NT, What Beer Do You Drink?

One of my favs.

WallyHopp said:

Neosole, sucks to hear about apex. That one surprised me the most. Is it a seasonal? I've had their racer beer that comes in 12 oz bottles, and wasn't too impressed. Just really intense hops without any balance.

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Yeah it's seasonal (released in January). They just started bottling it this year I believe. Decided to go with some Nugget Nectar for National Beer Day. Not as good as the first time I had it a few weeks ago but still an impressive brew.

Yesterday was seemingly Ipa day. So tonight a couple of us got together and sampled some darker beers

La Cumbre Malpais Stout.. Foreign/ Export Stout 7.5% IBU

Dark as sin in color.It poured a velvety smooth head. Taste wise, I get an overbearing sense of roasted malts, with a dry finish. It's not sweet at all. Yet it's chewy and smooth. It makes my head hurt thinking about the wide range of experiences I get with this. Bitterness throughout the entire drink.. Unlike almost any other stout I have tasted. I'm iffy jbug if you will like it. But it is definitely worth a try. I may be too harsh with it. It did win some beer awards so others felt it was solid. I don't get crazy craving for more. But its world class non the less. At least 95/100.

Peche Mortel by Brasserie Dieu Du Ciel ! out of Montreal, Canada.

I picked this up in a trade. I knew the BA score was mid 90s. I love coffee stouts so this was worth a try.. Screw off top was a surprise. Notched dates indicate 5-8.
9.5% ABV, Imperial Coffee Stout
If Ten Fidy and FBS had a baby, this would be the closest thing to that... I get a nice sense of some fruity notes (it almost leads it self to bourbon notes). Coffee smell isnt quite as pungent as you would think. Mouthfeel is amazing. I get a great sense of sweetness and then some roasted notes kick in. Then a touch of chocolate, and then some hop bitterness. A true world class Stout right here. This is my kind of stout. 99/100

I wanna say the sweetness and smoothness reminds me of FBS, and the dark fruit notes reminds me of ten fidy.

We have a Celebrator from a prior trade trade to try, and a surprise stout.

^ Nice! #TeamStout [emoji]128588[/emoji][emoji]128588[/emoji][emoji]128588[/emoji]

WallyHopp said:

Yesterday was seemingly Ipa day. So tonight a couple of us got together and sampled some darker beers

La Cumbre Malpais Stout.. Foreign/ Export Stout 7.5% IBU

Dark as sin in color.It poured a velvety smooth head. Taste wise, I get an overbearing sense of roasted malts, with a dry finish. It's not sweet at all. Yet it's chewy and smooth. It makes my head hurt thinking about the wide range of experiences I get with this. Bitterness throughout the entire drink.. Unlike almost any other stout I have tasted. I'm iffy jbug if you will like it. But it is definitely worth a try. I may be too harsh with it. It did win some beer awards so others felt it was solid. I don't get crazy craving for more. But its world class non the less. At least 95/100.

Peche Mortel by Brasserie Dieu Du Ciel ! out of Montreal, Canada.

I picked this up in a trade. I knew the BA score was mid 90s. I love coffee stouts so this was worth a try.. Screw off top was a surprise. Notched dates indicate 5-8.
9.5% ABV, Imperial Coffee Stout
If Ten Fidy and FBS had a baby, this would be the closest thing to that... I get a nice sense of some fruity notes (it almost leads it self to bourbon notes). Coffee smell isnt quite as pungent as you would think. Mouthfeel is amazing. I get a great sense of sweetness and then some roasted notes kick in. Then a touch of chocolate, and then some hop bitterness. A true world class Stout right here. This is my kind of stout. 99/100

I wanna say the sweetness and smoothness reminds me of FBS, and the dark fruit notes reminds me of ten fidy.

We have a Celebrator from a prior trade trade to try, and a surprise stout.

Click to expand...

Hmm...this is strange.  The bottles of Peche Mortel I've gotten my hands on have only said "Imperial Stout brewed with real coffee" on them, and I'm pretty sure they weren't screw-off (if they were I didn't realize it after drinking like 6 bottles. ).  Wonder what gives...

^maybe this is a old *** bottle? The notches on the side of the beer only go 0 through 9, so I dont know if its actually a date per say... I'll read around. Maybe they got new labels? And this one is mid 2013?

More beers down the hatch
Ayinger celebrator.

Reminds me instantly of a octoberfest type beer with some slight hints of dark fruits. Ruby red in color. Very malty. But its a smooth mouthfeel with no off flavors. Lots of octoberfests carry through with either too much malt or hops. This is smooth as heck. I can't say this is worth $4/bottle but I'm glad to have tried it at least once..

^had one of those from my 4 pack that I got recently and I don't recall the color looking at all like that...i'll have to have one again soon

if anyone is looking for stuff not available to them that would be available in PA let me know...i'm interested in trying some stuff from Russian River, Firestone Walker, 3 Floyd's as none are available around me

WallyHopp said:

Yesterday was seemingly Ipa day. So tonight a couple of us got together and sampled some darker beers

La Cumbre Malpais Stout.. Foreign/ Export Stout 7.5% IBU

Dark as sin in color.It poured a velvety smooth head. Taste wise, I get an overbearing sense of roasted malts, with a dry finish. It's not sweet at all. Yet it's chewy and smooth. It makes my head hurt thinking about the wide range of experiences I get with this. Bitterness throughout the entire drink.. Unlike almost any other stout I have tasted. I'm iffy jbug if you will like it. But it is definitely worth a try. I may be too harsh with it. It did win some beer awards so others felt it was solid. I don't get crazy craving for more. But its world class non the less. At least 95/100.

Peche Mortel by Brasserie Dieu Du Ciel ! out of Montreal, Canada.

I picked this up in a trade. I knew the BA score was mid 90s. I love coffee stouts so this was worth a try.. Screw off top was a surprise. Notched dates indicate 5-8.
9.5% ABV, Imperial Coffee Stout
If Ten Fidy and FBS had a baby, this would be the closest thing to that... I get a nice sense of some fruity notes (it almost leads it self to bourbon notes). Coffee smell isnt quite as pungent as you would think. Mouthfeel is amazing. I get a great sense of sweetness and then some roasted notes kick in. Then a touch of chocolate, and then some hop bitterness. A true world class Stout right here. This is my kind of stout. 99/100

I wanna say the sweetness and smoothness reminds me of FBS, and the dark fruit notes reminds me of ten fidy.

We have a Celebrator from a prior trade trade to try, and a surprise stout.

Click to expand...

Glad you enjoyed the Peche. Hit me up if you ever want some more

Got a chance to grab a 4 pack of the 2013 KBS. Really interested to do a side by side with he 14

The light shines through more than I thought

No work tomorrow...I think I'll have another beer later

Stone IPA at dinner when I went out for wings

Dessert at home:

^nice. Founders has found its way to Arizona and Texas but not New Mexico. So the wait continues. I have one bottle left. One of my absolute favorites.

Sorry Jbug. Gotta spoil one of the surprises. I visited Sierra blanca brewery in New Mexico back in august 2013. They are more of a contract brewery who has set styles in place. Kind of iffy quality wise. They do make a great nut brown. I tried their imperial stout on draft and fell in love back in august . Feeling some sort of hospitality from the friendly bartender, I bought a case. 20 beers within a couple weeks time, I decided to save a four pack and see how it aged. I ended up drinking one Monday night after I sent one to Jbug. Some 8 months later.

It's a 7.2% imperial stout. Reviews are iffy but truly low in volume.

I felt some sweetness but really nothing else. It was kind of just there. I don't want to scare you jbug but be warned. I guess I should have had one before magically sending one thinking it might be okay. Ba had the score in the 80 range so not terribly bad. Worth a try for sure.

I guess I bought a growler Saturday after going to 3-4 places. It's not a bad choice. It's a maibock lager 5%ish. It tastes very malty like a octoberfest. But had a deep sense of a hop bitterness that is a bit of a turnoff. I guess after five beers you can like something. But on a fresh stomach, you question lol.


2nd bottle down this week.


They've got me in a trance for sure. So grassy lemony and dank tasting. It's hard to explain.


On another note, with weather reaching 80 degrees I am feeling a thirst for quenching my thirst. IPAs and stouts aren't doing it. I had to have some of a relatives shock top apple to get some hydration. I think tomorrow I am going to total wine and selecting some session beers. BA scores aside, I just may like them lol

Just can't get enough of these California beers. Thanks JBug88


I guess going lighter and more sessionable can wait another week.

First drinking choice is sculpin since I have three of them. Maybe the Pliny after since it's the march 10 edition. Not exactly old but I wanna see how it stacks up compared to the last two times. Beer should have some sort of shelf life, right? Hangar 24 Dipa was a nice surprise and the modern times. I definitely owe jbug back the next time.

About parabola. Can that be enjoyed right away? How old had it been aged on its own?
I'm racking up these imperial stouts that I "want" to drink eventually.
Stone irs 2014
Marble 2012 bba imperial stout
Abyss 2013
Abyss 2012
Parabola 2014
Sn narwhal 2013
La cumbre la negra irs 2014

Parabola probably ranks the highest from a review standpoint. Has anyone had any yet this year? 14%. Wooooow

Finishing up a sixer of this



Brewed in British Columbia. Tasty IPA

Enjoy Wally!
The Parabola is already aged a year.
I have enough on hand that I can try the 2014 this year and have a few to age. I also have a 2013 waiting as well.
I'm going to tell you to sit on it. At least until fall/winter? I think that would be a great beer for a cold *** NM night.

-J-

Finally getting around to posting in here.

Tonight:




Finally warmed up here in CT, so I grabbed a sixer of the Worker's Comp thinking I would crack a few after grilling dinner. Still not in the mood for a saison, only put down one. Switching over to an old Arrogant Bastard I had in the back of the fridge.

Cheers, fellas.

Wally! My man.
Cracking the Hef tonight and maybe an Elevated.


-J-

I haven't been keeping up in this thread but I haven't stopped drinking quality brews

heading down to a tailgate for the Frozen Four championship; summer is officially close

JBug88, nice mini haul. Enjoy the beers.

Before heading to a birthday party on Friday, I went by Total Wine for some more variety. Weathers been great. I'm off of work for the next couple days.. Why not splurge.
ALL NM all star lineup

-Sierra Blanca Nut Brown.. English style brown. A touch nutty (obviously). Carbonation is moderate. I gotta get a good photo of it in action.
-Marble Pilsner is a touch hoppier/lemony tasting than I would prefer but I can't put it down.. 4.7% easy drinker.
- Project Dank 4/5/14. Maybe the best batch I have had. There's a reason I have now bought 6.
-Elevated four pack is always purchased when going beer shopping.


Dank is better than ever. Following review scores is tough online. I'm seeing more out of towners reporting back than in town guys. Since it has just released, I'm guessing not a lot are drinking the latest stuff just yet.. The mouthfeel feels lighter this time around. The malt bill changed but that apparently made it richer and darker. So I don't what to say.

Surprised a couple folks last night with the Sculpin.. It tastes pretty darn fresh. This time around, I'm catching more citrus and a bit of that "dank" flavor. It tastes like a lighter Stone Enjoy by in some regards. So the somewhat basic nature of Sculpin is refreshing.. I cant really say it reminds me of elevated though. Not the same type of beer. Prject Dank is on a whole other level of hop usage and smells. Sculpin isn't trying to be that though.. Great stuff nonetheless
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World Beer Cup results are in
http://www.worldbeercup.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/WBC14-Winners-List.pdf
Three local medals from my area. La Cumbre not one of them... That's crazy. Competition is stiff.

Marble's Pilsner won another medal. This time a Gold in the WBC for Kellerbier / Zwickelbier. I'm not that aware of the specifics of that category. But I guess that's a good thing for them. BA scores are average for the beer. i tend to like it for what it is. Some people dictate their reviews based off of the average score and or how many awards the beer has. Some beers though, fall through the cracks..

Hop Drop n Roll won the coveted American IPA gold medal. yeahitsRUST, how is that stuff? I know its from around your neck of the woods.


Panama Joe Coffee Stout won a GABF medal in October, and now a WBC medal.

I went by there to congratulate them with a celebratory beer.

Southern Hempisphere Pale Ale

Kind of danky. Kind of fruity flavors coming from the hops... I said it awhile back.. But you all need to try at least one beer with some S.A. hops.

Main Show.. Panama Joe Coffee Stout

8.4% ABV, 55 IBU
-Huge coffee notes. But they aren't too dark and roasted tasting, like a burnt taste. It never reaches that level. The bitterness never really comes out. It's just a smooth ride the whole time.. I went home with a growler of that.... Wish me luck tonight.

my favorite ipa so far. well balanced, and you can really taste the grape fruit in this beer. A nice strong beer as well.



a very good beer but very intense and that can be very off putting to people. The alcohol is noticeable, and very sweet. Can taste some caramel, dark fruits, and the smokiness from the oaks. With the alcohol, to me its like tasting rum or whiskey or some sort of brown liquor.

Cracked this last night for the fights.
Whoa. Really good, but tore me up.
A bit hot, but should be nice next year.

Shared a bottle with a few other people there.
Everyone enjoyed it.
-J-

Jbug, good to know about parabola. I will definitely sit on it until the fall time.

I ran through the Pliny last night, along with the Hangar 24 DIPA, and another project dank... Talk about a spectrum of flavors.

PtE this time around was a touch muted. I guess just one month on this beer makes it lose some of its luster? The hops didnt jump out at me like the last time. It also seemed just a touch under carbonated, which gave the beer an almost nitro like smoothness (ie flat tasting but it had a sense of creaminess). Velvety smooth DIPAs are hard to come by though. ABV non existent. Still world class

Hangar 24 DIPA: No freshness date/bottle date present. I had no expectations coming in, which is great to do sometimes. I read the side of the bottle where it stated it had honey in it. So I had built some expectations.. I caught slight hints of citrus and pine hop smells. Taste wise, I caught a huge amount of honey in the taste.. Like a malt backbone sweetness right in the middle of every drink... It makes for a unique experience. Age may have been a factor as the hop burst smells just werent really there... Checking out the BA score afterwards, I would say 86 seems rather low. It's at least a 90. The honey element, you do have to get used to, especially combined with hop flavors.

Project Dank: If all you know and love about DIPAs is the somewhat basic nature of what PtE brings to your palette, this beer is just something else. This was probably the freshest of the three, and you could tell. Hop smells and flavors galore... I've had elevated IPA months after canning, and they were fine.. I just don't know what it is.. Maybe the transit in beer trades. Time could be the true killer. The second PtE I got was amazing. With so many trades happening around the whole US, reviews and scores aren't reflecting what I am seeing from some of these beers.

Tonight, I'm gonna go with some local coffee stout and a modern times coffee stout to do a quick comparison.

very nice stout. creamy, lots of chocolate but more of a dark bitter chocolate, and as well as the roasty and subtle smoky notes. a very subtle spice at the end of the cayenne pepper.