Oktoberfest = Beer, Brats, & Pizzas

On October 16th a few of my close friends and I celebrated Oktoberfest and spent the evening trying different Oktoberfest lagers and pumpkin ales. This turned out to be a good excuse to drink beer and eat pizzas with good friends, but also an opportunity to rate some beers and put together a post for the blog. We used a simple rating system that we broke down to four simple sections, aroma, flavor, mouth feel, and an overall impression; all rated on a scale of 1 to 5 for each section. We each had four Oktoberfest lagers and one pumpkin ale; next year we’ll have to do more pumpkin ales.

Oktoberbucket

@NuttyAroma kicked off the celebration by opening his cooler and surprising us all with a growler of Oktoberfest from Hangar 24, which was followed with a Hoffbrau, Paulaner, Ayinger, and we saved the pumpkin ale from Shipyard for last.

Hangar 24 Oktoberfest

Hofbrau Oktoberfest

Paulaner Oktoberfest Märzen

Ayinger Oktober Fest-Märzen

Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin

Here’s how they scored.

The winner was clearly Hangar 24 Oktoberfest, everyone was nodding in agreement on how good it was after the first sip. @NorwalkPhil mentioned to me days later that by drinking Hangar 24’s beer first, it had set the bar high for the rest of the beers; I agreed, it was a tough act to follow and the rest of the beers didn’t satiate the palate quite like we would have liked. @NuttyAroma and I ran into someone from Hangar 24 at LABeerWeek (new post in a few days on LABeerWeek) and told him about our little Oktoberfest gathering and how we really enjoyed their Oktoberfest brew, and even before I tallied the score I thought hands down they were the clear winner. He was pleased to hear this and proceeded to tell us that it was brewed with malt, hops, and yeast which all came from Germany; I’m all for it, Heil to the Fatherland!. @NuttyAroma, thanks for picking this one up; good call!

My usual pizzas were grilled, BBQ Chx and White, but made a new one with Bratwurst and apples that had good flavor and was perfect for Oktoberfest, but needs some tweaking.

A big thanks to all that attended, @Diskedo, @NuttyAroma, @Hecs14, @MCL8KRZ, @NorwalkPhil, @MetalFaceTrebor, we have to do this soon, maybe a BYOGrowler?

 

Next post… LABeerWeek at LA Union Station.

 

 

 

Sierra Nevada Summerfest

I enjoyed this beer on the last day of summer, so I’m a little late posting this.

The beer had a light citrus hop aroma, but only a faint flavor of  citrus and malt, the hop was not present.  A smooth finish but was surprised by how much leftover taste of honey was on my palate; present after the fact, about a minute after the beer washed down.

Lagers don’t get as much love from the craft beer community.  I’ve questioned the reasons and I’m sure everyone has a good reason to look down on lagers, but I think those of us in the craft beer market have transitioned to other flavors and we look for that anytime we go out to grab a six pack or a pint.  A lager is now bland compared to the bold complex flavors of many other style of beer available to craft fans, thus a lager becomes your little brother whom you ran away from because you didn’t want him hanging around with you and your friends.  I still enjoy lagers and probably most of your friends do too, but I don’t have them often, I just get nothing from them when it comes to flavor.  Do you agree with me when it comes to lagers?

A good lager but nothing more, a simple beer; three beer caps on the KBRS.

PS

Come back this week for some Oktoberfest posts.