Ymm, Beer

[devildeac]

Porter-Port City Brewing Company

Final brew from my June beer club 4 pack and surprisingly good after I had their Monumental IPA which I recall as average.

Poured from a 12 ounce bottle into a standard pint glass with a dark brown color and a moderate, latte-like head. Aromas of medium roast coffee and cocoa powder waft through the air. A slightly dark roast coffee on the palate with some more cocoa powder and then dark caramel. Bitterness mild to moderate with IBUs at 45 and ABV a bit high for a standard porter at 7.2%. This would be a pleasant after dinner drink by itself, with a chocolate and/or caramel dessert or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for a beer float. Quality stuff here.

[devildeac]

https://www.raleighbrewing.com/taproom/

With 32 (advertised) beers on tap, I *hope* we are able to find something/s to our liking early this evening...

[fuse]

RBC Hibiscus Wit

A mild pink colour.

Hard to make hibiscus a dominant flavour.

Works really well, a nice summer sipper.

[fuse]

RBC Sunswept Lemon Saison

I’ve had some awesome lemon beers.

This is not that.

A bit watery and flavourless even for a low ABV beer.

[devildeac]

So I was in Wisconsin last week. Yes, I had this beer. As would be expected from New Glarus. It was REALLY good. Great balance between between malty, earthy funk, and tart, acidic sour. A little bit of fruit and oak on the finish. I don't know if I've ever had a better balanced wild fermented ale. Usually the funk or the tart overpowers the other components. But this was really good. The remaining 3 bottles will be delivered by my parental delivery service in October.

So getting the beer was another story. My mission to find this beer is a fun beer hunting tale. It was released right around July 4th. I went to 3 stores on the 8th and 9th and found nothing. On the 10th the family was going to the Cave of the Mounds and I deciding stopping by New Glarus Brewery on the way home wasn't that much out of the way (about 20 min). However, the brewery package store sold out earlier that morning. I drowned my sorrows in a few of their R&D concoctions that I promise I will write up here when I eventually taste them.

End to my long story. On Wednesday night, I had to run up to Bill's Food Center to grab something for my Mom (2 minutes from her house in Oregon, WI). Even though I checked their walk-in beer cooler on Monday I looked again. Huzzah!. 4 packs of NG 2018 Wild Sour Ale for $11. A dollar cheaper than at the brewery too. Guess distribution schedules take some time . Grabbed one for my BIL and one for me.

So my advice if you want to try this beer is to have your NG beer mules (err family) get to the Kenosha Woodmans ASAP. I don't think it will hang around long.

My delivery service will be conducting a beer-hunting expedition this week.

[devildeac]

Bell Tower (draft)-Raleigh Brewing Company

Back to local!

Beer #1 in a 4 beer flight @ 4 ounces each. A mango Berliner Weisse.

Pour was a cloudy, peachy-yellow with a small head. Mildly sour nose with a bit of citrus followed by mild, puckery lemon-lime tastes. If I blind-tasted this, I'm not sure I'd identify mango. I'll guess IBUs <10 (sour, not bitter, if that makes sense). ABV was 3.8%. Not a bad beer but not a standout. It'd be nice with a plate of fruit.

[devildeac]

RBC Sunswept Lemon Saison

I’ve had some awesome lemon beers.

This is not that.

A bit watery and flavourless even for a low ABV beer.

My turn:

Sunswept (draft)-Raleigh Brewing Company

Beer #2 in my 4 beer flight. A lemon saison.

Fuse has a fine palate. Pale, straw-yellow color with a bit of haze. I probably came away with a bit better perception but not much. Weak flavo(u)r with a pinch of black pepper from (presumed) Belgian yeast strain/s. I'll guess IBUs at <20 with the ABV at 4.6%. Pairing? Moving on to the next sample .

[fuse]

Bell Tower (draft)-Raleigh Brewing Company

Back to local!

Beer #1 in a 4 beer flight @ 4 ounces each. A mango Berliner Weisse.

Pour was a cloudy, peachy-yellow with a small head. Mildly sour nose with a bit of citrus followed by mild, puckery lemon-lime tastes. If I blind-tasted this, I'm not sure I'd identify mango. I'll guess IBUs <10 (sour, not bitter, if that makes sense). ABV was 3.8%. Not a bad beer but not a standout. It'd be nice with a plate of fruit.

I’m not a huge mango fan, I would say the smooth “cool fruit” aspect of the mango tempered the sour of the berliner weisse quite nicely.

[Reilly]

... cloudy ... small ... sour ... puckery ... <10 ... sour ... 3.8% ... not a standout ...

Not much for the ad agency to work with here ...

[devildeac]

We interrupt this sampler/flight to bring you:

Sweet Potato Stout-Lazy Magnolia (Mississippi's oldest brewery located in Kiln)

Tucked away in the back of the fridge on Saturday night I found my last 12 ounce bottle from my birthday mixed 6er last month.

Pour was a deep, dark brown with a foamy, beige head. There are coffee, caramel and milk chocolate scents with mildly sweet, heavily roasted grains accompanying dark caramel and faint coffee tastes. I'm not sure I'd have guessed it was a sweet potato beer. Lactose is added, technically making it a milk stout. Stats a bit on the low side for the style at 12 IBUs and an ABV of 4.5%. Not sure I'd serve this with dinner but it might be happy sipped with a pecan pie, with or without chocolate chips.)

[devildeac]

Not much for the ad agency to work with here ...

That particular brewery usually has a nice assortment of really good beers, including several "session" brews, a few seasonals, some new/old styles, some fairly new styles and several high gravity ales, so this was a tad disappointing.

[devildeac]

TherHoppy (draft)-Raleigh Brewing Company

Still sipping local!

This was beer #3 in my flight and was a hazy yellow-straw hue with a thin, white head. There was some hay along with orchard fruit aromas on the nose with some not-quite-ripe apples, pears and herbal/floral tastes/bitterness with a pinch of black pepper at the end, all kinda/sorta expected with its labeling as a hoppy saison. This may be another style that shouldn't be "hoppy," along with wh*at and brown ales as others here have mentioned before. I'll guess IBUs about 40 and the ABV was 6.4%, both above the expected #s for the style. I think this would be tasty with a chicken salad sammich or a turkey BLT.

[devildeac]

NotAnother (draft)-Raleigh Brewing Company

The final entrant in the sampler this evening was (yes) another NEIPA.

Appearance was quite hazy and juicy with aromas of the tropics, particularly pineapple. Tastes were Dole pineapple-grapefruit juice with maybe a 70/30 "mixture." Mild bitterness, guessing 40 IBUs here with the ABV at 6.1%, both in sync with the style. I'd readily sip a pint of this and pair it with a fruited and mildly spicy salsa topping on some grilled fish.

[luburch]

Stopped at 3 breweries and sampled ~25 new beers this weekend. Will provide a detailed report later this afternoon.

[fuse]

TherHoppy (draft)-Raleigh Brewing Company

Still sipping local!

This was beer #3 in my flight and was a hazy yellow-straw hue with a thin, white head. There was some hay along with orchard fruit aromas on the nose with some not-quite-ripe apples, pears and herbal/floral tastes/bitterness with a pinch of black pepper at the end, all kinda/sorta expected with its labeling as a hoppy saison. This may be another style that shouldn't be "hoppy," along with wh*at and brown ales as others here have mentioned before. I'll guess IBUs about 40 and the ABV was 6.4%, both above the expected #s for the style. I think this would be tasty with a chicken salad sammich or a turkey BLT.

I quite enjoyed this one- may have been the best of the afternoon.

[devildeac]

Stopped at 3 breweries and sampled ~25 new beers this weekend. Will provide a detailed report later this afternoon.

Impressive. Very impressive. Anxious to read your reviews.

[devildeac]

I quite enjoyed this one- may have been the best of the afternoon.

Did you have the NEIPA? I can't recall. I liked that one a bit better than TherHoppy.

[fuse]

Did you have the NEIPA? I can't recall. I liked that one a bit better than TherHoppy.

I had “a” NEIPA that was different than the one you tried.

It tasted like a mildly hoppy Orangina, and was nice and light.

[devildeac]

I had “a” NEIPA that was different than the one you tried.

It tasted like a mildly hoppy Orangina, and was nice and light.

Dang, that's right. I'm having trouble keeping up with all the "hazy juices" and now we have a brewery making more than one.

[devildeac]

This has also been ordered through my delivery service (who may actually visit the brewery this week on during his *cough* business travels) if it's still available.

https://tenemu.com/news/new-glarus-n...e-2018/05/2018