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| What We Are Drinking
O.K. Folks. Welcome to Oktoberfest!!! And yes, in relation to beer fests, “October” is spelled with a “k.” But instead of tracking the Etymology of annual global beer drinking celebrations, let’s get to the good stuff: The BEER!! I won’t lie to you, we usually don’t have so many German style beers on tap. I’m definitely not exactly an expert. I do, however, have a knack for drinking heavily. I do this to myself so I can tell you what’s good. So when you think about it, I’m kind of a martyr. Suffering the pain of drinking good beer so that I can present you with the best, but I digress. The Gem of the Festival in my eyes is Schneider Weisse Original. It’s a darker almost dunkel weiss with a lot of effervescence, a full body, and a crisp finish. I don’t drink German beer often and this beer has me wondering why. If we have it on(Big “if”), you should definitely get a glass. Although The Schneider is great, I have to revert to my standard Germans. The Pauliner Pils and Heffe Weisse are the greatest of their kind. Yup, I said it. But for those of you that need to be beaten over the head: PAULINER HEFFE IS THE BEST HEFFE I’VE EVER HAD AND PAULINER PILS IS THE BEST PILSNER I’VE EVER HAD. The heffe is just creamy and delicious with just that touch of banana flavor from the fermentation. The Pils is just crisp and smooth and…well perfect. These beers are great for those lingering summer days and nights. I can’t leave out Craftsman. Our local heroes struck gold again, as they tend to do over and over. The Craftsman Oktoberfest has all the traditional Oktoberfest characteristics, it has a rich amber color, has that dry “Oktoberfest” yeast, but Craftsman adds some more hops to the mix making it stand out among so many great beers. Think of it as Oktoberfest Pasadena style. Which means absolutely nothing but sounds nice when you tell it to your friends…or the ladies…or not. I don’t know. So what else? All the German stuff is drinkable and they differ widely from one another. Translation: Drink it all!!! But for those of you that just are too stubborn to venture into German style beers, here’s a short list of bottles that’ll suit your needs. Hops wise, we ran out of the Blue Dot by Hair of the Dog which is a shame. That is until we got Hair of the Dog’s Ruth. The Ruth is pretty much a perfect IPA, except for the small fact that it’s an American Pale Ale!! It’s smooth yet nice and hoppy and balanced to perfection. All hop-heads must drink this or give up. It’s that spectacular. Belgian wise I have great bottles, as always. I really got into the Sterken’s Golden Ale last month and am enjoying it’s counterpart The Poorter. The Poorter is a Belgian porter, very dark and a bit sweet but smooth and mellow. This is what my cohorts and I drink, we have the pick of the litter so you should really trust our judgment. Normally I’d make a snide comment about drinking Stella right about now. But seriously, with the kind of beers we have on, if you order a Stella, you fail. Pauliner Pils, Hacker Pschor Munich Lager, Craftsman 1903, Pilsner Urquell, Bavik for goodness sake. With these choices the only excuse to drink a Stella is to make fun of it. Enjoy! Have Fun, |