Catching Up

I wish I could say my neglect of this blog has no correlation to my beer consumption, but sadly, it's direct. Money's going elsewhere, time's being split and I'm once again undergoing a mini-cleanse. I did manage to find a quiet night for the Russian River Consecration I scored from my uber-generous Uncle Mike. A beautiful beer, one that both Kristie and I enjoyed, but one that I simply can't find enough fitting words to review. Maybe someday. It wasn't my favorite beer of the year, but had I had it as one of my first sours, it probably would be. Follow? Anyway, the fact that it had 10% ABV completely blew my mind. Drinking the whole bottle would be quite literally like drinking an entire bottle of wine. Thankfully, Kristie helped out a bit, though I wasn't a huge fan of sharing. A rare treat I hope to enjoy again someday.

Summit Horizon Red Ale


Brewery: Summit, St. Paul, MN

Style: Amber Ale

ABV: 5.7%

Rating: 3.5 stars

New full time release by Summit, had to give it an early test run. Smell reminded me instantly of Bell's Two Hearted, which is always a good sign. The blunt American hops never fail to please. Taste, however, wasn't quite as wonderous. I guess I prefer something a bit more lively, such as the Two Hearted, and this one settles in a little hard for my palate. Maybe that's why I'm not generally a huge fan of ambers. Not lively enough to satisfy my most loyal taste buds, and not full enough to smooth my mouth and stomach with chewy goodness. If you're not following this, I'm not either, so don't worry about it.

Essentially, if I'm going to grab a pint of Summit or pick up a six pack, I still probably lean toward the classic EPA. Never disappoints. The Horizon Red isn't good enough for me to chew on one all evening, and it isn't drinkable enough for me to want to drink six of 'em. Not the most glowing of reviews I suppose.

It took me six months, but you can only hold down a music junkie for so long. And after a dreadful 2008, I'm back on the pulse and enjoying quite a few things these days in the music world. So here's a tiny taste of my picks for the first third of 2009

Rock Compilation Album Division: Dark Was the Night. Running unopposed. Quite a few solid tracks on this AIDS benefit album. Here's my quick list:
"Knotty Pine," Dirty Projectors and David Byrne
"Cello Song," The Books featuring Jose Gonzalez
"Train Song," Feist and Ben Gibbard
"So Far Around the Bend," The National
"Sleepless," The Decemberists
"Hey Snow White," The New Pornographers

But the disc's brightest star is Sufjan Stevens covering the Castanets' "You Are the Blood." Intoxicating.

Concept Rock Opera Album Division: "The Hazards of Love," The Decemberists. Again, pretty much unopposed. Don't love it, but it has its moments, and the thought of devising an entire work of this confusion and depth from one 60s vocal piece is astounding.

Pitchfork Retro Tech Lite Rock Division: "Daniel," Bat For Lashes

Afro Pop Division: "Sabali," Amadou and Mariam

Canadian Synth Pop Division: "Gimme Sympathy," Metric

Obligated by Previous Work Division: "The Palace at 4 a.m.," A.C. Newman

Revenge of the French Pop Rock Division: "1901," Phoenix

Won't elaborate on those, but check 'em out if you wish. More beer SOON.

Fall Brew Wrapup

In the interest of time, I'm going to combine the rest of my fall brews into one post. If it's not obvious, this is because the rest of the fall stuff I sampled wasn't that great. Here we go.

Summit Oktoberfest

Brewery: Summit, St. Paul, Minnesota

Style: Oktoberfest/Marzen

ABV: 7.7%

Rating: 3.5 Stars


As you can tell by the alcohol content, this Oktoberfest packs a stronger punch than most. It's darker, creamier and frankly, more difficult to chug. I hate to be redundant, but honestly, how can all these beers claim to be in the Oktoberfest/Marzen category? They are so unalike. I'm not talking about subtle differences between pale ales here, the differences in these beers are vast, and could make someone regret buying a 12-pack because of confusion.

Yes, they call this an Oktoberfest. If you were to pick a season for this beer, I guess you could pick fall (the Winter Ale comes out a few weeks later), but I'd call it something other than Oktoberfest. OK, maybe I'm bitter because Summit denied me a job. But I do like this beer in general. I just think the categorizing is a bit of a stretch. In my notes, the only meaningful descriptive word I had for this one was spicy. Next.

Hacker Pschorr Original Oktoberfest


Brewery: Paulaner, Munich, Germany

Style: Oktoberfest/Marzen

ABV: 5.8%

Rating: 2.5 Stars

A traditional Marzen. Golden verging on amber in color, with flavor characteristics similar to a German pilsner. Has a bigger kick, though only noticeable after a couple. I have to admit, I had this one after the Summit, which I thought was a more traditional Oktoberfest at the time, and was slightly disappointed with the result. Looking back, I probably slighted Hacker Pschorr a bit. You can't question the original, can you?

Goose Island Harvest Ale


Brewery: Goose Island, Chicago, Illinois

Style: ESB

ABV: 5.6%

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Reliable sources pegged this one as a Surly clone. I didn't taste the same beer apparently. Though I wouldn't have IDed it as an ESB (I don't like many other than Fuller's), I certainly wouldn't have mistaken it for a Surly. Has good round flavor, with floral hops and a nice dry finish, but is far less aggressive than I need a beer to be. I enjoyed it, and could probably have half a dozen in a night's work, but I'm past the days of pursuing quantity over quality.

Leinenkugel's Oktoberfest

Brewery: Leinenkugel's, Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin

Style: Oktoberfest/Marzen

ABV: 5.1%

Rating: 1 Star

An attempt at a traditional Oktoberfest. I would like to give Leinie's the benefit of the doubt on this one--maybe it was a bad keg--but I just can't do it. This was garbage. Flat, no zip, no flavor, a leave-it-on-the-side-of-the-road beer all around. Not sure why they even bother.

Mendocino Oktoberfest


Brewery: Mendocino, Hopland, California

Style: Oktoberfest/Marzen

ABV: 6.1%

Rating: 2 Stars


Gets the nod over Leinie's simply because you're getting 1% higher alcohol content. Otherwise, there's just as little reason to touch this. From the notes (pre-Leinie's): "Worst Oktoberfest I've had this year. Flat taste and very bitter." Maybe I'm just not a fan of the style.