Fall Time Brews

Summer brews get a lot of hype.  Those thirst quenching, fruity wheat beers are easy and fun to drink while at picnics, parties and around the fire pit.  I love a good Bell's Oberon or Dogfish Head Festina Peche.  Christmas beers, with their spices, and winter warmers, with their high abv, get the attention of those looking to sip next to the chestnuts roasting on an open fire.  Packed in between those two beer seasons, are Oktoberfest beers.

I like a good malty Oktoberfest Lager.  I did my best to brew an oktoberfest ale for my wedding, it wasn't the same, but it was good. For the pure German in you, you can drink some Spaten or Paulander- easier to find German Oktoberfest beers. For the domestic side, I enjoy Flying Dog Dogtoberfest and Sam Adam's Oktoberfest.

But what else do people drink in the Fall?  I have a couple ideas of what I like.

Bring on the IPAs. Many people think that they summer is too hot to drink the hop bombs. The high IBU beers get drowned out by the Christmas beers, so drink them while you can.  It isn't quite cold enough to need the high abv beers, but the 6-7% beer might cut through the fall chill.  A perfect beer to grab would be the Sierra Nevada Estate- the freshest of the fresh, all locally grown ingredients. Grab a jacket and head outside.

The darker beers also work well when it starts to get dark earlier.  The porters, stouts and brown ales all work well.  The beers with a little extra body can carry you through the tail gate.  Picking up some Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald would impress a newcomer to craft beer or the seasoned mustached CAMBRA member.

Fall has unique beers too.  Pumpkin beers are in season.  I am not the biggest fan of them, but there are enough people that cannot wait.  Dogfish Head Punkin, Southern Tier PumpKing, Heavy Seas Great Pumpkin and (if you need some warming) Weyerbacher's Imperial Pumpkin are all great beers that give a fresh dose of pumpkin.  Goes great with corn field mazes.

Finally, find some of the unique seasonals.  First one that should come to mind is The Bruery's Autumn Maple.  This perfect for Thanksgiving beer is brewed with yams, maple syrup and other spices that would accompany a Turkey dinner. Check with the local brewpubs to see what unique ingredients they are throwing in their beers, and take home a growler.

Hopefully, you can embrace Fall beers.  They are versatile and easy to drink.  What are your favorites?

Taming of the Brew Recap

Here is my late recap of The Taming of the Brew- a fundraiser for the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble. This is the eighth year for the TotB, of which I have gone to four of them. Crowd wise, this was the best feet yet, although that may be due to the raise in ticket price- I heard dumped of tickets left over, which hadn't happened in previous years.

On to the beer. Nice new entries, thanks to Breaker Brewing and Purple Healer coming to the TotB for the first time. Breaker is out of Wilkes Barre, and has caused a bit of a ruckus lately with their expansion plans- they are converting an old catholic church into their brewing facility/brewpub. I tried all of their offerings, my favorite being the IPA that they brought along. Purple Healer is a nano brewery that is just starting up in Bloomsburg. Brewer Larry DeGreen has hopes to complete his paperwork in the next month. He provided a very good dopplebock, and I chatted with him about his Czech Pislner. Yes, Fuggled, he does a triple decoction. Hopefully, his paperwork goes through soon and we can sample some of that.

The award for best beer went to Otto's Apricot Wheat, a fruity sweet, light, refreshing beer. It wasn't too over the top, but right in line with a good wheat base, complimented by the sweetness from the apricot. The Best Food award went to The Eagles Mere Inn, although I am not sure what. They had, they typically provide very good food at TotB and at the restaurant (my wife and I have stayed there, and it is awesome). The Best in Show award went to Purple Healer. Although there may be some hometown bias, the beer was delicious, so you cannot argue with that.

Other things to note are that Marley's Brewpub and Turkey Hill (whose beer, like Breaker, is not quite available to the public) were both represented well. I thoroughly enjoyed the offerings from Turkey Hill, I thought the Golden Ale was simple yet exactly what I would want, while Marley's had a Hefeweizen and (I believe) scottish ale. I tried the Hefeweizen, thought it was good, but I do not trust myself on quality in Hefes. I'll get to the brewpub and try what I was hoping they would have- the Kolsch.

The person pouring from Weyerbacher might have had the best line up. Merry Monks, Double Simcoe and Verbotten were being poured out of bottles. I could have take. That table home with me. As an added treat, he opened a bottle of Tiny (apparently from his personal stash) and shared it. I truly believe it might be one of the best Belgian Imperial Stouts out there.

Overall, it was a good time, a bit pricey, but the beer and food were worth it.

Zotten Replaced with Verboten

As most people know, Weyerbacher had to take Zotten off the shelves about a month ago due to a trademark dispute with a Belgian brewery.  So out comes Verboten.  Basically the same brew, but with different labels, different name and no longer featuring a jester.  Hopefully, this is safe and we can go back to enjoying the delicious brew.

Zotten off market?

Pulling from a Beer Advocate thread, Weyerbacher's Zotten will be pulled due to a settlement with Bierbrouwerij De Halve Maan.  Apparently, there is some issue with Zotten's labeling being too similar.

This is upsetting news, as Zotten is one of my favorite beers from last year, and I was looking forward to it again.

Original article here, in Google Translate.

PA beer and Wieters- and Happy Birthday Brad

Good day yesterday. Grabbed a Stoudt's pint glass from Max's on Pint Night. Followed it with a Weyerbacher Foxtrot (Biere de Garde). And then, finished the night off watching the O's beat the Mets- with Wieters crushing an opposite field HR.

The Stoudts was their American Pale Ale. It is a very basic APA, exactly what one would expect, nothing special or different from a general mold. I thought it was a golden color (wish it was darker), little head (can blame the bartender) and the nose was a little hops with some malt to cut it up. The taste is balanced with malt and hops, nothing over the top (could use a little more hoppiness to it). I thought it kind of tasted watery when drinking it. Overall, I think this beer could work as a summer BBQ beer. Not afraid to drink it, and very drinkable.

The Weyerbacher was more complex. I found it hard to describe. I will try. The very dark brown colored concoction had a sugar/caramel/molasses smell to it. The molasses came though on the taste followed by a coffee-esque roastiness, but they didn't get beat out by the undertones of the mild hops, which were present but not overpowering (this was from Weyerbacher, you never know). There was some other stuff mixed in there, but either a) I can't remember or b) I wasn't sure what I was tasting. What I do know is that it is a good beer. I wouldn't drink it for and entire night, but I will be grabbing a few more in the future.

Weyerbacher is 2 for 2 on the new beers I have tried from them. I am glad I was able to try a pint.

Eric grabbed a Kona Fire Rock Ale. I had a sip. Not a bad beer. Seemed like a beer to drink for an entire night. Light and airy in the mouth. Very drinkable.

Best part of the night- Matt Wieters. He has steadily gotten better. One step at a time. Thank goodness.

And a Happy Birthday to Brad. Enjoy the Beer and the Game.

A new beer at the Pint Night

I wasnt going to go, but ended up with a Weyerbacher Zotten, their Belgiam style Pale Ale. Nice beer. Apparently, yesterday was the national release of the beer. I was glad I stopped in for one.

Here is what they said about it in their press release.

"Zotten (rhymes with verboten) is bottle conditioned, with a small amount of yeast sediment and carries the distinctive flavors of the house abbey yeast strain that Weyerbacher uses for its Merry Monks’ Ale. At 6% abv, this is one tasty session beer. With a dry hoppiness for balance and fruity notes on the palate the bottle conditioning finishes this beer with a very nice complexity."

The bars which apparently have it are: Max’s, Mahaffeys, Jack’s Bistro, Lures, Racers, Alonzo’s and Frisco’s.

If you are going out, grab a pint.

Initial Press Release here.

Max's

Started my Wednesday Happy Hour with a Weyerbacher Echo. Good beer, it is a rye beer and you can tell. Tons of rye, but a good balance on the hops and malt. Could go for one right now.

Next I had a Corsendonk Pale Ale. I wouldn't have minded not having this. I wasn't looking for a hoppy beer, but this was over spiced to me. I would have to be in the mood to try it again.

I gave the Acme IPA a shot. After tasting this, I thought it was fine. Nothing great, nothing bad, just an ok IPA. I don't mind it at all. Then I realized it was made by North Coast Brewing. Most of what I get from North Coast starts with Old and ends with Rasputin. It is hard to judge a brewery when you are comparing an IPA to a stout, but I guess it was a little more special.

Finally, I gave the Snake Dog on cask a whirl. This was one beer I knew I wouldn't be disappointed in. I wasn't. Try it, Drink it, enjoy it. It is totally worthwhile (especially on cask).