The latest foray into Oktoberfest is Paulaner's Oktoberfest-Märzen, one of the classics. (I cited it in my 50 Beers to Drink Before You Die series.) It exemplifies the style; there's really not much more that needs to be said.

Appearance: Very clear, darkish red-orange. Fluffy white head.

Smell: Very mild profile, but sweet with a very light hint of roasted malts. Nice noble hop spiciness in the background.

Taste: Malty and clean—mild caramel, crystallized sugars. Some caramelized sugars too—more burnt than the caramel candy flavor. Toffee, dark toast. Hops are very mild and a little grassy, letting the malt do its thing.

Mouthfeel: Smooth, a tad light (just shy of medium-bodied), very well balanced, very drinkable.

Overall: Like I said, it exemplifies the style. One of the best.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores 87 out of 100, with 98% approval. On RateBeer, it scores 3.34 out of 5 and is in their 73rd percentile.

Caldera Brewing's canned Pale Ale is the first microbrew in a can that I've had. Nothing against canned beers; quite the contrary. I just hadn't had a chance to try any yet. (Although the only two canned micros I can think of off the top of my head are Caldera's and Dale's Pale Ale.)

Caldera is the Ashland (Oregon) microbrewery that doesn't have a pub; they only distribute and offer dock sales. And unless you're buying by the keg (for their full selection), I believe you can only get the Pale Ale and IPA in consumer packaging (i.e., the cans).

Appearance: Light gold and hazy... very slight off-white frothy head. Lighter in color than expected. (Considering many Northwest pale ales these days.)

Smell: Hoppy—twiggy and herbal and floral—full of Cascade citrusy-sweet notes. Hops are the dominant aroma here.

Taste: Very hoppy in the mouth—it's the dominant flavor here, as well, full of resin and flowers. Nice malt backbone but it's definitely a hop showcase.

Mouthfeel: Light-bodied, but a nice bite and feel from the hops. Bitter coating in the mouth.

Overall: Hoppier than I expected—still fighting "can prejudice" I guess—and a nice flavorful beer. Slip a few of these amongst the PBR and see what happens.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores 85 out of 100 with 100% approval (18 reviews). On RateBeer, it scores 3.26 out of 5 and is in their 65th percentile.

Janet Bloom of Northville, Michigan, posted the details of this via the contact form:

Northville Oktoberfest (at Community Park)

Perfect blend of German beer, music, food, and traditional dance.

Oct. 12-13, 2007 (Friday and Saturday)
Fri. 6 pm - 11 pm
Sat. Noon - 11 pm

• Beer Tent featuring: Warsteiner Beer.
• Festival includes Arts and Crafts vendors, horse-drawn wagon rides, petting zoo, pumpking carving and painting.
• Not to miss entertaiment:
• Kielbasa kings, Die Rheinlanders,Wawel Folk Ensemble Dancers, Oehrlein Bavarian Dancers, Enzian Aus Detroit, Dave Slivinski Polka Band.
• Community Park is located at 5 Mile and Beck Rd.

For more information, contact the Northville Chamber of Commerce (Northville, MI - 15 miles NE of Ann Arbor) at 248-349-7640 or www.northville.org.

This looks cool: "Beer Northwest," a new regional beer magazine—regional to the Pacific Northwest of the U.S., that is. Their touting it as the "Regional Guide to Everything Beer":

Designed with beer enthusiasts in mind, we take a unique look at the increasingly distinctive brew culture, including food and lifestyles associated with Northwest craft beer. From local events and festivals to beer chefs, neighborhood watering holes, pairing guides, and seasonal features, Beer Northwest contains everything you need to know to enjoy and appreciate a locally brewed pint of beer all year round.

Meet the brewers, travel to breweries, create your own beer—it’s all in Beer Northwest, your essential guide to brew, food, and lifestyle in the Pacific Northwest.

I'll keep an eye out for it locally; it looks to be available for $4 per issue and is quarterly, though if you subscribe online their offering a year (4 issues) for $12.99.

Hopefully it will do well; if there's any region that this sort of magazine would work for, it's definitely our Northwest.

Oktoberfest continues this evening with the Spaten offering of the same name. Spaten is one of the better-known imports (as far as these things go), at least around these parts, and I'm keeping my eye out for Oktoberfests of all kinds these next couple of weeks.

It's a 5.9% alcohol brew, and this 12-ounce bottle is green glass. There's a larger brown glass bottled version, same brew, different size, but the green glass is worth a mention because there is a hint of what I called "green bottle lager syndrome" in my notes, which is something I particularly notice on the European imports that come in green.

Appearance: Super clear, the color of a shiny new copper penny. Bubbles beading and rising from the bottom to a nice head.

Smell: Malty, though less so that what I'm expecting. Noticeable hops. A little bit of "green bottle lager" syndrome of Euros. Caramelized malts, "red" malts.

Taste: Soft on the tongue... pleasantly rich malts with more of a bite of roasted malts. Bready—a darkish rye bread. Noble hops and crispness are reminiscent of a Pilsner.

Mouthfeel: Nice bite, lower-medium in body... very pleasant.

Overall: Enjoyable and drinkable, a lighter version of the style I think.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores 82 out of 100, with 90% approval. On RateBeer, it scores 3.38 out of 5 and is in their 76th percentile.

For this first official day of Oktoberfest I'm reviewing the Widmer seasonal offering, Okto. It's an easy drinking, malty, rich beer that is 5.5% alcohol by volume. This is an ale, and not a true Oktoberfest-style lager (both the review sites say Amber Ale specifically).

The Oktoberfest (Märzen) style is one of my absolute favorites and this generally applies to similarly styled (and well done) Amber Ales—the big malt sweetness and low hopping just tastes good and is a nice break from the super-hopped extreme beers. Don't get me wrong, I love lots of hops and the experimental stuff and all that—but every now and again it's just nice to get back to basics.

Appearance: Clear amber orange with a slight off-white head—very nice.

Smell: Buttery, caramel, toffee-sweet, nutty, bready, very nicely malty—the aroma is mouth watering, actually!

Taste: Malty sweet without being cloying, a hint of an indefinable tang (alcohol?), rich with a hint of maple and just tastes really good.

Mouthfeel: Nice firm medium body, you can get your mouth around it, a little bit of lingering bitterness.

Overall: Really tasty, a solid hit from Widmer. It may not be a true Oktoberfest—but this is what I'm looking for in an American Amber Ale. I'll probably be stocking up on this before it's gone from the shelves.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores 78 out of 100, with 57-43 split on thumbs up/down, not as gushing/glowing about it as me. On RateBeer, it scores 3.1 out of 5, and is in their 52nd percentile.

BeerAdvocate is schooling me; I live in the same town as Deschutes Brewery yet I'm getting news about them from a site based in Boston! The news I'm talking about is a new look the brewery is rolling out for Mirror Pond Pale Ale:

Bend's Deschutes Brewery unveiled a new label for its award-winning Mirror Pond Pale Ale this week. The label depicts the actual Mirror Pond, a tranquil stretch of the Deschutes River that runs through Drake Park in the heart of the Central Oregon community. The original labels showed a stylized view of the Three Sisters Mountains reflected in the still waters of a mountain lake.

They also include an image of the new label. It's kind of hard to tell, but as near as I can see it is representative of Mirror Pond here in Bend. I've included the image here, along with the "older" label that's still on the bottles, to compare and contrast (the new one is on the right):

Looks good, I like it. For a further point of reference, here's an actual picture of Mirror Pond (one of the most well-known/iconic shots of Bend overall, actually):

Deschutes Brewery has rolled out a new "mobile marketing tool" but I'm honestly not sure what the official name is; our local newspaper article is variously calling it the "Big Barrel," "mobile beer barrel" and the headline-labeled "mobile marketing tool" that I lifted. On the Deschutes site itself they point to and call it the "Neighborhood Hops Traveling Beer Festival" which is a mouthful but I kind of like it—only "Traveling Beer Festival" isn't really as descriptive as "mobile beer barrel."

I'm quibbling; overall, I really like the idea and I think the execution is great: it's basically a mobile pub shaped like a giant beer barrel (complete with giant tap) that's pulled on a trailer behind a truck. The barrel has 16 taps serving 8 Deschutes beers, and they plan to drive it around the Pacific Northwest, serving beer, and using it as a giant word-of-mouth unique marketing tool.

First destination is the Fremont Oktoberfest in Seattle this weekend, and then:

The huge beer barrel will tour Seattle for six weeks in a marketing effort to promote the Bend beers through word-of-mouth advertising, said Paul Evers, the president of tbd advertising, Deschutes Brewery’s advertising and marketing company. Evers could not disclose the cost to build the barrel, which was designed by a Los Angeles fabricator and finished in Bend, but said it was significantly less than a traditional advertising campaign in the Seattle area — one of the brewery’s largest markets.

I may have missed seeing this by a day; here's a local blog post (from yesterday) where pictures were taken (I lifted the picture above from the post; thanks, drpack!) and people got to try it out. But since it needs to be in Seattle by Friday, I expect it'll be driving up there tomorrow. I can't wait to see it in person at some point, though. Looks like fun!

Let me just start this review right off by saying, this turned out to be a bad bottle. Not a bad beer—that I can't judge—but a bottle that went bad, or so I believe. It was one of the beers I bought from the restaurant garage sale that I acquired the Boss Beers from—and if you recall, I was a bit worried about the condition those beers might be in.

So why bother reviewing the beer if it's a bad bottle? Because it's educational—knowing what makes a beer bad is just as important as knowing what makes it good.

Forst Kronen Speciale is a light lager from Italy, 5.2% alcohol and typical, I believe, of the Italian beers I've been exposed to. I was expected a light gold, clear lager, crisp and similar to a Pilsner. However, my notes tell a different story.

Appearance: Hazy, pale copper, not much head. Kind of an apple cider vinegar look.

Smell: A surprising sour note—vinegar might not be far off! Grassy and a bit fruity... not great.

Taste: Bitter, woody, a little oily—bad bottle? Not very good. Almost a medicinal, herbal tincture taste—like echinacea extract.

Mouthfeel: "Hard" and a bit astringent. Light, kind of watery.

On BeerAdvocate, there are only 6 reviews—not enough for the full scoring system—and they're split 50/50 on approval. The average score is 3.17 out of 5. On RateBeer, it scores 2.42 out of 5, and is in their 16th percentile.

So yeah, based on the review notes from the other sites, I'd definitely say I had a bad bottle, and I suspect I'd be fine with this beer. Hopefully I'll run across it again so I can do a proper review.

I figured I should start keeping better track of local goings-on. If you're in the Central Oregon (Bend) area sometime soon, check these out.

• Brewers' Dinner
  When: Friday, September 21st, 6pm
  Where: McMenamins Old St. Francis School
  What:
  6 p.m. | $50 per person; reservations required | 21 & over
  
  We give thanks, brewers of McMenamins, for all your hard work. And now, let's drink to the fruits of your labors with a pint of… well, the fruits of your labors.
  
  *** MENU ***
  
  I.P.A.-poached sea scallop over ginger-infused couscous
  Firefly Kolsch
  
  Grilled summer vegetable salad with balsamic-porter vinaigrette & toasted pine nuts
  Fireside Red
  
  Smoked pork tenderloin with a rosemary-apple glace and roasted shallot mashed potatoes
  Galactic Pale
  
  Key lime tart with Ruby Ale reduction and fresh raspberries
  Broken Paddle Porter
   
• Oktoberfest (McMenamins)
  When: Sunday, September 23rd, starting at 1pm
  Where: McMenamins Old St. Francis School
  What:
  Music starts at 1 p.m. | Free | All ages welcome
  
  Come out for live music by the Moon Mountain Ramblers and COYO and belly dancing from Gypsy Fire, plus the McMenamins Oktoberfest Ale, German food & drink specials, and more! Wander about the entire property, beer and bratwurst in hand, and check out the fun.
   
• Harvest Moon Ale Tasting
  When: Tuesday, September 25th, from 6pm - 8:30pm
  Where: Deschutes Brewery Mountain Room
  What:
  Come help us celebrate the release of our two most anticipated seasonal brews!
  
  BEER LIST:
  
  SEASONALS:
  Jubelale & Hop Trip (preseason release)
  
  FRESH HOP ALES:
  McMorris Scotch Ale & Lugnut I.P.A. (pub brews)
  
  RESERVE SERIES:
  ‘06 Pinot Jubel & ‘06 The Abyss (oak aged from the vault)
  FOOD:
  
  Enjoy these beers with our Famous BBQ spare Ribs, Home made Mac & Cheese, Sweet Chili Chicken Wings, Country Potato Wedges and many other delicious items.
  
  $30.00 per person all inclusive.
  Contact Sharon at 385-8606 for reservations.
   
• Bend Oktoberfest
  When: Saturday, September 29th, from noon - 10pm
  Where: Oregon Avenue, Downtown Bend, OR
  What:
  * Seasonal Beers from local breweries
  * Oktoberfest Girls Competition
  * Live Bavarian Music
  * Traditional German food
  * Puppet Shows, Face Painting & a Kinderland area for the kids
  
  Willkommen! (Welcome) There is no better setting to celebrate Oktoberfest than in the Microbrew Capital of the West, Bend Oregon. Don’t miss your chance to try our local breweries seasonal Oktoberfest Brews including Bend Brewing Company, Cascade Lakes Brewing, Columbia Distributing, Deschutes Brewery, McMenamins, Silver Moon Brewery, Wildfire and others.
  
  Please join us anytime noon to 10 pm, Saturday September 29th. $5.00 at the door.
  Kids welcome from noon until 6pm.
  Danke sehr (thank you very much)!

Black Boss Porter is a Baltic Porter from Browar Witnica in Poland, a sweet, dark ale with 9.4% alcohol by volume. I got it along with the Boss Beer from a restaurant that was out of business, and was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. (I had been a little concerned over the storage quality.)

Appearance: Dark brown, a little dirty motor oil-ish but a nice clear ruby-garnet when held up to direct sunlight.

Smell: Dark malts and a sweetness (creamy coffee), alcohol and black licorice.

Taste: Sweet and creamy rich over a slightly burnt, roasted grain character. Thickly sweet coffee, molasses, licorice, maple(?). I noticed the alcohol after it warmed up a bit in the glass.

Mouthfeel: Medium, somewhat lighter than expected for such a high-gravity beer; a bit syrupy.

Overall: Pretty good, I rather enjoyed it, though you have to be careful against the alcohol—you don't really notice it.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores 84 out of 100, with 94% approval. On RateBeer, it scores 3.45 out of 5 and is in their 81st percentile.

The next Session (October 5th) is being brought to us by Captain Hops of Beer Haiku Daily: Beer and Food.

Don’t worry, I won’t make everyone write haiku or limericks or sonnets. I have chosen the theme “Beer and Food”. Mmmmmm… Beer and Food.

I am looking for posts about pairing beer with food or using beer as an ingredient in food. I hope to see recipes, pictures, tasting notes, stories, menus, reviews or anything else that fits the bill of fare. Whether you write about which beer goes best with chili dogs or give your family’s secret recipe for vegan stout stew or post pictures of those ale braised lamb shanks you had last week, I want to know every mouth watering detail.

Sounds good—already the gears are spinning, thinking of something to write about. Captain Hops also links to a bunch of books and websites to help potential Sessioners get started, which is a great idea.

Looking forward to it!

I acquired a couple bottles each of Boss Beer and its cousin, Black Boss (a Baltic Porter), from a local restaurant that went out of business and was having a garage sale. Based on that alone, I was a bit dubious as to how good the beer would be; you never know for sure the kind of storage conditions the beer could have been kept under in a situation like that, for one thing.

But what's unusual about this beer is its country of origin: Poland. From Browar Witnica, in fact, and no, that doesn't really mean much to me other than they are a Polish brewer. The Boss Beer and the Black Boss are both brewed for export.

According to BeerAdvocate, the style here is a "Euro Strong Lager," and sure enough, the beer weighs in at 8.1% alcohol by volume—although to my taste (and my friends Paul's and Sandi's) it's more reminiscent of an ale than a lager, and you don't notice the alcohol.

Appearance: Like a Pilsner, very clear and bright, with an orange tint to it.

Smell: Malty with a fruity character that smells (to me) like an ale.

Taste: Tastes more like an ale, too... kind of a creamy copper malt thing going on, an earthy, musty hop, and some kind of rich wheat/rye undercurrent.

Mouthfeel: Light and fairly smooth. No sense of it's alcohol strength.

Overall: It's interesting inasmuch as it's from Poland, but otherwise, I found it a fairly unremarkable beer, though better than almost all other "plain" Euro lagers I've had.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores 3.41 out of 5, but only has 8 reviews (88% of which are positive). On RateBeer, it scores 2.13 out of 5, and is only in their 9th (wow) percentile.

I jotted down some quick notes about Wailua Wheat from Kona Brewing a couple of months ago, and now I'm giving it the full treatment. This ale is 5.4% alcohol by volume, and is brewed with passion fruit. While drinking it I was reflecting on the passion fruit character and it occurred to me, I don't think I've ever eaten "straight" passion fruit; I've probably only consumed it as a component of something else.

Generally, I don't think there's going to be any middle ground with this beer; you'll either like it or you won't. Myself, I think it's pretty good for a fruit beer and decent overall; it tastes good in hot weather.

Appearance: Orange-blossom yellow, with a brief yet crisp white head. When I held it up to the sunlight, it appeared hazy, pale-straw yellow.

Smell: Sourish fruit is prominent. Floral, a bit of citrus. Hibiscus?

Taste: Wheaty and fruity—a sharp and tangy fruit that's distinctive. Raw wheat, sour in a lactic-but-not-lactic way—like a sour cherry but lighter. Kind of a sour fruit juice character over the wheat malt, maybe.

Mouthfeel: Light and crisp and a bit puckery-sour. Refreshing, you want to keep taking drinks (especially if it's hot out).

Overall: Works for me.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores 80 out of 100, with 88% approval. On RateBeer, it scores 2.96 out of 5 and is in their 42nd percentile.

The West Coast's most prestigious winter beer sampling opportunity

The Holiday Ale Festival is a joyous tradition among beer lovers who treasure the big beers of winter. Held outdoors in the chilly month of December, the festival pours more than three-dozen robust winter craft brews, the majority of which have either been created specifically for the event, or are vintage or reserve beers not available in the general market. It is effectively the most prestigious winter beer sampling opportunity on the West Coast.

The 12th annual Holiday Ale Festival will begin on Thursday, Nov. 29, and continue through Sunday, Dec. 2 at Pioneer Courthouse Square, located at 701 SW Sixth Ave at the intersection of SW Broadway and Yamhill streets, immediately on the MAX Light Rail line. Hours for the event are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. Admission into the venue is free. A purchase of a 2007 souvenir mug is required for tasting beer, and costs $5. Patrons purchase script in $1 increments. It takes $4 in script for a full mug of beer, or $1 for a taste. The event is for ages 21 and over.

Despite winter-like temperatures and often-inclement weather, attendees stay warm and dry under a large clear tent that covers the venue while allowing for views of the city lights. Gas heaters create a cozy ambiance under the boughs of one of the region's largest decorated Christmas trees. In addition to beer tasting, the festival also features on-site food, beer merchandise, complimentary sodas for designated drivers, mead sampling, and seasonal background music.

The Holiday Ale Festival annually draws more than 15,000 people to the event. To alleviate long lines and facilitate better access to the beer, festival organizers have increased this year's event space by 20 percent.

Also returning to the event is the fourth annual Brewers Brunch, taking place on Dec. 2 from 10 a.m. to Noon on the upper level of Pioneer Courthouse Square. The auxiliary event features breakfast and an assortment of local and imported winter beers not available at the festival itself. Tickets cost $30 and are available at www.holidayale.com.

The roots of brewing special winter and holiday beers trace back to the mythologies of Greece and Rome. The pagan celebrations of the winter solstice marked the return of light to the world, and triumphant ale was brewed to mark the occasion. Today, these "winter warmers" ward off the chill of winter and warm both the palate and soul. Complex in aroma and flavor, these heavier beers are big in body and high in alcohol. Thanks to an extra dose of malt, most of these beers are rich and bold, with chocolate, caramel or coffee flavors; others benefit from the addition of herbs, spices, and fruit. In keeping with the flavors of the season, there are often hints of nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves in the brews.

For more information, visit www.holidayale.com or call 503-252-9899.

This month's Session is being hosted by Rick Lyke, who came up with the "Brew Zoo" theme:

Have you ever noticed how many animals show up on beer labels? We have lions and tigers and bears, plus various birds, reptiles, fish, assorted domesticated and wild animals, plus a few mythical creatures. For whatever reason brewers have a tradition of branding their beers using everything from pets to predators. The Brew Zoo will celebrate these lagers and ales.

Your assignment for The Session #7 is to go on a beer safari and help stock our Brew Zoo with animals large and small. This is one hunt that even PETA should not protest.

[The basic rule is that either the brewery or the beer must have a real live creature in its name. We will also allow beers with prominent animal label art (think Geary's Ale from Maine and its Lobster) to be added to the Brew Zoo.]

It's also being dedicated to Michael Jackson, the Beer Hunter:

With the passing of Michael Jackson, Beer Blogging Friday founder Stan Hieronymus and I have decided to dedicate next week's event to Michael's memory. His influence on beer journalism and beer appreciation is a great gift that he gave to all. Here's to The Beer Hunter.

Hear, hear. It's safe to say that without Michael Jackson, much of this whole beer-blogging-writing thing wouldn't exist as it does today, and I doubt whether such a thing as The Session would have taken off as well as it has. Here's to Michael Jackson, the Beer Hunter.

For the Brew Zoo, I'm focusing the spotlight on Cascade Lakes Brewing, for several reasons. First, many of their beers feature animal names in them, and their labels have stylized, anthropomorphic-cartoony depictions of those animals, so they are perfect candidates. Second, I haven't really shone the spotlight on Cascade Lakes as much as I have other local breweries (particularly Deschutes, who has been the subject of two previous Sessions)—it's time they get highlighted.

Three of Cascade Lakes' beers are bottled for general distribution, and they are all "Brew Zoo Beers": Rooster Tail Ale, Pine Marten Pale Ale, and Monkey Face Porter. The names of all three have a dual definition (aside from being animal-themed) as well, which I'll mention with each beer.

The Rooster Tail Ale is a what I would classify a Blonde Ale at 5.2% alcohol by volume and is the brewery's flagship beer. It pours extremely clear with a fluffy white head over a light, golden yellow body. On the nose there's hints of toasted biscuit, raw wheat, corn, and what seems to be a slightly skunky hop—in fact it reminds me of a European lager more than an ale. The taste is toasty, a little doughy, and wheat-like light malt. Bitter in the hops—a tad earthy, a tad spicy, and understated.

It's light and crisp with an edge, and is a nice, drinkable session beer, and it's been part of the brewery's lineup since 1994. The "Rooster Tail" name refers, of course, not just to the animal but to the descriptive term given to the "tail" or plume of water kicked up by boats and water skiers—or snowboards in powder, for that matter. Both activities are found in abundance in Central Oregon, known for its outdoor recreation opportunities.

Pine Marten Pale Ale is named after the animal—but it's also the name of the mid-mountain lodge on Mt. Bachelor, the local ski resort. This ale is a light copper-orange color, also very clear with nice white head riding atop it. Aroma-wise, it's malty and full of caramel and toffee, with a fruity undertone.

The malts are light and toasty and are the defining flavors with this beer; there's toast, biscuit, light caramel notes throughout. This is not nearly as hoppy as a "typical" American Pale Ale; this is much more in the English style with an emphasis on the malt and sweetness—perhaps like a Mild, although the 5.1% alcohol tips just above the Mild classification. Pale Ale will do. The hops are there, soft, pleasantly floral, in the background. Pine Marten is light, smooth, and effervescent on the tongue.

Even though Monkey Face Porter has a monkey on the label, it is in actuality named for a prominent landmark and climbing feature at Smith Rock. This Porter is 5% alcohol by volume—slightly lower than the other two—and everything about this beer says chocolate and coffee.

Its color is a nice, inky dark brown—opaque and the color of dark roast coffee. It smells of heavily roasted malts and oily dark bittersweet chocolate with a tinge of smoke. When you take a sip you immediately notice this is a dry ale, full of roasted coffee beans and burnt chocolate malt and dark cocoa, and possessing a little bit of an oily, smoky character. It's medium-bodied and well-balanced and very dry, but not too bitter. This Porter screams "social beer," meant to be enjoyed with friends on the deck in the evening—or in around the fireplace during the winter.

I've reviewed Monkey Face Porter before, too; you can read that here.

So, we have a rooster, a marten, and a monkey to contribute to the Brew Zoo. I'm sure a rooster and a monkey will show up elsewhere, but I'd venture to say a marten is fairly unique, so I think this was a successful "hunt" overall. Hopefully one the Beer Hunter would appreciate.

So an update on my hop harvesting efforts over the Labor Day weekend. I picked hops on Saturday and on Monday, for a couple of hours or so each day, and ended up with hops split amongst 10 paper grocery bags—each of which would probably yield, I don't know, about 4 ounces of dried hops when all is said and done.

Things were going along great, my initial 6 bags were drying nicely and I was envisioning various beers I would brew with my hand-picked flowers.

Tuesday morning, before work, there were aphids.

Aphids everywhere, coming out of the bags. In the house. On the dining room table, in fact. I don't know what had suddenly triggered the mass exodus, or even where they all came from (the hops looked clean when I picked them; they must have been hiding deep inside the cones?), but there they were. I put all the bags outside and cleaned up the remaining bugs before leaving for work. (Believe it or not, I vacuumed them up.)

Then it rained. Fortunately, the bags, while wet, didn't seem to soak the contents (too badly)—my wife moved them to the covered porch. When I checked them after I got home, they were damp, the hops inside were more-or-less dry, but the aphids were still there. So I put the bags in the shed and will just have to wait and see.

At this point if I get usable hops from the batch I'll consider it lucky, but I'm not holding my breath. Next time my drying methods will likely change; my mother suggested laying the hops out on screens (she has some), and guesses the aphids would simply fall through when escaping.

Do any readers have suggestions about this or experience with hops and aphids? I'd be curious to know how they dealt with them.

So, this is an odd one... it's an interesting idea, not one that I'd commit to personally (there's just so much good beer out there to drink!), but I'm not sure how much traction it'll gain.

Man will only drink/serve winning companies' beer for life

Charlotte, NC — September 4, 2007 — A Charlotte, NC man will auction his "Beer Rights for Life" on eBay to the highest bidding brewery. Man will only drink/serve winning companies' brand beer for his entire life. There are other additional "rights" in the auction, including wearing company branded clothing, maintaining blog/website as marketing tool, etc.

For more information or to schedule an interview please email BeerRightsforLife@gmail.com.

eBay Auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220146820153

Website: www.BeerRightsforLife.com

Currently, there are no bids on the auction. It expires in 8 days, on September 14th.

Naughty Nellie is a "golden artisan ale" from Seattle's Pike Brewing. According to Pike, it's named "for Nellie Curtis, madam of the LaSalle Hotel, where Pike was founded." It's easy drinking at 4.7% alcohol by volume.

Appearance: Hazy copper colored (raw honey), light, thin white head. Sediment settled out into the bottom of the glass.

Smell: Spicy and hoppy—like a cinnamon and clove, with an earthy undertone. Contrast this to the one I had the day before, when there was definitely more citrus/pine to my nose... strange. (The website says both Centennial and Cascade, which are definitely "citrus" hops.)

Taste: Lightly malty with spicy hop—a little juniper, a little ginger, possibly. Nice hop flavor without being overpowering.

Mouthfeel: Nice semi-light and sessionable; a bit of spicy character left over on the tongue.

Overall: Drinkable, a decent summertime beer. Scratching my head a bit over the two different aroma impressions.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores 83 out of 100 with 93% approval. On RateBeer, it scores 3.12 out of 5 and is in their 54th percentile.

My mom has a bumper crop of hops this year—she has hops growing off the end of her deck—so I picked a bunch of them today, and intend to go back for the rest (or as many as I can get) on Monday. I also took a bunch of pictures of the harvest.

I'm not entirely sure what variety of hop these are, though I'd guess Cascade. I ended up filling three paper grocery sacks half-full of hops, which I split into six bags' worth when I got home for drying. I didn't weigh them, but as a guesstimate I'd say I have somewhere around 6 to 9 pounds of fresh hops.

Click through to see my pictures