Ymm, Beer

[fuse]

Snowstorm means cancelled flight and one more day of vacation.

Couldn't bring myself to buy the brandy barrel aged abyss.

Did pick up an aspen brewing company saison and an avery vanilla bean stout.

Cheers!

[fuse]

http://beerstreetjournal.com/the-vei...g-never-aloha/

I would definitely try this beer.

[fuse]

Aspen Brewing Company saison is decent.

Nothing worth revisiting, and also nothing worth avoiding.

[fuse]

Avery Vanilla Bean Stout

Holy smokes, so good!

Smells and tastes like vanilla, caramel and bourbon.

Not to be missed.

[devildeac]

From 3/12/16:

From 3/28/15:

Dragon's Milk Bourbon Barrel Stout (2014)-New Holland Brewing

It ain't from Asheville so I think ricks68 picked this up on a whim after having it on draft from one of his (many) favorite watering holes. I usually divide a bomber of a high gravity ale over two nights but this one was consumed over two halves last PM. Poured a dark brown with a modest light tan head. The body/texture was a bit thin for a stout but the tastes were not. Aromas were cocoa, vanilla, wood, bourbon and a whiff of coffee, though it is not an ingredient. Tastes were heavily roasted grains up front and matched the aromas pretty closely with a mildly boozy finish. Glacier and Nugget hops provided little bitterness and an IBU rating of 31. Grains included 2 row, Munich, Caramel, Crystal, Black, Chocolate malt and flaked barley and drove the ABV to 11%. Vintage date on this was 2014 with no month specified. I don't drink many New Holland products but this will make me look again when I see them on the shelves and try some of their other products.
Thanks again to ricks68 for selecting this and including it in his recent delivery.

From last PM:

Dragon's Milk BBA Stout (2015 vintage)-New Holland Brewing

I don't think the recipe has changed much since the 2014 vintage above. Three of us raided his beer fridge (on more than one occasion) before (and after) his arrival last PM to his surprise 70th birthday party and we were quite happy we did. So the bomber was divided fairly equally among 3 of us in our tulip glasses and all partakers were very impressed with all the features above with a warm, boozy middle and finish.

Thanks to ricks68 for leaving this in his beer fridge for our arrival .

Dragon's Milk BBA Stout (2014)-New Holland Brewing

Many thanks to ricks68 for including this in last month's delivery!

From a bomber I'm dividing over 3 nights. Pretty similar to the top review above but perhaps a bit smoother and some dark caramel and toasted coconut flavors after another year of cellaring. Better on Monday night than last night but the wine cork I used to seal the bottle did a very respectable job preventing oxidation and preserving a reasonable amount of carbonation. Somehow, I think this was <$10 for the large format bottle, a nice drop given the BBA, high quality and ABV of the product.

[Matches]

Southern Tier has a new (at least new to me) one - Thick Mint.

Imperial Stout with chocolate and mint. It's labelled as a "dessert beer" and absolutely is.

Really good stuff. Basically tastes like a girl scout cookie in beer form. 10% ABV. Highly recommended.

[Tripping William]

Haven't seen a review of this for several years. Positioned almost as a mead, based on a very old recipe that includes honey, saffron, barley and muscadine grapes. A beautiful gold color with very little head. A touch sweet, but dangerously easy-drinking at 9.0% ABV. A really interesting beer.

[fuse]

Southern Tier has a new (at least new to me) one - Thick Mint.

Imperial Stout with chocolate and mint. It's labelled as a "dessert beer" and absolutely is.

Really good stuff. Basically tastes like a girl scout cookie in beer form. 10% ABV. Highly recommended.

I've not had this beer yet.
Locally, Raleigh Brewing Company and Trophy (?) make a similar beer, as well as Crank Arm makes a mint chip stout.

Highly recommend the RBC version.

[fuse]

Haven't seen a review of this for several years. Positioned almost as a mead, based on a very old recipe that includes honey, saffron, barley and muscadine grapes. A beautiful gold color with very little head. A touch sweet, but dangerously easy-drinking at 9.0% ABV. A really interesting beer.

Been years since I had this from DFH.

DFH did a traveling beer dinner of their ancient ale series, and this was one of them.

I vaguely recall it being a pretty sweet beer, not much beyond that, though.

[fuse]

Christmas Jam-Sierra Nevada Brewing and Asheville Brewing Company collabeeration

Better late than never .

Strangely formatted 24 ounce bottle delivered by ricks68 about 6 weeks ago and divided during dinner and game-watching Sunday evening. Pour was a light apricot color with a moderately foamy, eggshell white head. It's a session IPA, with the ABV at 5.3% and a guesstimated 50 IBUs. Light aromas of pine and a citrus fruit blend. Tastes of lemon, pineapple, grapefruit and resin. The dinner portion was with Mrs. dd's (almost) famous chicken parm, pasta and a Caesar salad. Not a bad combo but I've found very few, if any beers, that pair well with Italian entrees. Good offering. Happy to have tried. Consumer friendly pricing ($5 or 6, I think) and free delivery! Still why this style isn't simple marketed as a pale ale. Ideal amount to share with 4-6 folks at Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner as part of a tasting as we did with a New Belgium 12 pack last year.

Smells like orange and pine.

Interesting palate- kind of dank up front with a decidely lemony finish.

My pour was a bit chunky. Tasty nonetheless.

Cheers!

[fuse]

Parkway Brewing Company Get Bent mountain IPA

Worth it for the name alone.

An average beer. Nothing bad, nothing especially distinguishing.

A fun beer for all occasions.

[Tripping William]

Brewed with lemons (surprise!). Pours a cloudy gold. Very little head to it. Soriachi hops and a proprietary yeast strain developed at State. Nicely balanced. 5.4% ABV. Probably a better summer beer than a March 31st beer. Stil a nice sipper.

[Tripping William]

Parkway Brewing Company Get Bent mountain IPA

Worth it for the name alone.

An average beer. Nothing bad, nothing especially distinguishing.

A fun beer for all occasions.

From Salem's finest ...

[devildeac]

Mongo-Port Brewing Company

More than a pawn in the game of life...

Tonight, I'm going to post like it's 19,999. Ricks68 may be the only one here who gets that.

Half pint pour for $3.50 from Bottle Revolution on my way home today after a somewhat tiring day/week/two weeks with a weekend of call in the middle. Pour was a slighty cloudy, light orange-amber with a thin head. Piney and citrus-y nose. Pineapple-y and grapefruity with a lot of rind and resinous tastes with a bit of caramel-y finish. This one's pretty bitter with IBUs of 19,999 (well, ok, not really-the IBUs are 99) but not unpleasantly so as the ABV is 8.5%, so it was reasonably balanced. It'd pair nicely with some spicy fare from the Guasaca next door. A really good IIPA but I'd still prefer a Hop, Drop and Roll, a DFH 90 Minute IIPA or a Heady Topper if I can ever get budwom to dig himself out from the latest Vermont blizzard and head to Topsail with several of his extras.

[fuse]

Brewed with lemons (surprise!). Pours a cloudy gold. Very little head to it. Soriachi hops and a proprietary yeast strain developed at State. Nicely balanced. 5.4% ABV. Probably a better summer beer than a March 31st beer. Stil a nice sipper.

Sounds tasty. Wish it were not from Johnston county...

[Tripping William]

An NC State offering, on tap at Lonnie Poole post-round this afternoon. A nice copper color, but tastes almost like a Hefeweizen, which really surprised me. Hints of banana, clove and coriander. Well done, Wuffies.

[fuse]

http://coolmaterial.com/food-drink/b...lcoholic-beer/

Bwahahahahahahahahhahahahahhaa!

[ricks68]

Mongo-Port Brewing Company

More than a pawn in the game of life...

Tonight, I'm going to post like it's 19,999. Ricks68 may be the only one here who gets that.

Half pint pour for $3.50 from Bottle Revolution on my way home today after a somewhat tiring day/week/two weeks with a weekend of call in the middle. Pour was a slighty cloudy, light orange-amber with a thin head. Piney and citrus-y nose. Pineapple-y and grapefruity with a lot of rind and resinous tastes with a bit of caramel-y finish. This one's pretty bitter with IBUs of 19,999 (well, ok, not really-the IBUs are 99) but not unpleasantly so as the ABV is 8.5%, so it was reasonably balanced. It'd pair nicely with some spicy fare from the Guasaca next door. A really good IIPA but I'd still prefer a Hop, Drop and Roll, a DFH 90 Minute IIPA or a Heady Topper if I can ever get budwom to dig himself out from the latest Vermont blizzard and head to Topsail with several of his extras.

I had so many good things to say about dd's very next post, but I have been out of town and tragically out of sorts lately. A great opportunity that I, and many others, may now miss. devildeac deserves major accolades concerning his (and DBR's) upcoming milestone, and it would be quite an event if it came as a comment about the loss that UNCheats will have at the hands of Oregon. (Wouldn't THAT be wonderful.) The big question now is: Can dd hold off until much later tonight to have that come to pass, and wouldn't that be something super duper special?

ricks

[devildeac]

I had so many good things to say about dd's very next post, but I have been out of town and tragically out of sorts lately. A great opportunity that I, and many others, may now miss. devildeac deserves major accolades concerning his (and DBR's) upcoming milestone, and it would be quite an event if it came as a comment about the loss that UNCheats will have at the hands of Oregon. (Wouldn't THAT be wonderful.) The big question now is: Can dd hold off until much later tonight to have that come to pass, and wouldn't that be something super duper special?

ricks

Umm, no.

220px-20000leaguesposter.jpg


Best I could do. There aren't many 20K milestones/events/photos but I will make it a devil of a review.

From 12/31/11:

Samael's Oak-aged Ale (batch 5, April, 2009)-Avery Brewing

Ahh, where to begin with this fabulous brew. Not sure it "fits" into the English strong ale category as Avery describes it but I'd have difficulty with characterizing it as any other type brew either. Guess it has features that make it resemble an IIPA, barleywine, Belgian triple and strong ale. And a sherry. Pours a slightly cloudy golden-orange hue with little head. Most ales this strong have next to no carbonation due to the high ABV, in this case not the 14.5% as they list on their site but an astounding 16.45% so it is pretty boozey but not fiery. The IBU are 41 so it is not a hop bomb but has some citrus notes of grapefruit and orange. Significant amount of malty sweetness (with Turbinado sugar added in the brewing process) in the form of light caramel and tofffee but not overly cloying. I split a 12 ounce bottle ($8 or 9) with my son one night this week to celebrate the Christmas season and all the children being around for several days with their new spouses, and his fiancee. Served slightly chilled in wine glasses, this makes a great after dinner drink or nightcap. I have 2 of these left, enjoying 1 last year to celebrate the 2010 NC (but I can't find my review anywhere. Unless I traded one with CB&B :ymblushing: .) and plan on keeping the other 2 for additional celebrations in the near or even distant future .

From last PM:

Samael's Oak-aged Ale (April, 2009 label/bottle dating)-Avery Brewing Company

It's the future and this bottle is mine, all mine.

Part of Avery's Demons of Ales Trilogy, along with Mephistopheles and The Beast.

Four ounces poured into a cordial glass at cellar temperature. Every bit as good as above, if not better after another 5+ years in the bottle/cellar. It really does resemble a dessert wine and is even boozier (not Boozer) than I remember. There's a fair amount of wood/oak perceived with this sipping but no bourbon as the label says oak chips added but not BBA. Also reminds me of an "imperial" Samichlaus which is "only" 14% ABV but more viscous/syrupy and smoother. Another ale that if you ever see and it's $10+/12 ounce bottle, you should purchase 4-6 bottles, sipping 1 each year for the duration of your supply.

Respectfully submitted for 20K credit at ricks68's urging/suggestion/insistence,

devildeac

Many cheers to all who participate on Ymm, Beer and DBR in general!!

[devildeac]

I had so many good things to say about dd's very next post, but I have been out of town and tragically out of sorts lately. A great opportunity that I, and many others, may now miss. devildeac deserves major accolades concerning his (and DBR's) upcoming milestone, and it would be quite an event if it came as a comment about the loss that UNCheats will have at the hands of Oregon. (Wouldn't THAT be wonderful.) The big question now is: Can dd hold off until much later tonight to have that come to pass, and wouldn't that be something super duper special?

ricks

Done. Thanks for reminding me.