I'd been thinking about this topic for a while and just hadn't gotten around to creating it. Last night however I attended a "mocktoberfest" thing. The beer was your typical mega-brewery crap that unfortunately one usually ends up drinking (it's available and cheaper).

So lets talk about some nice brews we've had.

To get the ball rolling:

Recently I had an Ocozol Pimienta Porter.

Ocozol is a small craft brewery in Mexico City. I had tasted their brown ale a while back and it was good. The porter was awesome! It had all the expected toasty aromas of a porter (almost coffee-like) nicely complimented with hints of spice. It is brewed with coriander and black pepper and the aromas are awesome. I don't know how easy to find it may be, but seriously worth a taste.



*pic added.

I really enjoyed Terrapin's Oatmeal Coffe "Wake & Bake" Stout. It's a thick, dark oatmeal stout that pours like syrup. One bottle's 11% ABV and it's really heavy, so I can't have more than one or two.

A buddy of mine just opened a brewery in Florida, so that's exciting.

I had 2 decent Oktoberfest-ish beers last night.

Magic Hat's "Hex: Ourtoberfest"
I was first introduced to at a 'heaven and hell' party where my friend's 1st floor apartment was 'hell'. Great look to it:


For taste it is right on the boundary of sweetness for me. I don't like my beers to be overly sweet but this one hits it quite right. Malty with a big body and flirts with a 'syrupy' flavor but not to much to go negative on its drinkability. Readily available I imagine as Magic Hat makes it all the way out here.

Victory's Festbier
Damn do I love Victory beers. I don't think I've ever had a Victory I didn't like (clever!). This one is just a solid and classic Oktoberfest style beer. Toasty, malty and just a little bigger than a brown or copper ale. I guess the origin of 'oktoberfest' beers was spring brewed beers (before refrigeration) that had a higher gravity so they could make it through the summer to be drank in early autumn. I love how beer history is "Lets brew it stronger to make it last longer" (IPA, Marzen, Imperials) transitioning to "I like the taste of this too, Yayyyy beer that gets me drunker lets make this all the time!"

Wasn't too proud of the pic I took of the Ocozol Pimienta so I googled some. Turns out there isn't much. What I did find is that they make a Saffron Amber Ale. I'll have to look it up.

In Reply To #3

Yeah, I thought Hex was ok. A little thin for me, though.

Smuttynose is located right here in NH. Their IPA is one of the best beers I've ever had.

http://www.smuttynose.com/

In Reply To #1

The beer I brewed myself

In Reply To #6

Info, please!

I'm currently loving a local brewery called Flying Dog. Particularly their Old Scratch and Raging Bitch. It seems the primary ingredient in both is something called Delicious.

In Reply To #7

Back in graduate school I used to brew with my best friend. We were getting our PhDs in Microbiology, it was pretty much mandatory. We made a number of different beers, but my favorite was this beautiful lager. Crisp, dry but still very flavorful, just the right level of hops, good body. My favorite beer I ever had. I still have the recipe around here somewhere if I ever get back brewing (though living in Mississippi has put a significant damper on that idea).

I have a rubbish memory for random ales I've tried that I like. Can't go wrong with some Doombar, Oxford Gold or pretty much anything from Badger Brewery.

In general I'm a fan of pale and golden ales but I'll try pretty much anything. Tend to dislike beers that taste too hoppy.

In Reply To #9

I heard there was this food conference right these days in Oxford, MS.

While having no real taste for beer (I am more of a cider or wine person), I will contribute thusly with a picture I quickly snapped in Berlin last night, while hunting for a good dinner place in the North East.

Atomic Pale Ale, Mountain Goat Steam Ale, and Carlton Draught.

And before anyone gets on my back about Carlton Draught (which is, as we know, Made From Beer), fuck you, I sometimes like to drink a beer that just tastes of beer. It's like vanilla ice cream, sometimes you just want the default.

In Reply To #13

There's vanilla beer, and there's some vanilla beers that are pretty decent.

The SanFran Bay has a local brewery called Speakeasy. Their wheat-beer, White Lightning, is especially tasty, but most are a fan of Prohibition Ale.

The truth is, I pretty much only drink Japanese beers if they're available. Kirin Ichiban is my go-to, but if a nice Orion beer were to show up from the island of Okinawa, I'd be a happy happy man.