Thursday, November 13, 2008

Magic Hat and Christmas Special



Got myself a variety pack of Magic Hat in Charlotte when I was there last, and picked up the Shiner Winter beer recently. We were thinking that this may be Shiner's heralded 100 year anniversary beer, but not so. It's just a seasonal. Shiner was selling this beer only in 12 packs, but just recently went down to 6 beers. But this is one of the first of my Winter Seasonal Beers.

Magic Hat Circus Boy The Hefeweizen
Cloudy and orangish straw. White strong head. Nose has a little Orange Peel and ester. Nice breadiness is the first I get, withlittle to no AT. Low on the orange peel stuff. Low carbonation,nice. There is some noticeable bitterness in the middle of thepalette. Warms to a little more orange and bitterness. I've had similar hefes, but I'm more partial to witbier. Good mouthfeel and very drinkable. Midlevel 3 Star for me.

Wikipedia has cascade hops in this one. Who uses Cascade in a hefe?

Shiner Holiday Cheer
Pours dark copper color. Smell in bottle and on head is of apricot/peaches as the dominant note. Cocaine snorting sniff gets me a little malt, probably too cold right now. Light tan colored head. My first draught: first get a touch of malt, then peaches/apricot, then maybe some other fruitiness,then of all things roasted malt in the aftertaste. Mouthfeel is not quite there for a wheat beer I like. The hops on the aftertaste are coming in a little stronger now. Kind of icky hops, like a German hop. The bottle says it has pecan and I can see a little nutiness now on the finish. Very nice sweet beer, and I love apricot in a wheat beer. Just seems to work very well. Once I nail my Belgian witbier homebrew, I'm going for the apricot in extract. Good low carbonation, especially as it warms. I'll stick it with 3 Star right now, but a 3 Star for me, thanks to the ickiness. As the title is "Holiday Cheer" and it has Christmas Colors, I'm going to count this in the Christmas beer category.

Magic Hat Participation Lager
Strong white poofy head on top of a straw colored beer. It's got that lager smell with a little sweetness, maybe Munich malt. Could be smelling fruit. Tastes of a basic harsh hops and a little gritty. There is some Munich in there as well, but the high carbo and medium drinkability overpower this lager. Almost reminds me of my homebrewed lager,which is not all that great. The finish is nice and quick.The malt bill makes it better than an MGD, so I'll give it a high 2 Star. Perhaps in a better time of year with some food it would be better. But at least we are participating in democracy. OBAMA BUMAYE.

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