749. SanTan Brewing – Oktoberfest
It’s the day after Thanksgiving, and we had a wonderful time yesterday with the family here at our house. I had plenty of my homebrew on tap, as well as lots of food. Today, I had to work from home, because with my new job I still don’t have a lot of vacation saved up. So, after getting plenty of work done, I decided to crack open this canned craft beer. SanTan Brewing sent me this beer a couple of months ago to try, and I...
734. Solemn Oath Brewing – Oktöberface
As you could see in my last couple of posts, I’m in Chicago for work, and thanks to @SubBeerBia I got some some recommendations for places to hit in the Chicago suburbs, including Lunar Brewing and Beer House Chicago. I already stopped at Lunar Brewing and had their Moondance IPA and Hopping Cow Cream Ale. So, the next stop was Beer House Chicago where I ordered a burger from Tom & Eddie’s next door and sat at the bar....
A Recount Confirms a Mistake!!!
As I approach the halfway mark on my journey to 1000 beers, I started to reflect upon all the beers I’ve had. I went back through and read many of my reviews, proud of the fact that I think I’ve gotten better over the last couple years. Early on, I marked whether a particular beer I had was a draft beer, feeling that perhaps it was important to note this, as it seemed to have a good amount of impact on things like head...
491. Pennsylvania Brewing Co – Oktoberfest Lager
As I’ve mentioned in my last few reviews of Penn beers (Penn Weizen and Penn Overlook IPA), my dad and sister brought several beers back for me from a recent trip to Pittsburgh. Since there’s only a few days left in the month of October, I thought I’d better have the Oktoberfest beer they brought me. Location: Poured into a large tulip shaped pint glass from the bottle at my home in Bloomington, IL. Numbers: 5.5%...
Best Beers for Fall
Summer is coming to an end – school has started, football season is about to begin, and the shelves at the local store are starting to fill with pumpkin and Oktoberfest beers. It’s a time when our tastes start moving from light, crisp, refreshing beers to those with a bit more maltiness and warming alcohol content. For me, I’m not sure there’s anything better than sitting outside on a cool fall evening,...
Best Oktoberfest Beers
I don’t usually do this, but last October I tried an Oktoberfest challenge. I tried a different Oktoberfest or Pumpkin beer every day in October. I learned a lot, and I’ve decided this year, to help you, by posting my favorite Oktoberfest beers. Oktoberfest is a 2-3 week festival held annually in Germany, running from late September to the first weekend in October. It’s an important part of Bavarian culture,...
Hacker-Pschorr Bräu – Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest Marzen Draft
This beer is #196 (Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest) on my list, but I took the opportunity to try this beer on tap today. My birthday was yesterday, and I thoroughly enjoyed the Goose Island Bourbon County Stout. My dad came to town today and we went out again to celebrate. We went to Bayern Stube, a German restaurant in Gibson City, IL. It’s a really interesting place, and since Oktoberfest is about to kick off, I wanted to...
Oktoberfest Challenge – Completed
Well, the Oktoberfest Challenge is complete, and it’s been a great month. There were only 2 days during the month when I didn’t have an Oktoberfest or Pumpkin beer (or even a beer that day). I know this sounds a bit cheesy, but I actually learned a lot during this month-long challenge. First, I gained much more respect for folks like Dave Selden of the 999 beers blog and Beer Drinker Rob of the Daily Beer Review. It...
216. Shmaltz Brewing – Coney Island Freaktoberfest
I had two days left for my Oktoberfest Challenge and only one beer left, so I decided to hold onto this one and enjoy it on Halloween. It’s been a fun Halloween evening – my son is dressed as Indiana Jones and my daughter dressed as a princess. I took them out trick-or-treating while my wife stayed home handing out candy. I enjoyed one of my Russian Imperial Pumpkin beers in a coffee mug while taking the kids around,...
214. Brauerei Beck & Co – Beck’s Oktoberfest
I’m down to the last couple of beers in the beer fridge for my Oktoberfest Challenge, and I think I still need one or two more. I remember covering Oktoberfest beers during one of our ABNormal Brewers club meetings last year, and remember being somewhat surprised at how much I liked Beck’s Oktoberfest in comparison to the others we tried. So now in the spirit of reviewing it, I thought I’d give it another go around....
211. Capital Brewery – Fest Seasonal Beer
When I went to Friar Tuck to find more pumpkin beers and Oktoberfests, I managed to find this one. I assume that since it was out this time of year, and is simply called “Fest Seasonal Beer,” that it is an Oktoberfest beer. As you can tell, I’m starting to struggle to find beers that qualify for my Oktoberfest Challenge, so if anyone here in town sees anything that would qualify, please let me know. The bottle...
210. SABMiller / Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing – Leinenkugel’s Oktoberfest German-Style Märzen
It’s starting to get pretty difficult to find Oktoberfest beers for my Oktoberfest Challenge. However, a trip to Friar Tuck after work netted a few new options. I still need a few more, but I’ll worry about that later this week. I was familiar with Leinenkugel’s, as it seems to be a brand some locals try when they’re looking for a microbrew. I tried one of their beers once and wasn’t a fan, but I made...
