What Beer Are You Drinking Fall 2010

[HipFlask]

Well for most of us summer is slipping in to fall. The leaves are changing, the heat is gone, and much colder temps are a coming. We are 4 weeks into the football season already. The Octoberfest Beers are out and on sale. I did not really like the Leinenkugel's Fest beer. Beck's and Sam Adams October's are much better product. I'll have to search out more OF beers. Also I have been pouring Kapuziner Schwarz-Weizen, Lagunitas Lil Somethumin Extra, Guiness and English IPA. So what about you? What Beer fits the season?

[imbibehour]

I reviewed Avery's The Kaiser, an Imperial Oktoberfest Lager.

It's a great beer, good price too! Hope to check out some more Fall beers

[Barrel_Proof]

A nice pour of Dale's Pale Ale from Oskar Blues, here. The first one I've had since I enjoyed this excellent ale with Leif in Sweden last month! I found two 12 packs in Waukesha on my way to Beloit last Thursday and packed them all the way to Seattle and then to NYC!

[Gillman]

Hey Cliff, Dale's Pale Ale is on draft at Gingerman in New York. Recently passed through the city on a trip to western Jersey for a wedding. Gingerman is as good as ever but I was impressed also with the Pony, which gets a younger crowd and is out on 10th Avenue and 45th Street. Empire Brewery was being featured from Syracuse (it was craft beer week in NYC) and their Harvest Bitter on handpump dispense was excellent.

I finally found Guinness FES - not in any Irish bar - I stopped in a few and asked but no one had heard of it - but in a wholesale-retail beer outlet on Chrystie Street below Houston, which is not too far from Whole Foods and its great beer selection. I'm sure Whole Foods has it since they have everything, but I got to this other place first and took one of the three sixers of Guinness FES. The owner had some draft taps going for samples and I tried some Russian stout, from a Florida micro (Cigar something ... can't recall full name), which was amazingly good, and Captain Lawrence Smoked Porter from a micro in New York State north of the city somewhere, also top quality. The owner was into strong stouts and we had a good conversation, he was interested in my approach to blending.

This trip however renewed my longstanding feeling that American Pale Ale, the type where the Cascade or Chinook hop is very prominent, just isn't my style. That lavender/grassy/pine thing is just too big for me. I like a more English-style pale ale, which many craft brewers in the U.S. make (Dale's is a good example), and most porters and stouts.

I found some Fisherman's Pumpkin Stout on Chrystie Street, which is a silky black stout but informed by the typical spicing of a pumpkin ale. Those who can't find it should make their own: blend two-thirds any good stout and the rest any good pumpkin ale.

The best pumpkin ale I had was Weyerbacher's Imperial Pumpkin Ale at Gingerman which has a big winy taste and something like cardamon or some other exotic spice on the typical pumpkin mixture. Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale was great too with very pure flavours.

Gary

[Gillman]

I thought I'd check out the spec of Dale's Pale Ale and it turns out it uses 3 C-hops but also Northern Brewer for bitterness, which is an English styled hop. I guess I just like the particular house flavor it offers. I also like (always have) Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, it is still one of the best. It's just one of those areas where I don't like APA in general but like some in particular.

Gary

[unclebunk]

We had a nice assortment of German beers for our Oktoberfest party last night: Hofbrau Original, Spaten Ur Marzen and Radeberger. Somewhere along the line, while in a well-oiled haze (fueled by the eventual addition of bourbon), we switched over to English ales and American microbrewed ales: Old Speckled Hen, Samuel Smith Imperial Stout, Wychwood's Hobgoblin Dark English Ale and Goose Island's Harvest Ale. Great beer night!

P.S.--If you're going to drink Old Speckled Hen, get the bottled version and not the can with the nitrogen widget. The bottled stuff is light years better.

[spun_cookie]

Trying a Mammoth IPA 395. Interesting brew. Lots of fruit and floral first and now there is almost sage or sage brush.

This is out of the high Seriras. Interesting beer. I think its a good drinker and well balanced enough for an early IPA drinker.

[cigarnv]

After 4 days of way too much bourbon it was a laid back evening with a few Sammy Smith Pale Ale's...... a never let you down brew....

[ggilbertva]

...way too much bourbon? I think so.

Drinking a Duvel. Not sure about this one as it's a little hoppy for my taste.

[spun_cookie]

Today was an Arrogant Bastagd and a Meantime IPA out of the UK. Both good and very diff from one another.

[imbibehour]

I just tried a Goose Island Bourbon casked aged Imperial Stout, it was exceptional! great stuff!

[cigarnv]

Sammy Smith Oatmeal Stout..... working well on this damp, cool day. Big, rich, sweet...... always good...

[SBOmarc]

Stone Brewey Vertical Epic, 10-10-10 release. A Belgian.

I am not a big fan of this style of beer. But having had all of the other releases I did not want to miss it.

[ggilbertva]

Came across a couple 4 packs of 2009 Brooklyn Black Choco Stout so of course it made sense to pop one open and enjoy.

[nor02lei]

I had a Jeti with the soft chocolate and pica nut cake for dessert yesterday and Brooklyn black chocolate stout 2009 with the same cake today. The paring didn’t work out at all yesterday and I wasn’t as fond of the beer itself ether al row I have liked it before, but today the paring was perfect. I had my 81-year-old mother for dinner and she felt the exact same way despite hardly not being a beer drinker at all in her life.

Leif

[Martian]

Trying an Old Rasputin Imperial Ale. Rasputin would have loved this.

Black, rich and toasty. This stuff is darker than Guinness and needs a spoon.

Also enjoying a Paulaner Oktoberfest-Märzen. Malty, slightly sweet and some hop finish. Clean and crisp. You can drink these all night. That's what it's brewed for.

[unclebunk]

Chimay Blue and Chimay Red. Two killers in my book!

[Gillman]

Hey Joe did you try your Guinness FES?

I tried a couple of porters tonight but they ended up down the drain, as they seemed insipid. Too much porter today, and stout, lacks enough bittering hop.

I had a scotch instead, my own blend.

Gary

[cowdery]

Lately I've been enjoying the Michelada, not a beer but a beer cocktail.

It's a Mexican thing. I picked it up at my local soccer stadium.

There is no set recipe but I've been making mine with about 2 oz. of Clamato juice, a squeeze of lime, a splash of soy sauce, a few splashes of hot sauce, and a dash or two of celery salt, to which I add a bottle of Old Style (any lager will do).

Don't knock it till you've tried it.

[PAspirit1]

...way too much bourbon? I think so.

Drinking a Duvel. Not sure about this one as it's a little hoppy for my taste.

I had this one last night. It was a little too hoppy for me as well. It was almost lemony? I'll come back to it some other time.

[ggilbertva]

Allagash Dubel with a brisket BBQ sandwich.

[callmeox]

I met a couple of good friends at Great Lakes Brewing Company for a couple of beers and some dinner. On the beer side, I had a pint of their Quitness Ale and a barrel aged Blackout Stout.

The Quitness is a "dry hopped IPA with a bitter aftertaste", brewed in honor of the former Cavalier that Clevelanders love to hate. It was surprisingly balanced for a beer with that bitter billing and I probably should have had had a second

At 9.5% ABV, the barrel aged stout was overly alcoholic and the high ABV totally dominated the sweetness of the stout. It was very disappointing.

I don't think I've ever tasted a high ABV beer and found it enjoyable. It is pretty odd considering the amount of barrel strength bourbon that I've consumed and enjoyed. I think that the higher alcohol content seems to be out of context in the beers

[Jono]

Last night we consumed some Halloween inspired selections:

King Goblin ale.....the favorite....dark and chocolaty...6.6%.

Belzebuth.....13.5% ....high alcohol - both sweet and bitter.

[imbibehour]

Well I've had so many great beers of late, and I also got back from Portland OR some time ago... that's beer nirvana right there folks...

The weather is starting to get some chill, so I've been Imibibing some stouts mostly Imperial, and some Oatmeal ones... great beer for the winter time for sure which feels like it's right around the corner....

These are all good

• Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti
  
• Dogfish Head Bitches Brew
  
• Founders Breakfast Stout

And this is off the hook

• Goose Island Bourbon County stout

[unclebunk]

And it's nice to have some good ol' Beamish and Murphy's Stout which, along with Guinness and Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout, will be in regular rotation around here this fall/winter.