Punkin Ale

First off, the Houston Texans suck. Matt Schaub needs to be sat down. The picture on the left is fitting for the Texans Quarterback. Moving on.

September 21, 2008
State: Wishing I could sell my season tickets

Dogfish Head Punkin Ale
Strong tan head sitting pretty on top of a brown beer. Smells of pumpkin, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Put in my dimpled glass. Oh yeah. Brown ale fullness. Can taste the pumpkin, as it has that pumpkin character. I get the cinnamon and brown sugar. Maybe the nutmeg in the aftertaste. Lightly hop but a little high on the carbonation. Tastes a little roasty as well on the next draught, with a little bitterness at the back of the palate. A high three star and would be 4 if not for that bitterness. I like it b/c it does not taste like a pumpkin pie. But this is a great beer with more body than your normal Fall beer. Just ate an orange, and the roasted breadiness comes out now. You know what, this one is a 4 starer. Definitely the best Fall Beer I've had so far, and it blows away the other Pumpkin ales. Not too hard core, just right.

Oktoberfest and FAMU Football

Sitting here watching my alma mater Florida A&M whoop up on Howard U. We got a 41-0 lead and we just intercepted the ball and ran it back to the 4 yard line.

We found PLENTY more Oktoberfests at a different SPECS out here in the 'burbs, so I'm going to have to beer it up. Hold up. FAMU TOUCHDOWN. Fade pass.

I'm getting an Oktoberfest.

Sept 20, 2008

Rahr & Sons Oktoberfest

Nice brown color and opaque. Tan head. Light cinnamon and malt on a decent head. Nice full body and roastiness. Not much malt in first taste, kinda like a harsh feel on the back sides of my mouth, can't put my finger on it. Light nutmeg on the finish. A little gritty. Not really all that good with SOMETHING they put in there that is out of the ordinary. Nevermind, that's just metallic. I haven't tasted that one in a while out of a bottle. Very high metal feel. Not cool at all. Firmly a 2 star beer if not a 1 star with that metallicness. My glass may not be clean enough. I'll give it a go with one more later on. I have a 6 pack and it's a local beer (Fort Worth, TX), so I kinda have to give 'em another shot. This is my first R&S, and this specs has enough beer and local beer to rival Central Market. But I can't finish this beer. At least I'll have points to try another one today. The wife thinks it's okay. We both now agree that there is a lot of coriander in there. That must be it. The guys on Beeradvocate that gave it a low rating agree with me with the sour metal thing going on.

FAMU got another two scores while I was typing this, we are destroying these chumps. Mecca of Black colleges my arse.

Found another Oktoberfest... Yes

And I thought I had found all I could down this way without resorting to beer trading. We braved the roads of downtown to go to The Sauce, as that and a couple of Chinese and Mexican joints are the only ones that are open. Broken glass everywhere.

The waitress brings out my Oktoberfest and the wife's beer, whatever she ordered.

Live Oak Oaktoberfest
And its local. Light malty and cascade hoppy smell. Clear amber color. Light malt in the taste but medium to strong hops. WTF man? Lacy head. What's going on here. I'll have to try this one again at maybe Alamo Drafthouse or something. If someone told me this was a Pale Ale if not an IPA with that maltiness, I would believe them. I mention to the waitress that this is kinda hoppy for an oktoberfest, but she must be new as she didn't seem sure what I was getting at. Oh well, I'm already halfway through the pint. I even go to the kiosk to see what the "answer" is on the receipt. I has German hops on there, which could mean it has those musty hop aromas like the Hofbrau I have in the fridge. I taste the wife's beer and realize that she has a soapy oktoberfest while I have her Flying Dog Doggy Style Pale Ale. Isn't that just great. At least I got the style right, and even the hops. 3 Stars for the Doggy Style. It's so funny b/c I was thinking medium malt the entire time, but still got that pale ale flavor going on.

Live Oak Oaktoberfest, the real one this time.
Wow. Lighter amber than the Doggy Style, low head. Light malt and sweetness. Lops hops. True oktoberfest but has some bubblegum mintyness to it. Turns out the wife's lipstick is on the glass and that's what I'm smelling and tasting. Oh behave. Medium carbonation and kind of light in the body. 3 Stars. Goes great with the Guiness Au Jus sauce and roast beef sandwich we're having. Here's to hoping I can find a few more Oktoberfests before the season wraps up.

But the oktoberfest was what I thought it was. And we let 'em off the hook.

Oktoberfesting in a Green Bottle

I have this aversion to green and clear bottles, as it oxidizes the beer faster than an amber bottle. I'm even more wary of imports in green bottles, as it I know it probably got a lot of light on the trip overseas. I'm even MORE wary of imports in a green bottle from a corner liquor store which means that after its trip overseas, it has probably sat in the lit cooler for weeks if not months. But I need something new as I got the kegerator working finally, and I'm trying to get as many Oktoberfests as I can find.

September 16, 2007

Hofbrau Oktoberfest


Clear in a pilsner glass, I wanted more scent than what comes out of a beer mug. Clear straw color, strong poofy white head. Kinda skunk smell right off the bat. Dammit man. As the head goes down slowly, I'm getting more sweet smell off of it. Kinda like a lager sweetness. Tastes a little bready and lager vegetally. Bad bitter AT (aftertaste) man, very nasty on the back of the tongue. Kinda gritty and whatnot. Low carbonation, which is good. Medium bodied. The more I drink it the more I get a little of that sweetness. Typically the Oktoberfests I've had are dark and malty. If someone told me this was a budweiser or even a malt liquor, I would believe you. I'm not even getting that much Munich malt. Got to give this one a 2 Star. They say the German hops have the mustiness to it, so I'll roll with it. In a better situation, like on tap in Munich, this is probably a 3-4 star.

1554

Sitting here watching the Cleveland Browns, who haven't won since...

1554

9/14/2008

Another New Belgium product.

Dark brown and blood red in the light. frothy tan head, smells of choco, malt, light mapleyrp. biscuity as well.brown dark suager, light honey, light roast and smoke. a be;lgian dark ale to be sure. lightly Hopped. mod drinkablity, low-med carbo. a little bad mt on the at. full bodied. 3 star. not bready but kinda like english muffiny. I like this one.

Hunkering Down: Ike Beering

Yesterday our power went out, but we still had some cold beer. So I was able to try out the Flying Dog In Heat Wheat. It was a little humid in the house, so a cold wheat beer should do the trick. And it did.

Flying Dog In Heat Wheat

Just got to love that name. And there funkadelic bottle labels. This one has some high carbo but has a nice steady rush of coriander and orange peel. They kept the temperature low on the fermentation, so it doesn't have all those yeast fruity flavors that come through like in things like Hoegaarden, which actually turned me off to Hefs for a while. Just excellent in this hot weather. High 3 Star beer.

Hunkering Down: Hurricane Ike Beering

Yup,

Your favorite oilman is in it again with the Tropical storm/hurricane. Right now the weather is fine where we are in the upper Northwest corner of Houston. By design I do not live South of I-10. So we bought a lot of craft beer to hold it down during the storm. May as well start with the top...

Dogfish Head Raison d'etre

Had to get this one some day. I am trying to take a break from hoppy beers, and I am not finding much in the way of Oktoberfests out here. So I'm still buying wheat beers like it was summertime (which it is) and we are getting into the darker Belgians a bit more. As much as I love Dogfish, I had to cop this one. Pours with little than suddenly strong poofy tan head. Dark brown/crimson color of all things. I'm not getting much of a smell, maybe some syrup like stuff, but that's it. Tastes just fine. It took me a while to put my finger on it, but I would say it's somewhere between wine and rum. Got something like roasted fruit going on in there. It has beet sugar which I've never had straight up, so I'll assume that is what's giving me the molasses taste. Very nicely done, moderately drinkable, low carbonation. The finish is okay for me, doesn't linger. The finish is really alcoholy and lightly bitter. I like it and it would be a 4 starer, but that alcohol aftertaste is not quite what I'm looking for. There are other Belgians I would rather have. Big fan of Brown sugar. This would be great if it had a touch of bret in there or a touch of sourness to balance out the sweetness. Oh well, it has a lot more going for it than most of my 3 Star beers, low 4 stars. I could see me ordering this as a late desert beer or something, but not in everyday drinking. It's actually getting a little worse as it warms, which puts it firmly in 3 star land.