30 September 2022

1694. Fall City Ottofest

Oktoberfest ends in three days, and I've still got a few Oktoberfest beers in the fridge to drink this weekend.  It's a Friday, a Bayern Munich Match Day, and I'm off work.  So, It's time to try this Festbier.

Remember when I called Switchyard, "Oktoberfest Lite"?  Well, this is kind of the opposite.  Almost too strong and powerful in flavor.  It's got a great aroma to it, and the taste is thick and a little overbearing.  It's fine to drink, the flavors are good, but it's not easy to drink.  Glad I only have one of these to drink, because that's probably all I would be able to handle.





Also, I obviously love the name of "Otto" being included in the beer's name.  Miss you, Jimmy.




19 September 2022

1693. Untitled Art Doughnut Pastry Stout

This beer was a gift from my buddy Steve.  He'd stocked up a few beers for me in his fridge, and brought them to Shanetoberfest to give me. 

Tonight, I decided to try and take another crack at Chapter 2 of the newest novel - it's been an emotionally rough one for me to write, as I'm combining a lot of details from Caitlin and I's early dates into the first date of my main characters.  So, since a little beer always seems to get my creative juices flowing, I popped this beer open.

It does have some serious quality to it, but I just don't really enjoy the flavor overall.
The smell is GREAT, it really has an amazing aroma to it.  I smelled both the can and glass many, many times because of how enjoyable it was.

The drink hits really hard with a chocolate taste up front - which is fine - but it finishes with a super-sugary/syrupy flavor to it.  It was more like cane sugar, or confectionery sugar - like perhaps even a molasses flavor?  Whatever it was, I didn't enjoy it.  And, I let it warm up for a good 30 minutes to see how that would alter the flavor, and it did nothing.  

Very quality beer, I just didn't really care for it.




17 September 2022

1692. Switchyard Oktoberfest

 This is the first Switchyard beer I've made the time for.
Both Garrett and I agree that it's really just an Oktoberfest-LITE beer.
It's got the flavors, but they seem muted.  Almost watered down, from what they should taste like.
It's not a bad beer, it just doesn't scream quality.
 
 


1345 REVISISTED: Ayinger Oktober Fest-Marzen

 Drank this beer for the first time during Oktoberfest 2019.
Garrett bought some for Shanetoberfest, and I shared his four-pack with him.




Athletic Brewing Oktoberfest NA

 This was a gift from my Bayern Brother Ray and his wife.  They brought them for me to try today.
It's a decent beer.  It does a good job at getting the Marzen flavor close.  I don't mind it, but I've had been NAs.




Krombacher Weizen NA

 Starting Shanetoberfest 2022 with a stein of Krombacher NA.
Decent flavor, a nice weizen with full flavors and really tasty for an NA.  Going to drink a lot of these today.




16 September 2022

1691. BrewDog Fellowship IPA

 I've been looking for this beer for a while.
It's a limited release for the "Rings of Power" TV series, which I am now ready to start watching (four episodes have been released...) now that I've got this beer for my viewing pleasure.

It's an IPA, so it's not my go-to beer - but, it's fine.  It's not that dry or hoppy, it's kind of refreshing.  It has an aroma that's enjoyable, almost fruity.  Then it drinks light and easy, goes down easy - but then it leaves a dry/sticky taste in my mouth.  

Happy I found the beer, happy I'm going to start watching the Series, and looking forward to sharing some of these with the guys in my Fellowship.




10 September 2022

1690. MashCraft Oktoberfest

 This is the only other Indiana-Oktoberfest beer here, so it'll probably be my last beer today.
There are some good German options, but I've had all of them before, so I wanted to add these local Oktoberfests to the website.

This one honestly tastes the exact same as the Oaken Barrel, which I said tasted exactly how I expected it to taste - so, this MashCraft beer is also good, flavorful and tasty - but also doesn't stand out in any way.  Which is fine, I got what I wanted from both of these beers, and they are enjoyable for the festivities.




1689. Oaken Barrel Oktoberfest

 So, the German-Amerikan Klub is holding their Oktoberfest celebration today - despite the fact that Oktoberfest doesn't start until next Saturday the 17th.  Nonetheless, some of my Bayern Buddies, their families, and I still got together to enjoy the party.

There are no non-alcoholic options here, so I'm going to press my luck and see how I handle a few beers, slowly tonight.

This Oktoberfest from Oaken Barrel is fine. 
It's exactly what I expect it to taste like, but there's nothing that makes it special.
It's still really enjoyable to drink.




04 September 2022

1688. Taxman Margarita-Style Spin Off

 This was absolutely delicious and tasty!  I really enjoyed this one, as we kicked off our Fantasy Football Draft for this year.  Sadly, I didn't get to host it, but we still had a good time.  I'm happy with my team.  I picked with my head instead of my heart - and that ended up with Tom Brady on my team.  At least I know I'll get betting points.

I wish there were more of these beers, because I would have had a few more, but Jason and I seemed to drink the only two that Troy brought.




1687. Taxman Flower Bond

 Full disclosure:  I took one drink, and poured out the rest.  This was disgusting.  Luckily, it was a free beer from my buddy Troy.  So, no guilt with pouring it out.  Very, very not good.