Yeah, in general, most American made Oktoberfest beers are a crime against nature. They don't specifically taste terrible, but they aren't very good.

I had 3 of those last night and was right as rain. And for a Sam Adams product, I liked them a lot. More balanced and not so same-y as most of what they make.


Friday night we met some folks out at a german place with a deep bench, and I did my once-every-few-years deal where I have a beer from the place in Germany where I used to work, Bitburger:



And as always, just whiffing the opened bottle brought flashbacks of green overalls, early mornings, and the 70hp diesel brewery-green VW Golf they loaned me. One every few years is enough.

My uncle brings Bitburger to every single family occasion...he used to live in Germany and always claims it's great. I'm not a fan, I can't put my finger on why, but it just didn't do it for me.

had a coffee stout from the bluegrass brewing co. from louisville. soooo good


the samples given out at this hometown brewfest were far too big. fell asleep sitting up in my car

My uncle was stationed there flying F4's for the air force in the 70's, and he loves it too. It's not an amazing beer, though. Very dry and grainy. I WILL attest to the fact that it is brewed under extremely clean, well-controlled "current good manufacturing practice" conditions (by a bunch of huge, surly farmers). That place was spotless, everywhere. If our spinach were bagged here in the US under conditions that clean there'd be none of these outbreaks.

woah, my uncle was in the air force too, 80's though.

Enjoying a few of these tonight and bought some Two Hearted Ale for tomorrow's Badger/Boilermaker game.

I've been drinking a lot of Newcastle Brown Ale lately. I'm not usually a fan of dark ales, but I think this stuff is pretty damn good.

Obligatory picture

this is real good.



this is just ok.

Certified Evil Ale from the Lucky Bucket Brewery in Omaha, it is 10% ABV and a Belgian Style Ale. I thought it was pretty damn good for a local micro-brewery attempting such a stout Belgian Ale.

Recently:


Ithaca Brewing Company, "White Gold"



This was good, mostly as an exercise in showing how different yeasts really do leave their mark on the flavor. It's crisp and fairly clean, but with belgian and champaign yeasts in there it has more character than it would've otherwise. Interesting, but only once.



Smuttynose, "Pumpkin Ale"

[img][375:500]http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/3388/dscn1323d.jpg[/img]


(Look at the effort that went into arranging this fine fine shot) You know, for a pumpkin beer, this didn't taste like a mistake. I rarely give in to seasonal schlok syndrome and buy something like this, but dammit these guys have yet to make a dud beer that I can find, so I figured If Not Now, When? And fuck me, but this really is pretty decent. The pumpkin flavor is subtle, and the spice starts out minimal but accumulates, so after two of these you're having thanksgiving dinner. It's not bad, really. Makes for a pleasant diversion.

Is it pronounced ITH a cah or i THACK ah? I have deferred to the former, but people I've known, people who are expert, say it in the latter way. & that makes sense to me.

I'M IG'NANT.

too many "new to me" beers out in portland last weekend to mention. the one that stood out head and shoulders though:



ninkasi total domination IPA. hope this starts finding it's way east....

Yeah me too.

Had a few of these over the past couple of days
http://www.magichat.net/howl/

yea no shart, I wanna get my hands on some.

Ayinger Altbairisch Dunkel

Had a few more of these than a Sunday night should generally call for. Malty, dark lager. Tasty.

I bought my buddy a bottle of this for his Halloween birthday:

[img][333:500]http://www.frothyhead.com/var/plain_site/storage/images/beer/united-states/moylan-s-brewery/hopsickle-imperial-india-pale-ale/6293-3-eng-US/Hopsickle-Imperial-India-Pale-Ale_beer_full.jpg[/img]

I am off the booze for a bit due to the impending birth of my child.

Oh that's funny - I just picked an Ayinger Octoberfest a few days ago. I used to have one of their wheat beer glasses, but I think the Mrs broke it.