On today’s beer centric episode of Nerdsense, we review New Belgium’s Fat Tire & Friends CollaBEERation Pack, featuring radical interpretations of New Belgium’s Fat Tire Ale by distinguished brewers Allagash, Avery, Hopworks, Firestone Walker, and Rhinegeist.
It was an amazing time and, hopefully, an enlightening listen for you, our listeners. Cheers!
Look for the edited down video in the next day or two!
Wow! We’ve made it to 75 Episodes of beer reviews in under a year! We have many more to release and many more beers to drink.
If you listened to Episode 94 of Nerdsense then this is a edited down video version.
We tackle 6 beers in this video so it’s A LOT longer than our other videos. It’s about 46 minutes of Fat Tire awesomeness! New Belgium got some top notch breweries to brew some interesting variants of their flagship Fat Tire Amber Ale!
We spent a Friday night meticulously going through each variant and just geeking out over what some big name breweries did to New Belgium’s Fat Tire. We even pair them off and cuvée the fuck out of them.
Mike and I had a fucking blast making this video and really hope you have a great time watching it.
We got the Old Guardian joining us for a beer! What did Mike and I think of Stone’s dry hopped barleywine? Watch to find out…or just look at the rating…that pretty much sums it up.
Style: Barleywine
Container: 22oz Bottle
Glassware: Stemmed Tulips
Notes: From time to time, we like to tweak the recipes of some of our most long-standing beers—like Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine—to create unique variations. This year we’re taking it to the next level by dry-hopping it with Pekko hops—a new varietal from Washington’s Yakima Valley—which in turn add notes of stone fruit, orange, lemon and mint to this bready, toffee-like beast of a beer. 11%
Rating: 2.25/5 (After further discussion Mike and I decided the status of the beer may have swayed our reviews and think it’s more towards 2.25.)
Holy Smokes! This is a big beer. It was so big that we had to knock it down a quarter of a point!
Style: Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout
Container: 12oz Bottle
Glassware: Stemmed Tulips
Notes: Robust, silky smooth, full-bodied and altogether extremely American rendition of an Imperial Stout aged for 6 months in the very finest Bourbon barrels. 17.1%
Rating: 4.75/5
Another batch of Night Shifts rotating Presidential Double IPA series!
Style: DIPA Container: 16oz Can Glassware: Night Shift Flutes Notes: We tried something new this time around, using experimental HBC342 and HBC517 hops. Our latest Presidential DIPA delivers a fruity, pineapple-tinged aroma followed by big notes of citrus. 8.0% Rating: 3.75/5
Yeah Yeah…We know, we haven’t put out a REAL episode since #88. Life got in the way for both Mike and I which caused us to not be able to record an actual podcast. We were able to get some beer reviews recorded so those will be coming regularly as usual.
While on the topic of beer reviews…this is another Drinks Volume. This could be considered the Chicago episode. This collects two reviews from Chicago based breweries Pipeworks Brewing Company and Arcade Brewery!
Style: Double India Pale Ale
Container: 16oz Tall Boy
Glassware: Firestone Walker Tulip and Spiegelau Tulip
Overall Nerdsense Rating: 4.5/5 Notes: Look: Filtered golden hue with nice white lacing
Nose: Orange citrus, spicy pine. Cotton Candy sweetness Taste:sweet malt at the front with the hops at the back that keeps it balanced
Style: Grapefruit IPA Container: 22oz Bomber
Glassware: Tulips Notes: (From Website) Arcade Brewery has crafted this very sessionable IPA featuring citrus hop aroma and the addition of grapefruit; creating an awesome balance between hop bitterness and the citrus bite. A fine balancing act of biscuit malts allows a long hop finish wont fatigue taste buds; allowing the second pint to build off the first. An immensely sessionable ale, [the] Grapefruit IPA will win over all drinkers and give IPA lovers a new take on the incredibly popular style. Rating: 3.75/5
Another installment of Nerdsense Drinks this week because…well sometimes being adult is hard. In this weeks installment we collect 2 Trillium Reviews. We have our review from Episode 23, Trillium Citra Dry Hopped Free Rise and Episode 34, Double Dry Hopped Melcher Street! Don’t forget to check out the original videos if you dig the audio!
Style: Farmhouse Saison
Container: 22oz Bomber
Glassware: Flute and Tulip
Overall Nerdsense Rating: 4.25/5
Notes: (From the website) This special edition of Free Rise, one of our signature farmhouse ales, highlights locally sourced Danko Rye from Valley Malt and Citra in the dry hop. A floral, citrus hop profile is balanced with subtle, nutty malt character and a delicate black pepper spice. Light in body, with a clean, bone-dry finish, Citra Dry Hopped Free Rise is a welcomed addition to our family of farmhouse ales.
Style: IPA Container: 22oz Bomber Glassware: Snifter and Tulip Notes: This amped up American IPA features a heavy dose of Mosaic hops. The spicy, resinous, herbal aroma bursts with nuances of tart citrus, tangerine, clementine, and subtle green onion. Bold flavors of under-ripe melon, cantaloupe rind, and pineapple are highlighted with gentle bitterness and delicate, biscuity malt character. (From website) Rating: 4.75/5
This is two Morph reviews for the price of one!! The first part is just Shaun doing a normal Morph review since Mike is in California. The 2nd part is Mike, Shaun and their buddy Theo doing a review onsite at Night Shifts Oktoberfest on September 24,2016. The audio quality of the onsite review is very poor but it was fun to do so we thought we’d tag it on our normal review.
Style: IPA Container: 16oz Can Glassware: Night Shift 12oz Snifter Notes: Our mid-September edition features a blend of Falconer’s Flight, Bravo, and Vic Secret hops. Light, fresh bergamot and orange zest aromas. Smooth bodied with pleasant bitterness. (5.3%) Rating: 4.15/5 <– It’s between 4 – 4.25, right?
Hill Farmstead has made its way down to the table this week. We dive into a double dry hopped version of their Farmhouse Ale, Arthur!
Style: Farmhouse Ale Container: 750ml Bottle Glassware: Stemmed Snifters Notes: Arthur (1922-2005) was our grandfather’s youngest brother; Hill Farmstead Brewery rests upon the land that was once home to him and his 13 siblings. In his honor, this farmstead™ is crafted from American malted barley, American and European hops, our distinctive farmhouse yeast and water from our well. Unfiltered and naturally carbonated, this is the ale that I dream to have shared with Arthur. (6%) Rating: 4.25/5
We have another installment of everyone’s favorite YouTube Beer Review Show, Nerdsense Drinks! This weeks episode collects two of the Vermont greats! We have The Alchemist Heady Topper from Episode 28 to start the episode with Lawson’s Sip of Sunshine from Episode 42 to end it!
Don’t forget to check out the videos if you like listening to the episode!
Style: Double IPA Container: 2 x 16oz Can Glassware: Small tasters for look only then drank from the can Notes: (From website) Take a big sip of Heady and see what hop flavors you can pick out. Orange? Tropical Fruit? Pink Grapefruit? Pine? Spice? There is just enough malt to give this beer some backbone, but not enough to take the hops away from the center stage. Rating: 5/5
Style: IPA
Container: 16oz Can
Glassware: Tulips
Overall Nerdsense Rating: 4.25/5 Notes:This lupulin-laden India Pale Ale is packed with juicy tropical fruit character, bright floral aromas and delectable layers of hop flavor. Pour mindfully, inhale deeply and enjoy a tropical vacation in a glass.
