Monday, August 25, 2008

Oktober in August


Maybe it's cooling down where you guys live, but it still was way over 100 degrees on the heat index here in Houston. We still have Hurricanes shooting the gap every week or so. But things like St. Arnolds Oktoberfest and Harvest Moon are appearing on the shelves. Those negros at St. Arn even tapped their Christmas Ale at the bars. And I'm seeing the Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale and I think a Winter warmer in the local HEB. WTF man. I'm still losing 7 pounds of water weight in 18 holes of golf.
But I am starting to go back to malty beers as I'm kinda of IPAing myself out. I think I've had enough of the hops, as I did an IPA tour at the Sauce recently and I've been trying beers like the Sierra Nevada Anniversary and the Southern Star (new shit). I would have reviewed those but they were out of a bottle/can. I'll get 'em later. You know its something serious when a 6 pack of Shiner Helles Lager was knocking me over with sweetness at our fantasy football draft last weekend. So we have tried a couple of pumpkin ales and Oktoberfests. Here's the first one I've been able to get into the blog.



What's up with the "C", why not with a "K". I know these guys are patriots, but damn.

Copper color with a light tan head. Munich malt smell. Head has pretty good retention in this beer mug. (Eating spicy catfish and lemon ginger asparagus). Oh yeah. Kinda sweet like syrup, not caramely. Medium body, low hops (probably hallertau). Very well done again for Sammy. Kinda reminds me of the Shiner Helles Lager to be honest. Lower carbonation. 3 Stars. Maybe a touch of emptiness (wateriness) at the very end, which keeps it out of the 4 stars. Nice foil for this catfish. Granted, come late winter, I won't be talking much noise about Oktoberfests, as I'll need some warmers.


Buffalo Bills Pumpkin Ale (yesterday)

State: Eating pot roast with carrots and greens

A good friend of the family wanted to whip up some Sunday dinner and invited us along. Good stuff, as we had no plans. She knows we are a beering family, so she picks up some Pumpkin ale. Looks like apple cider. Low head that goes away fast. Very sweet smell, with remnants of cinnamon and pumpkin. I take a big sip and I notice its light body with lots of pumpkin and allspice. A little overwhelming for me. Low hops with a quick finish. Low carbonation. It's basically a pumpkin pie beer. Even has the light roasted malt near the back of the pallette, kinda like a browned pie crust. But I'm going to have to give this one a low 3 star. If they could dial the pumpkin pie back a little, I'd be in there. In this case, I'm looking for some subtly.


If I find my book, I'll go on and put in the St. Arn and Harvest Moon. Otherwise, I'm taking a 36 hour trip to Hotlanta and my grad school, Georgia Tech. It's a very quick turnaround but I'm going to try and squeeze in Sweetwater brewpub. We'll see. I'm a Ramblin, Gamblin hell of an Engineer, HEY!!!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

ney brotha hope the hurricane dont hit you .if you can try southern tier pumking or dogfish head punkin .by the way i dont think any beer taste like pumpkin pie but you and everyone on beer advocate keeps saying it

The American Don said...

We usually do pretty well with the hurricanes. We have the Dogfish Head out here and we'll grab it some time soon.