Epic Portions

Tag: beer

  • Epic Product Reviews: Goose Island Harvest Ale

    As some readers may know, I grew up in St. Louis and now reside near Detroit.  One thing the two cities have in common is a sense of rivalry with the Crown Jewel of Midwestern cities: Chicago.  You could always count on some newspaper article (back when people actually read newspapers) touting the respective cities pros and cons when weighed against Chi-town.  Wishful thinking.

    You see, there is no way, no how, no chance either St. Louis or Detroit (and I love both, by the way) even come close to the awesomeness that is Chicago.  I’m not even going to work my way down the checklist of reasons why — any objective observer would have to concur that Chicago rules the Midwest. 

    Goose Island is the Chicago microbrew.  Sure, there are many others, but for the average consumer, Goose Island is the one on the shelf at the local Megamart.  I’ve always found Goose Island beer to be good, but not great.  Until now…

     

    Goose Island Harvest Ale is pretty amazing stuff.  It had many of the expected attributes one looks for in a fall beer: a roasted malt flavor and appealing amber color.  But what sets Harvest Ale above the rest are the hops.  You end up with this wonderful, bitter hoppy finish on top of the caramel malt.  It makes for a fantastic beer, perfect for fall.

    Goose Island Harvest Ale is a worthy representative of the great city it comes from.  Hopefully the beer lovers out there can give it a try; you will not be disappointed.  Harvest Ale is (currently) without peer among the seasonals I have had the good fortune to drink, and that includes Sierra Nevada.  I do plan on reviewing at least a couple more, so final verdict will be withheld for now.  But for the time being, Goose Island Harvest Ale is the beer to beat.

  • Epic Product Reviews: Sierra Nevada Tumbler Autumn Brown Ale

    I know I promised a series of Oktoberfest beer reviews, and many of those are still coming.  For now I will expand the series to include any other seasonal fall release that I see fit.  Why?  Because I can, and because Sierra Nevada has entered the fray with their fall beer, and how can any true beer lover pass up a new entry from Sierra Nevada? 

    Sierra Nevada Tumbler, as awesome as you would expect.

    On that note, yesterday I opened up a bottle of Sierra Nevada Tumbler Autumn Brown Ale.  It was an appropriate day for this brew; the air was laden with the feel of fall.  Temps were in the mid 60s with a wind that made it feel cooler.  The Fightin’ Wolverines were playing, and it was nice to watch Shoelace save Rich Rodriguez’ job for one more week.  And best of all, the beer was delicious.

    Did I expect anything less from Sierra Nevada?  No, but it is nice to have high expectations realized.  The roasted malt flavor was robust enough to qualify as a legitimate fall beer, but never overpowered the hops which were present for the finish.  The beer poured a very appealing orangey, ambery color.  As this is a seasonal, I have to say I will be picking up another six pack soon; it was too good not to have at least one more time.  I found this to be a very drinkable beer; a top notch brown ale.  Better than Bell’s Best Brown, maybe even better than Newcastle.  More research may be needed to confirm this.

    I’m glad that Sierra Nevada has added Tumbler and Summerfest to their already impressive repertoire.  The macro-craft brew capital of the United States has been Boston for as long as Sam Adams has been around.  But if Sierra Nevada keeps this up they will surpass Sam and the distinction of best macro-craft will be Chico, CA.  Sam gets his shot next time, when I review Samuel Adams Oktoberfest.  I will also be at Corner Brewery’s Oktoberfest celebration later this month, and hope to have a couple new local brews to write about as well.  Auf wiedershen!

  • Epic Product Reviews: Leinenkugel Oktoberfest

    Autumn is in the air, my friends.  Leaves are changing color, the crack of shoulder pads announce the birth of a new season of football, and the languorous days of summer part for the crisp air and activity of fall.  Actually…no.  It’s still 85 degrees in the shade and much to my chagrin it seems football season will never arrive.  Then why, I must ask, have my grocer and local beer monger’s shelves been stocked with Oktoberfest beer since early August?  Like holiday decorations hung in October, the re-formatting of our seasons continues.  When it involves Christmas or Hanukkah, I find it annoying but expected in a way.  When it involves beer, I can’t help but take it personally.  Before long winter beer will be here in mid-September.  And that makes me sad.

    Leinenkugel's Oktoberfest

    Over the next couple weeks I’ll be reviewing Oktoberfest beers.  As they have been available for weeks now, I feel I cannot put off the reviews any longer.  It saddens me to have to do this now, but the beer is out there and in order to stay ahead of the competition I can’t let EP become irrelevant because we are too late with our reviews.  So, my hand has been forced…

    In order to achieve the fall setting necessary to truly enjoy an Oktoberfest style beer, I decided to turn my AC down to 58 degrees and light a fire in my fireplace.  I then dressed my children in football uniforms and told them to crash into each other at high speeds.  After having achieved autumnal bliss (as well as convincing my wife I hadn’t gone insane and not to call the local asylum or child protective services), I cracked open a Leinenkugel Oktoberfest beer.

    The first thing I noticed was the rich amber color.  It almost screamed fall at me, until I realized the screaming was coming from daughter after my son used an illegal chop block on her.  I longed for a crisp autumn evening on my deck with delicious dead animals on the grill and a Leiny in hand.  Instead I was forced to watch my son disregard all known rules of football and use five downs to score on my daughter.  Brought back awful memories of my freshman year at Mizzou, but I digress.  As for the beer, the Munich and Carmel malts hit all the right notes.  I did wish for a higher degree of bitterness, but overall I quite enjoyed it.  It will provide a nice entry into the Oktoberfest style for these reviews.  Kind of appropriate because to me Leiny’s offerings are what I describe as “gateway beer.”  As this was my first experience with Leiny’s Oktoberfest, I would describe myself as impressed but not blown away.  Kind of like most of Leiny’s beer.  Always a solid choice, but there is usually something better if you are willing to spend a few more dollars.  On the other hand, if I go to a gathering or party and Leiny is offered I am usually quite pleased and grateful.

    I have noticed that Sunset Wheat on tap is noticeably better than from the bottle.  I wonder if that would apply to Oktoberfest.  I hope my local pub — Aubree’s — will switch out the Sunset Wheat for Oktoberfest so I can find out for myself.  But hopefully they can at least wait until football season has kicked off.