The Brew Site
Another past review of an Oktoberfest beer, this one from 2006: JosephsBrau Oktoberfest. The JosephsBrau line of beers is the one contracted by Trader Joe’s and brewed by Gordon Birsch; generally I find they have varying quality and I found this one lacking for the style—though at the time it … Continue reading
This week as part of Oktoberfest Week I’ll actually be re-running some past reviews of various Oktoberfest-style beers—it turns out I’ve written reviews on at least seven beers in the style already. I know, I know, it feels a bit like cheating, but I figure, it’s a good, available resource, … Continue reading
Tonight I opened up one of the promotional bottles of Beck’s Oktoberfest that I received last week (though not the one with the snap-on stein handle). All of the Beck’s line of beers are brewed by Brauerei Beck in Germany and imported to the U.S. by Anheuser-Busch. According to the … Continue reading
It’s Oktoberfest Week here at The Brew Site! All this week the blogging will be related to the world’s biggest and best-known beer festival, culminating in the actual start of this year’s Oktoberfest, September 20th. Of course, people always wonder why Oktoberfest starts in September when the name clearly implies … Continue reading
By "abroad", I mean other blogs are picking up the Theme Week baton, and of course, I will tongue-in-cheekingly take credit for inspiring the trend (though of course I didn’t). The Geistbear Brewing Blog has been running an "Italian Beer Week" after discovering a source of Italian craft beer. I’ve … Continue reading
Wrapping up another Theme Week with some stats and musings… By my rough count, here’s the breakdown of colors that I’ve reviewed here (including this week’s): Amber 2 Black 3 Blue 4 Brown 4 Gold(en) 4 Green 1 Red (incl Crimson) 5 White 3 Most of these are colors you’d … Continue reading
Full Sail Brewing periodically releases their “Brewmaster Reserve” series of beers, and their Nut Brown Ale is one of the more recent (released in March originally). This is a pretty straightforward Brown Ale, nice and nutty, and comes in at 6% alcohol. (Remember, even special releases don’t have to be … Continue reading
The Special Golden Ale (2008 vintage) is the other Gordash Beer Company beer that I tried while in Florida last week. It’s brewed in the style of a Belgian strong ale, and settles in at 8.5% alcohol. With that strength and the vintage note on the bottle, the brewer notes … Continue reading
Even though the label itself claims “Pale Ale”, Henry Weinhard’s Blue Boar could be considered different styles, depending on where you look. BeerAdvocate says, for instance, that it’s a Cream Ale. The Blitz-Weinhard site itself claims a “light, Irish-style ale.” And RateBeer backs up the Pale Ale assertion on the … Continue reading
Red Thistle Ale is the flagship beer from Oregon’s excellent Golden Valley Brewery (read my review). Their site describes it as a “Celtic Ale” but it’s really an American Amber in style, nicely drinkable at 5.4% alcohol. Notes from their site: The Hops added to the kettle are Chinook, Liberty, … Continue reading