that poured a dark brown with a small head and had rich scents of syrup, dark fruits and tobacco. Tastes were maple, whiskey, dark fruits and dark brown sugar. No stats on the bottle neck label as Founders products usually have but I'd guess 80-90 IBUs that are very well hidden/balanced with an estimated 12% ABV that was rather cloying. There was a bit of sediment at the end of the pour but not chunky or alarming. Worth a 4 pack if you can find it with one for now, one to share and two for aging. Sadly, this is the last of any Nemesis that I have stored.

[devildeac]

Raspberry Tart (circa 2012)-New Glarus Brewing

I got lucky with this one. My BIL brought this back from a trip to Wisconsin a couple years ago, I think. It's not supposed to age but it did. I shared the 750 ml capped bottle last night with my daughter and my wife (no typo-she HATES beer) and it was wonderful. German Hallertau hops lend a very slight floral presence. Wisconsin wheat imparts very minimal citrus notes. Oregon raspberries aged in French oak make this delicious. Nose is fresh raspberries and tastes are bubbly, effervescent berry flavored champagne. My wife thought cider and my daughter thought carbonated Ocean Spray cran-raspberry juice. Poured a clear pink-red with minimal head. No bitterness, guessing IBU of about 10, with an ABV of 5%, I think. This equals or surpasses any Belgian frambozen/framboise lambic I've ever tasted. Liquid dessert. I'll have to taste/share the 2014 bottle a patient brought back from Wisconsin before the summer is completed. These folks know what they are doing keeping ~95% of their brews within their state boundaries.

[CameronBornAndBred]

I went shopping for the first time in a long while at our local homebrew shop. Gotta start getting ready for tailgates.

Bottled tonight. A high octane brown ale, 8.7%ABV
I'm drinking the half glass that wouldn't fit into a bottle tonight, no bizarre off flavors so up to this point it is doing well.
9 gallons of water turned into just over 4 gallons of beer, I got three and a half 12 packs, plus one bomber for our first tailgate.

[devildeac]

Beer-cation time. Finally arrived in Freeport, Maine after a wonderful day and a half in Boston for some extended walking, attending a wedding of a onderful friend of the family for almost 28 years and visiting an old Duke friend. Celebrated the nuptials with a Maker's Mark and a couple glasses of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2011. The beer selection sucked.

Five beer sampler from the Maine Beer Company. First up:

Zoe, their hoppy amber ale. Served in a mini-goblet with a small, tan head, it was a medium amber color with a nose of resin and pine and tastes of the same with a bit of caramel flavor to help, but not completely balance the hop bitterness. No IBU rating to be found anywhere and the beertender said they don't discuss/publish/measure that. I'd guess 60-70 as this was rather pungent for an amber. The ABV was 7.2% so not a lightweight for the style and you could probably call it an imperial amber.

[devildeac]

Red Wheelbarrow, their hoppy red ale. You should be getting a hint here of their beer theme. This was a reddish-brown color with a creamy, tan head. More pine and resin than the amber with probably even less maltiness but with a hint of red velvet cake on the palate. Once again, no IBU #s available but I'd guess 60-70 with the ABV at 7%. You could call this an imperial red ale. This ain't your decade ago Killians.

[devildeac]

Mean Old Tom, a standard grade stout aged with vanilla beans. Guess what? This was pretty hoppy, too, once again with the IBUs estimated at 60-70, rather high for a stout but this was nicely balanced with French vanilla and coffee flavors and aromas. ABV was 6.5%. A nice beer to have with/for dessert or to make a beer float with some vanilla, coffee or butter pecan ice cream.

[devildeac]

Another One, their good IPA. Pour was a pale yellow with a melange of citrus aromas and tastes along with a bit of pine and resin. Fairly good balance with some light caramel flavors up front but with the moderate bitter hop finish. I'll wildly estimate the IBUs at 60-70 and the ABV was 7%.

[devildeac]

Lunch, their world class IPA. Poured a golden-yellow with grapefruit, citrus zest and other tropical fruits up front like mango and papaya for olfactory and gustatory stimulants. This was exceptionally well-balanced with the IBU from Simcoe, Warrior and Centennial hops in the same range as the others with ABV also at 7%, This prompted the purchase of four 500 ml bottles for the journey back to NC next weekend.

[devildeac]

Blue Paw Wild Blueberry Ale (draft)-Sea Dog Brewing

This was served in a pint glass and was a clear, light gold color with no head and a faint citrus nose which was rapidly overcome with blueberry. There was a hint of orange flavor which was again dominated by the blueberry. No discernible bitterness as it's a wheat ale so I'd guess IBUs about 10. Modest ABV at 4.6%, also about expected from a wheat ale. This made a nice pairing with my lobster roll and a taste or two that I stole of my wife's planked salmon as we dined last PM at the Sea Dog brewpub on their deck overlooking the Penobscot River in downtown Bangor.

This ale was not great, but, as I think fuse mentioned once in a review, sometimes it's not just the beer that you are tasting/sampling. Sometimes, it's the setting. So, in this case, it our first visit to the gorgeous state of Maine, with my bride of 36+ years on the first real week-long vacation I've taken in about 18 months, this was a wonderful evening beverage to enjoy in a great environment.

[devildeac]

From my Flying Goose Brewpub sampler today in New London, NH.

Ed's Honey Basil Ale-This was pretty much an amber ale base with probably pale and crystal malts for the grains and light on the hops with slightly sweet and herbal smells and subtle notes of the honey and basil for tastes, along with a touch of light caramel. I'd guess IBUs around 20 and ABV around 5%. A nice starter before a ginormous plate of chicken chili nachos.