As some of you out there are aware, my wife and I are expecting our first child in a few weeks. I feel that I have officially crossed over into fatherhood as apparently this past weekend I was more concerned with my yard (Damn crabgrass!) and various house projects on my ever growing "honey-do" list than with sampling fresh Oktoberfest and Marzen-style brews during some area Oktoberfest bashes like at Corner Brewery (Friday) and Original Gravity in Milan (Saturday). Yes, pretty soon I will be wearing bermuda shorts with very thin, long black socks hiked up to my boney knees, and saying things like, "A penny saved is a penny earned," and "Cold enough for ya?"
So I hope you all enjoyed it you lucky sacks - I do love Oktoberfest and this time of year and I believe this is the first year in a while where I haven't visited at least one place and listened to polka while drinking gigantic liter-sized mugs of traditional German brews like Marzen, Oktoberfest, classic Pilsener, Dusseldorf Altbier, Dunkels and wheats. Going completely off topic for a sec, if you ever find yourself in the Newport Kentucy area (or you know, like Germany), I suggest very strongly to visit the Hofbrahaus where it feels like Oktoberfest year round.
As a consolation, there are some pretty awesome local events coming up in October:
- Oct. 2, Ashleys in Westland will be holding their Oktoberfest party
- Oct. 2, the Corner Brewery in Ypsi will be celebrating John Lennon's birthday with a concert fundraiser. Funds raised will benefit the Peace Scholarship program for the Local Veterans for Peace chapter. And then on Oct. 5, the Corner will be releasing their seasonal Dusseldorf Altbier, Olde Number 22. In my opinion, probably the most well-rounded beer in Matt and Rene Greff's portfolio, I very much enjoy the fruity/estery notes balanced with roast and caramel coupled with the somewhat low-alcohol session beer style.
- Oct. 14 from 7 to 9 p.m., Arbor Brewing will be hosting their "Best of Michigan" beer tasting...sounds wonderful! I wanted to weep when I found out I couldn't attend their Belgian tasting a few months ago, this should be fun.
Random Reviews
Samuel Smith's Yorkshire Stingo
(This first review was written by my friend and partner in beer, John Zengel. He is a Seibel Institute grad and has been in the beer and retail industry for most of his adult life. He recently wrote a spot-on review on Samuel Smith's Yorkshire Stingo...Stingo is an old English term for strong or double beer)
I love Samuel Smith beers but the $10 price tag has kept me away from this beer but, while visiting a friend in Michigan I found a retailer selling it off for $4.99 a bottle!
The beer pours a cloudy reddish-brown color. With a nice creamy, dense somewhat dusty brown head of foam. The nose is strong almost brandy-like the alcohol is evident. Smelling of cherries, plums, and raisins. There is a little sourness going on with the oak, a lot of dark fruits. Very complex nose, suggesting a heavy, warming brew.
The taste and body of this beer was crazy. One of the few brews I've had that didn't drink the way it smelled. It was smooth, and creamy with that characteristic Samuel Smith fruitiness. It was very easy to drink with lots of dark fruits, toffee, some sourness, a good vanilla-mellowness from the oak.
All around a very drinkable, not to heavy, complex brew that hide it's 8 percent alcohol quite well. I could of easily drank this beer all night. Glad I got it for the price I did but, I would defiantly purchase this beer again at regular price. Wish I would of tried it sooner. Has good aging potential.
Founders Nemesis 2010
(This next one is from yours truly on the highly sought after Nemesis from Founders Brewing. It is a seasonal beer that changes every year, last year they brewed a very delicious wheat-wine and this year they decided to up the ante with a super malt, super hopped and super alcohol barley wine)
Appearance: Pours flat, as the beer warms a foamy sticky head forms as you swirl the glass. A deep, beautiful dense crimson to dark chocolate color. More sticky, yeasty lacing appears on the glass.
Smell: The nose is absolutely massive. The aroma fills the air around the glass with very thick notes of brandy, chocolate, old bannanas, leather and a very distinct hoppy cedar backdrop. The gathering of these very complex aromas was probably the most impressive thing about this beer to me. As the beer warms, however, the booziness becomes a little overpowering maybe could have used some more carbonation.
I suggest very strongly to use a large brandy glass or a roamy wine glass to drink this beer, it really encapsulates the smell - helps distinguish between the varying and overlapping aromas.
Taste: More brandy and chocolate up front along with sugar-coated figs, vanilla bean. For a beer with so much alcohol in the smell, 100 IBUS and 12 percent alcohol by volume, this was amazingly smooth to drink. As if they were going for a big malt and alcohol-forward beer that you can drink more than just one of (devious bastards).
The cedary hop complexity I got in the nose was pretty much absent in the taste, a little disappointing I guess but a very small blip on an otherwise wonderful fall seasonal. There was a fresh cedary hops bite in the finish and the lingering after taste.
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