Octoberfest!

Fall marks not only a change in season, but also a change in beer as we go from the light, crisp, hoppy, refreshing beers of summer, or a heartier beer in preparation for the colder nights and upcoming winter. Traditionally "Oktoberfest" (or Märzen) beers were brewed in March (Märzen) (because, before refrigeration, brewing wasn't possible in the summer....that and all the bacteria problems from the wonderful hygiene practiced back in the day). The origin of Oktoberfest the festival was October 1810 when Prince Ludwig of Bavaria (King Ludwig I) celebrated his marriage to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen (yes, she was hot...she had huge...tracks of land........ no Cindy, that's from something). What made this festival something to remember, was that Ludwig built a drum set (not really), but he did invite the public to celebrate with them (thus violating the traditional non-mingling of royalty and common folk). This festival took place in Munich...which, of course, still holds the festival today which lasts about 16 days, during which over 5million liters of beer are consumed. While most of our local Oktoberfest celebrations have come and gone, the actual Oktoberfest still has about one more week.



In the spirit of fall and Oktoberfest, i'm trying as many "Oktoberfest" style beers as i can, and as of today i'm only at 6 (but counting). i'd like to post my reviews of the beers, but i'd also like anybody else to post their reviews of any "Oktoberfest" beers that they've had as well.



So, what is an Oktoberfest style beer? They're typically darker(dark copper), full-bodied, malty beers with a distinct roasted taste (toasty). This is more of a general statement as there are multitudes of different "Oktoberfest" beers produced (as each brewery will have a different recipe). Some are lagers, some are ales, and once in a while they're just beer with an Oktoberfest label. However, most (in my experience) are really good beers.



How to review a beer? Good question. There's obviously no one right answer, but here's a good reference guide from the guys at Beeradvocate:

"What to look for
There are five categories to evaluating a beer with your review:

Appearance - Note the beer's color, carbonation, head and its retention. Is it clear or cloudy? Does it look lackluster and dull or alive and inviting?

Smell - Bring the beer to your nose. Note the beer's aromatic qualities. Malts: sweet, roasty, smoky, toasty, chocolaty, nutty, caramelly, biscuity? Hops: dank / resiny, herbal, perfumy, spicy, leafy, grassy, floral, piney, citrusy? Yeast will also create aromas. You might get fruity or flowery aromas (esters) from ales and very clean aromas from lagers, which will allow the malt and hop subtleties to pull through.

Taste - Take a deep sip of the beer. Note any flavors, or interpretations of flavors, that you might discover. The descriptions will be similar to what you smell. Is the beer built-well? Is there a balance between the ingredients? Was the beer brewed with a specific dominance of character in mind? How does it fit the style?
Mouthfeel - Take another sip and let it wander. Note how the beer feels on the palate and its body. Light, heavy, chewy, thin / watery, smooth or coarse? Was the beer flat, over-carbonated?
Drinkability - The beer's overall ease of consumption and your overall impression of the beer. Would you have another?"

So, more beer to come...but for now, I'm off to celebrate my anniversary with my Wife!! :)

On monday we (me, Wife, and Dude from my band) went to a Radiohead show at Blossom in (near) cleveland. it was an amazing, AMAZING show! (not at all enhanced by the fact that, literally, everybody around us was smoking lots of pot...and the dude next to us was blowing it in our face...). i would have posted this earlier, but the Dude from my band didn't send me the set list till this morning...so here it is:
15 Step
There, There
Morning Bell (Kid A version)
All I Need
Pyramid Song
Nude
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
The Gloaming
National Anthem
Wolf at the Door
Faust Arp
Exit Music for a Film
Jigsaw Falling Into Place
Idioteque
Climbing Up the Walls
Bodysnatchers
How to Disappear Completely
Videotape
Paranoid Android
Dollars and Cents
Reckoner
Street Spirit

ENCORE:
Lucky
Everything in its Right Place

Totally awesome. oh, and no beer was had...i wasn't about to pay $8 for a bottle of bud light. to simulate the experience, i just peed in a bottle i found laying around, and drank that. (of course i didn't...geez)

oh, and one last note.... i love cycling! if i was a pro athlete, i would totally be a cyclist. just saw the olympic road race....very good. Cancellara had an awesome race! i can't wait to see how he does in the time trial with Schumacher, and Vandevelde (he's American), and Evans, etc....it'll be good.

beer tasting......?

On saturday we went to the Dublin Irish Festival (in Dublin... ohio...). we saw this awesome band, Scythian. check them out, buy their albums, and go to their shows. very talented, very fun. they have quite an impressive resume, and they're all very talented. (made me wish i was in a band like that...one that's fun, and everyone can party to.... it'd be cool to see everyone dancing to my beats...) so anyway, they were good, and the festival was awesome (lots of cool shops, and consequently, lots of cool purchases (for my basement pub...when it's done)..and lots of ..people), and (and and and) LOTS of good beer (and LOTS of just... beer). one interesting thing that this festival had that caught my attention was a whiskey tasting (not really interested, b/c i'm not a whiskey fan), and a BEER tasting! so hell yeah, i was going to goto the beer tasting. i thought this would be awesome, and i'd get to try all these cool Irish beers, and have someone knowledgeable about beer talk about them, so i might actually learn something. so my Wife and i signed up for the last beer tasting of the night at 830 (the others were all full), and went on our merry way. 830 rolled around and were were in line early to get a good seating and excited about that tasting that was about to ensue..... however, i am an idiot. for whatever reason, it never crossed my mind (probably b/c i had more than my not so fair share of beer) that at an Irish festival, full of beer, full of people drinking lots of beer, going to a beer tasting at 830 at night might be a little.....crazy. however, that would be an understatement.... b/c these were drunk people who lived in Columbus.....which means they're ohio state fans....which means they're assholes. every 30 seconds or so some dumb ass would stand up and yell "o-h!" and all the other dumb asses (everybody else) would yell back "i-o!" (get it? it's spells o-h-i-o!! yay! spelling is fun!!!!!!!!! ) ...all the while the two people running the tasting were trying to talk about the beer (unsuccessfully....and were getting really annoyed) ..... and, instead of waiting to taste their beer (b/c the organizers were trying to do a legit tasting, look, smell, taste, etc...with small portions....that's the picture up there, my tasting), everyone would down it and want more.....and THEN some bagpipe and drum corp walked up and played the osu fight song, and led the stupid o-h cheer, and played more songs....and THEN the power for the pa system that the 2 people running the tasting were using (when they would attempt to talk to us about the beers) went out.....and overall...it was just a big drunken mess. in another context it would have just been good drunken fun...but when i was expecting a beer tasting, it was rather disappointing. i did get to talk to the guy running the tasting (the other person was a girl from Miller/Coors brewing, who supplied all the festival beer, including the Dublin Irish Stout, a festival exclusive), who was a fellow homebrewer. he gave me a good website to go to for homebrewing help, tips, etc. (the link's on the side).

so yeah, that was my sort of beer tasting. here's the beers we tried:

Peroni (the real title is Peroni, two italian words...which mean Peroni Blue Ribbon....sound familiar?....), which was a bavarian pilsner (a type of lager)

Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat: a good summer ale. it's a Belgian Wit in style, but brewed with a lager yeast strain and a top-note of blueberry added (which means, it's a white wheat (it's cloudy), with Lots of citrus....you have to strain to taste the blueberry).

Blue Moon's Honey Moon: another good summer ale. this is another white wheat (as is blue moon), but with definite honey undertones and orange peel added for some good citrus. unlike traditional wheats, which are usually left unfiltered (makes it cloudy), this one is filtered, and then has some yeast added back, so that it looks cloudy. (kinda shady.....but tasty).

Leinenkugel's Berry Weis: take the sunset wheat, remove the citrus, and add... blackberries, elderberries (that's what your mother smells like), and loganberries (i love those!!!!!... no really, i have no idea what the hell those are). it's a very drinkable beer, but VERY berry. personally, i think they add the berries in the form of syrup...it's so sweet and berry.

Killian's Irish Red: a typical red beer. tastes grainy with a good balance of bitter.....look if you haven't tried this, you probably haven't had beer. if you don't want to spend a lot of money on a good beer, but still want something descent, get this. cheap, and not half bad. (way better than like, high life, or pbr, etc.)

Dublin Irish Stout: a typical stout (mostly). this one is only sold at the Dublin Irish festival (presumably b/c Miller/Coors has the exclusive beer rights, and thus, they cannot serve Guinness), and it pretty good. there's not much up front, kind of watery, but then you get a rich chocolatey flavor, followed by a good healthy bitterness. a very rich, smooth beer. (i thought this was pretty good, and was my drink of choice for the festival).

...oh yeah, heh.... there was this "sessions tent" where you could go with your instrument, and sit in a circle with a bunch of socially inept people who go to sci-fi conventions and stand in the hallway singing songs inspired by their favorite shows, books, movies, etc. (really some of the worst noise you'll ever hear...it's so bad you feel so uncomfortable just walking by them), and "jam" together. since it's an Irish festival, you play Irish music. we walked by that tent several times that day, and EVERY time we walked by, they were playing the exact SAME song! All day long! the SAME song! i didn't realize the Irish had only one song.....i guess you learn something every day......

Bored? Beer.

So i really created this as a response to my wife creating her own blog. i figured that if she had one, hell, i couldn't be left out! Her blog is all about food (b/c that's her thing), so naturally, i figured that mine should be about beer (b/c that's my thing...that's blogable...i mean, my life isn't that interesting to blog about...and i'm not going to blog about gaming (dude, i just totally beat bioshock, and that game is tits! it's like....dude...the graphics are insane, the story is sweet.....), that's stupid..... and i can't blog about drumming (ok, so today, i totally played my drums....again.......dude.....)....though i'm sure my band shit will end up on here.....so when we get signed and start our big tour....you'll be the firs....you'll find out. Speaking of my Wife, she's out tonight with people for a "girls night out" which we both think is dumb....so i'm home all alone..... so i figured that i might as well start my blog tonight so that i won't update it for months (heh, about as frequently as i check my email). here i sit.....typing blah on a screen....about to either go practice (drums), or play oblivion (on my 360), or work on my basement (probably not)....and drink some good beer (well, some descent beer at least...it's all i have right now).

peace