This week I happened to stumble across a beer I hadnÂ’t seen before. During the football season opener a friend, Scroatie, had a six-pack of beer from the same company, but not this exact type. Since I hadnÂ’t done an Oktoberfest beer review yet, I thought it would be a good time to do one, even if it is a little late. This weekÂ’s beer is Point Oktoberfest by Stevens Point Brewery.

Like most beers, this comes in your standard 12 oz brown bottle. The label is really busy. There is a blue and white checkerboard background with the scene of people celebrating Oktoberfest. The bar maid is actually quite stunning.

The color is a nice amber/copper. Light passes easily through the beer, and there is no cloudiness at all to it. It poured a thing white head that faded quickly to a film. The film faded into a ring around the glass that eventually disappeared. There was no lacing on the glass at all.

The scent was a bit surprising, I was expecting a much stronger, more German beer scent, instead it smelled of Malts, slightly sweet and a hint of hops. The taste was much the same a slightly malt sweetness with a hint of hop bitterness. You could also taste a slight nuttiness to it.

It is a smooth medium bodied beer, light on the carbonation. ItÂ’s very easy to drink and has a nice feel to it.

This was pretty good, I was figuring on a slightly different style, but still pretty good. I could see myself drinking this during a game or while eating a big plate of brats with sauerkraut. I give this beer a 5 out of 10.

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Tonight I decided to review a beer that IÂ’ve had many people ask me if I had tried one. IÂ’ve seen it around for a while now, but just never tried it. This week I decided due to the fact I kept meaning to review it and I was asked 5 times in the last two weeks about it, that I was going to do a review of Fat Tire Amber Ale by the New Belgium Brewing Company in Fort Collins CO.

Even though it comes in a 12 oz brown bottle, this one has a different shape to it. Along the base of the neck there is a band blown into the glass with the name of the brewing company on it. The label is blue and red with a picture of a red bicycle on it and the name of the beer under the bike. There are hops in the blue border framing the bike. On the side there is a story of how Fat Tire got itÂ’s name.

When poured into a glass it forms about a quarter inch white head with large bubbles. The head fades fast leaving a film on the top of the beer and some lacing on the side of the glass. There is a deep clear amber color to it. Light passes through easily with no problems.

I had difficulty making out the full scent of the beer initially. The scent was not weak, just very subtle. There was a pleasant combination of malts with a citrus accent. The taste was very mild. It had a light malt flavor with a mild hop backbone. There was just a hint of bitterness that enhanced the flavor. There is almost no aftertaste.

This is a medium bodied beer with a light carbonation to it. ItÂ’s very easy to drink and leaves almost no coating in the mouth.

This is another beer that I had heard a lot of people say was a great beer, and it is very good. The flavor was a little mild and the nose was kind of weak. Over all I thought this was a good beer. I could see someone sitting down on a hot summer day drinking a six-pack of this with some friends while they grilled. IÂ’m going to rate this a 5.5 out of ten.

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This weekÂ’s beer was donated to the cause by my blog spawn Bruce. He gave me a bottle for tonightÂ’s review because he was tired of me pouring the remaining 5 bottles of a six-pack down the drain. That and I have the sneaky suspicion he just didnÂ’t want to drink it. TodayÂ’s brew is Demolition by Goose Island Beer Co.

Again we have the standard 12 oz bottle brown bottle that we see most beers come in. The label is tan and looks like a bad photocopy job, but I think it was meant to be like that. In the middle of a long story about the beer is the name, “DEMOLITION” in bigger bold lettering. On the back label it states that this beer was bottle on 042006 and states (Flavor will continue to develop over fiver years.) That list bit may be important later on.

It has a nice golden honey coloring to it. It is very cloudy. Light will pas through, but you arenÂ’t able to actually see through the beer to the other side of the glass. When poured it produced a quarter inch white head, but it faded quickly to just a film on top and then a ring around the edge of the glass. There is no lacing at all.

The beer has a scent of citrus and grass. A slight hint of honey is also noticeable. An underlying aroma of hops is also present. The taste is bitter, bitterer than an IPA. In fact itÂ’s so bitter that it overpowers most of the other flavors. The best I can give you is a hint of citrus. You can also taste the alcohol in it, this beer is 8% Alcohol By Volume (ABV), and itÂ’s noticeable in that slight grain alcohol taste to it. And not good grain alcohol, but run through the radiator flavor kind of grain alcohol.

The beer itself is medium bodied and has a nice silky mouth feel to it. It is a little heavy on the carbonation, but not too bad.

Ben Franklin has the famous quote, “Beer is proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy.” Well after drinking this I can say, “The fact that Bruce gave me this beer to drink is proof that he hates me and wants me to live in gastric pain for the rest of the week.” This is a seriously unpleasant beer to drink. In fact this will be in the running for the worst beer I’ve drank in the last 5 years. Now, maybe I should have let it sit the five years in my fridge as the label suggests, but it already had a year aging and it tastes god awfully bad. To be honest I had this beer for the first time a year ago (Same six pack) and it’s been kept refrigerated since. It tastes worse than it did then. I’ve got to give this a 2 out of 10, and I may be being generous with that score.

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TonightÂ’s beer I had seen in the stores for a while, but something about it made me not want to try it. IÂ’m not sure what it was, but it was almost like maybe the display or packaging was trying too hard to get my attention. Finally I caved in and bought it to try. YouÂ’ll see why thatÂ’s surprising. Tonight I tried Arcadia AlesÂ’ Scotch Ale by the Arcadia Brewing Co in Battle Creek MI.

It came in the standard 12 oz brown bottle. The neck label had the brewery name on it and some Celtic knotwork. The body label was the Cross of Saint AndrewÂ’s with a pair of two-handed claymores crossing and a thistle in the middle. The name of the beer was in purple under center.

The coloring was a rich dark brown with a ruby tint. Light passed through it with some difficulty, but was able to pass through. It poured no head. The best I got was a ring around the edge of the glass. It left no lacing and after a couple of minutes the thin, barely noticeable ring had faded to nothing.

The beer smelled of a nice smoky peat you get with a good Scottish ale. A mixture of sweet spices and molasses helped round off the scent. The first sip revealed a taste that was a combination of smoked grains, caramel and a slight raisin accent. It had a rich malty flavor. There were some hop accents, but not much, almost no bitterness at all.

It had a good medium body to it. A slight creaminess helped coat the tongue and mouth. There was a nice level of carbonation that gave a slight bite to the tongue.

I’m a huge fan of Scottish Ales; they are of my top three favorite beers. (Can any of you guess what the other two are?) This is not a bad Scottish ale. Unfortunately it’s not one of the best out there either. I found this to be appealing, yet still there was something about it that made me feel like it was trying to hard to cater to the “Scottish” crowd. Over all I’m rating this a 5 out of 10.

Posted by: Contagion at 05:18 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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