Oh, The Weather Outside is Frightful so I'll stay in and Drink this Beer!

What a week its been for the seasonal and holiday beers. Let's get right to it, shall we?

I started out at a restaurant downtown called Rhubarb so when I saw they had a rhubarb saison on their menu I decided I really should give that a try. Saisons aren't on my list of go-to beers to it isn't often that I drink them at all.It was from a brewery called Ilkley.

Frankly, I have no idea whether or not someone would classify a rhubarb as a wintery vegetable but it isn't something I drink often so I'll call it good. This beer was out of the UK and I found it slightly sweet, not very sour, and very refreshing. I would recommend this for someone who doesn't normally drink this style of beer.

And next, we stopped at Wicked Weed, a favorite Asheville brewpub. Downstairs they have the most incredible and intimate bar set up. Met up with some friends and had a couple of drinks there.

I choose their Comet, the third in their series named for the Reindeer. However, the beer isn't really reindeer themed at all. In fact, this one is brewed with myrrh, frankincense, and gold. No, really - real gold. Here's the funny part: myrrh is probably my favorite sent. I burn myrrh incense all the time because I absolutely love the stuff. But in a beer - well, not so much. I didn't absolutely hate this but ingredients that aren't typically edible take a little getting use to.

So then I moved on to a beer called the Frai Belgian Pale. My friend modeled (or ridiculed) this beer for me. And you know what - this isn't even remotely a holiday or winter seasonal but it was so absolutely wonderful that I thought I might as well include it. It was fresh, fruity, and not all that bitter. It was also pretty and very, very drinkable. I would have had several if I hadn't been on a quest to try all the seasonal beers.

Here's the lesson, kids. There aren't really rules when it comes to drinking beer. Well, except for "drink responsibly." If you prefer pale ales, drink them all year long. You don't have to only drink dark beers just because it's wintertime.

A few days later, a friend had left this single beer in my fridge. It looked delicious and I couldn't wait to try it. I had never heard of the brewery, Barrel Trolley, which is based in New York. This Nut Brown Ale was described as having lots of natural hazelnut flavors. So, I poured it in a glass (that iron spike thing in the photo is a sweet bottle opener made by a real blacksmith who used an old railroad spike) and enjoyed.

When I say "enjoyed" I really mean it. It was a delicious, nutty and malty brown ale with just enough hops to balance out the flavors. I would drink this beer again.

So that brings us to another outing with friends. If you can't tell, I find beer exploration to be a very social activity. I love getting together with other people and talking about the different flavors and complexities. It is good to live in a town where there are thousands of other beer nerds around.

Anywho - this beer is the Oskar Blues Christmas Chub. It is based on their Old Chub Scotch Ale which is already rich and malty. The result is chocolately and cinnamony. It is apparently also brewed with spruce but I didn't taste any overwhelming pine flavors. I thought it was a perfect decadent holiday beer.

Well, I thought that the Christmas Chub was decadent, but that was before I sipped this bad boy. Terrapin, out of Athens GA, does a series called Wake n' Bake Stout every year. This one is the even more special French Toast'd Wake n' Bake! It tastes exactly like French toast, you guys! It was rich with lots of maple flavors. The coffee isn't all that overwhelming but the vanilla and cinnamon come through beautifully. There is no way I could drink these all night - at a whopping 9.4% ABV, but it was so delicious I wanted to. Seriously, if you happen to come across this one, check it out. It is so worth it.

And finally, I would like to end this extensive beer re-cap with the Anchor Christmas. This wasn't actually my beer - it was one that Matt tried. I know I've had it before so I feel okay talking about it. Plus, I had a sip to refresh my memory. It is a darker beer but the flavors reminded me of the Southern Tier 2Xmas - it was gingery and piney. It is a delicious beer and well worth it around the holiday season.

We are about to head up to Michigan for the holidays. We'll be there for 2 weeks and I am sure we'll have plenty of delicious beers to report back on. The beer culture in Michigan is fantastic so I am looking forward to some local brews this holiday season.

So - what seasonal beers did you enjoy this week?

Beers of the Week: A Winter Warmer and a Porter

This was a pretty quiet week for beers. I mean, I drank but several of the beers I enjoyed throughout the week were ones I had already showcased here on the blog. Here are two for you consideration.

When I lived in Atlanta there were only a handful of breweries to choose from. Since moving I have learned that the industry is picking up, but alas I can't get most of it here. Sweetwater Brewing, however, is available throughout Asheville but not in too many places. The pizza joint Mellow Mushroom, itself an Atlanta-based business, has tons of beers on tap including several Sweetwater choices. And this time of year that means Sweetwater Festive. It had been a while since I tasted this beer and I was surprised to find it had a little bit of a sour flavor, but I'm not entirely sure that wasn't the fault of the tap line. It isn't a terribly heavy beer for a winter warmer but it does have cinnamon flavors and lots of rich malts. I was surprised that I didn't like this as much as I had remembered.

So, while a porter isn't exactly a winter seasonal it is a style of beer (along with stouts) that I crave this time of year. There are several local porters that are my go-to beers around town but there is also another North Carolina beer from another part of the state that I always forget about. Foothills Brewery is located in Winston Salem and they have several beers available all around Asheville. So when faced with a choice I decided to follow the path less traveled and have a People's Porter, which I never otherwise order. This is a version of a traditional English brown porter and it stays true to its style. I tasted some coffee notes along with the chocolate malt.

I expect that there will be more opportunities for some winter seasonals this coming week and throughout the holidays as we travel to Michigan to visit family over Christmas and New Year's. I am looking forward to some of their great beer choices as well since that state's craft beer scene is pretty epic.

More Adventures in Winter Beer

I've been a lot of places since Thanksgiving. At at most of those places I have consumed delicious seasonal beers. Let's get right to it.

On the day after Thanksgiving we found ourselves at Bar of Soap enjoying a can of one of their new winter beers. This is Unita Brewing's Yard Sale winter lager. While I enjoyed this beer I found it rather un-wintery. I mean, it is a richer, more malty lager than many of the light lagers we're use to, but it didn't have a lot of personality. That being said it was tasty and I would drink more than one in a sitting. The primary flavors would be best described as toasty, vanilla, and caramel.

I have found most of Unita's beers to be hit or miss. I like many of them quite a bit but the rest seem very middle-of-the-road. It is rare that I absolutely hate it.

On Saturday we decorated our house for [insert winter holiday here]. I love this time of year. I love the decorations, the celebrations, the food, and most especially the beer. So to get into the spirit of putting up our tree and dusting off those old holiday nick-knacks, we purchased Kasteel's Belgian Winter beer. Its brewed with real Belgian chocolate, you guys!  Seriously, what could be better. And it was exactly what I wanted out of this beer. The rich, dark beer has roasty and chocolate aromas which translated directly to the flavor. It is 11% alcohol, so don't take this one lightly. Drink with caution. It was absolutely perfect for a fun night at home setting up and decorating the tree.

Then earlier this week we went on a little adventure. Three places, three different seasonal beers. Our first stop was Hi Wire Brewing in downtown Asheville. This is such a great little out of the way brewery. They have several fantastic year-found beers as well as great seasonal offerings. Right now the Strongman Coffee Stout is on tap. I'll be the first to admit that coffee isn't one of my favorite things but beer like this might convince me otherwise. It isn't pretending or just playing around. This is serious coffee flavor. It is a creamy beer to begin with which blends well with the dark, rich, coffee flavor. While this isn't a holiday beer it certainly is a great seasonal. Because it is dark and comforting it fits in the winter warmer category. And, as it turns out, it is only 5.2% ABV which actually makes it a pretty responsible choice.

Then we wandered next door to Ben's Tune Up, a local Asian fusion restaurant. There we ate raman and miso and yummy fish tacos. But we also enjoyed Southern Tier's holiday beer, 2XMas. The bar area, where we ate, is dark which is great for atmosphere but bad for photographs so this is the best we could do. Their other "2X" beers are generally very hoppy so that is what I expected when I took my first sip. I was mistaken. 2XMas has plenty of hops but the hops they use are piney so the beer takes like Christmas trees instead. Plus lot of ginger. Like, a ton of ginger. Turns out there are other spices in there too, but mostly I tasted the ginger If you don't like ginger this may not be the beer for you. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Turns out Southern Tier makes a number of holiday beers including one called Krampus which I must now find.

Finally we ended our beer exploration at Catawba Brewing located in the Biltmore Village area of town. Catawba's seasonal beer offering comes in the form of King Winterbolt, It is an English style brown (or porter?) ale with some Englishy hops. I drank quite of bit of it last year as well. Kind of like Uinta's Yard Sale, I found King Winterbolt to be underwhelming but drinkable. It is a really really good beer, but it doesn't really have any flavor profiles that scream "holiday" or "winter" to me. I suppose when I declare my favorite beer of the season is a specialty brew with ginger and raisins you probably can't expect me to go ga-ga over something super basic. It is a really good beer but I think I would love to see some infusions to give it some kick for the holidays. It would taste great with cinnamon, chocolate, dates, or other flavors of the season. I'll be watching to see if they release any specialty versions of King Winterbolt over the next month or two.

What beers did you discover this week? What have been your favorites that you keep going back to?

Thanksgiving 2014: This Week in Beer

This year Matt and I hosted Thanksgiving here in Asheville. Matt's mom came down from Michigan and on Wednesday, before the holiday, we took her to a great local spot called King James Public House.We got a bunch of small plates and shared them and they were amazing. King James is really a cocktail bar so we couldn't pass up a couple of delicious mixed drinks. But they also serve great beer both on tap and in the bottle.

Their new winter offering was a bottle of Samuel Smith's Winter Welcome ale. Sam Smith was one of the first beers I liked before I was able to get my hands on many craft brews. This quintessential English beer is frequently imported in bottles. When I was visiting London in October of this year I was able to get my hands on cask drawn Sam Smith  which is, as you might imagine, significantly better. This is because it is fresher if nothing else. The Winter Ale was okay. It seemed a little ordinary to me. It is a simple bitter ale so it didn't have a lot of the spices or rich flavors that I prefer for my winter ales. I think I am biased towards darker beers this time of year. That being said it wasn't undrinkable and it worked well with the rich food that we were eating.

Then came Thanksgiving dinner.

We hosted it here in Asheville which was a wonderful change. We always travel for Thanksgiving and it was really nice to have it in our own house. Our friends Reid and Erika joined us as well so we had 5 for dinner. The meal consisted of a 21-pound smoked turkey from a local barbecue restaurant. It was amazing and there is no way we could have a made a bird that tasted as good!  Instead we concentrated on the sides: a pierogi casserole in place of mashed potatoes, roasted root vegetables, stuffing in the crock pot, and a spinach salad with goat cheese, pecans, and dried cranberries. For dessert, Erika brought cherry pie and I made chocolate pumpkin cupcakes with caramel cream filling and caramel glaze. Oh, and we had Oreo pumpkin ice cream from Ultimate Ice Cream.

Thanksgiving table with Autumn Maple Beer.

Of course, with all that food we needed the perfect beer. Enter The Bruery's Autumn Maple. Yum yum! Technically you could call this an autumn seasonal but it was brewed specifically to pair with Thanksgiving dinner. Instead of a pumpkin base they choose yams and brewed it with all the traditional autumn spices, molasses, and maple. It is a Belgian style ale and has a slight sour component to it but not in an unpleasant way. It went really well with the whole thanksgiving dinner. I had bought some additional, different beer for dessert but I just had some more of this instead. I'll save the other beer for a different blog post.

This Thanksgiving was a success - and it still isn't over. Today we are going out for dinner with friends and then checking out some local holiday lights. Tomorrow, Matt's mom is helping us put up our tree and decorate the house. I am certain there will be more winter seasonal beers to explore in the coming week.

What kind of beer did you have with your Thanksgiving dinner?

November 21, 2014: This Week in Winter Beer

This week in winter beer was strong right out of the gate.

The season kicked off for me at the Highland Brewing Cold Mountain Release party. Cold Mountain is the seasonal offering from Highland Brewing right here in Asheville. The recipe starts with the same base but each year they change up the flavoring agents. And this year they've hit it out of the ball park. The release party spanned three days last week - Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Matt and I hit the Friday event and enjoyed a regular pint of Cold Mountain and two of their flavor infusions: coconut and chocolate. From what we understand the brewery ran out of Cold Mountain on tap by mid-day Saturday. Some locals consider the hype to be overkill. Once the beer hits store shelves people go a little crazy to get their hands on it. But this year especially the hype is well-deserved. (I have a couple 22oz bottles in my fridge and I was able to get some on tap at King James Public House the instant they tapped their keg). If you have never tried Cold Mountain before I think this is the year.

Later this week I found myself at a local bar where two winter seasonals were on tap. Since "Winter Seasonal" isn't a specific style many breweries are just making any old beer and slapping a wintery name on them to sell more this time of year. That is how I feel about New Belgium's Accumulation White IPA. The kicker is that New Belgium has made a number of really good winter seasonals in the past that are no longer in production. Accumulation was available last year at least and maybe the year before so I was hoping they would have a new offering this year. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. I found it lacking in much flavor that would differentiate it from anything else. I knew I wasn't going to like it but in an effort to make this blog as content rich as possible I thought I should give it another try. It was slightly watery and lacked body. However, if you like IPAs you may enjoy this one.

That same night I also drank this year's batch of Sierra Nevada's Celebration. Now here is a winter IPA I can get behind. It was rich, well balance, and a gorgeous holiday red color. Sierra Nevada, who recently opened a facility near Asheville, is known for their IPAs so it makes a lot of sense that they would concentrate on this flavor profile for their holiday beer. Several of the people I was with ordered more than one pint of this beer which I believe speaks to its drinkability. If you do like IPAs I would advise drinking this rather than Accumulation.

But then, the most amazing thing happen. Just yesterday I found myself at the local spot called Asheville Brewing. It is a relatively small scale brewery that seems very focused on maintaining their local status. They put out really good beers but most of them can only be found on tap at the brewery itself (they have three locations in town). They can a few of their flagship beers but the specialty brews are draft only. We were at the movie theater in the back of the restaurant, known as the Brew n' View, for another event all together. Some friends (ZaPow Gallery) had been featured in a PBS series called Start Up and they were screening the episode. What I wasn't expecting to find when I got there was my current favorite winter seasonal. Seriously, I just wanted to drink all kinds of it. The best part - it's called Ninjabread Porter. It is based on their popular Ninja Porter, which has won several awards around the country, but there was added ginger, raisins and some other stuff the bartender-guy said that I don't remember. Seriously, they had me at Ninjabread! I definitely plan on getting more of this while it lasts. So seriously, leave me some! 

I believe that Ninjabread is the perfect antidote for the people who believe that Cold Mountain is over-hyped.

That's my winter beer list for this week. I'm going to try to update every Friday - though with the holiday next week it may not happen as planned. However, I am specifically going on a beer hunt this weekend to find some great seasonals to pair with Thanksgiving dinner. If you have any suggestions please feel free to make them in the comments - including where to find them.

Winter Beers of 2014: Let's Make this Happen!

*tap tap tap*
Is this thing on?

Wow, it has been over a year since I did anything with this dusty old beer blog. It isn't that I haven't been drinking beer - in fact, I've been drinking plenty of beer. It is more that I get going on it and then something else shiny distracts me.

But since I did a series on Fall beers in 2013 I thought I would take some time this winter to talk about some yummy beers for the coldest season. Its already snowed a few times here in Asheville so I am ready! 

Highland's Cold Mountain (Winter Seasonal) from 2012

I'm going to try to update once a month and catalog the beers I like and the beers I don't and the reasons why. I hope it can help a few people make informed decisions about beers for the season.

Winter beer is a very broad category. For the purposes of this blog I am going to try to focus on beers brewed specifically for the winter or holiday season. I may also include some other darker beers from time to time like a good hearty stout or porter because that is what I crave this time of year.

If you wan to know more about seasonal beers and dark beers, check out my book How to Drink Craft Beer: A Beginner's Guide. It is meant to be a guide you can take with you as you explore new beer flavors and learn what you love. It would make a great holiday present for the beginner beer drinker in your life.

Sam Adams Fat Jack Pumpkin Ale and Oktoberfest

Sam Adams is one of the largest craft brewers in the country. Some might argue that definition but Sam Adams does in many way fit the profile of a craft beer maker rather than a large scale macrobrewery.

The best thing about Sam Adams is that their beer is pretty good, sometimes even great, and you can get it almost anywhere. While I tend to frequent establishments that specialize in small craft beer every once in a while I find myself at a bar where they have only Bud, Bud Light, and Sam Adams Lager. I go with the Sam Adams.

The brewery also produces a few great seasonal beers. Their Winter Lager is decadent and delicious, but I'll save that review for another time.

I want to focus on two of their Autumn seasonal beers today: the Pumpkin Ale and the Oktoberfest.

I enjoyed the Fat Jack Pumpkin ale over a dinner of chicken tikka masala while sitting outside on our mountain next to a camp fire. It didn't hurt that the setting was wonderful to begin with. For fun we split the beer by pouring it into our 4 ounce beer tasters. It was delicious. It had all the spices that I love along with a sweet pumpkin flavor which complimented each other well. It was very satisfying and the pumpkin, spices, and maltiness went extremely well with the spicy cream sauce of the tikka masala.

If you aren't sure whether or not you would like a pumpkin ale, this would be a pretty good one to try out. It is rich and decadent and should give you a good profile of a well made pumpkin beer.

Along with the Fat Jack Pumpkin ale, Sam Adams also produces an easy to find Octoberfest lager.

Lagers are the most common type of beers produced by the macrobrew companies. Budweiser, Miller, and Coors are all lagers, but most craft beer enthusiasts will agree that they lack any depth or real flavor. Most are made using adjust ingredients such as rice or corn. The Germans, who kind of perfected beer centuries ago, created a beer purity law which insisted beer be made with only four things: water, hops, malt, and yeast. I do like beer with added flavors - such as pumpkin spices - but I am not too keen on rice or corn in my beer. The reason I am going into this kind of detail is because I think Sam Adams Octobefest is a good "Introduction to Craft Beer" for someone who has otherwise only experienced offerings by the major macrobreweries. It is light, crisp, and refreshing with all the richness that a traditional marzen beer should have.

I am a fan of Samuel Adams Boston Brewery. I love a lot of their seasonal beers, including their Fat Jack Pumpkin and the Octoberfest. Check them out for yourself before it is too late. 

Brown Beer and Autumn Hikes: Two Great Tastes that Go Great Together!

The last two weekend I've gone hiking. After these hiking trips I have enjoyed a brown ale at a local watering hole. I thought I would share those with you.

The first hike was at Laurel River near Hot Springs, NC. It was a 7 mile hike total, which was a little long for someone like me. I really wanted to give up at about the 6 mile mark but where would I go? No helicopter would come rescue me, so I had to keep hiking.

After we did finally crawl back to the car we drove into the town of Hot Springs to the Spring Creek Tavern and had a seat at the bar. It is a really nice place with great atmosphere. We haven't tried their food yet, but we plan to next time we're up in Hot Springs.

I ordered a Bell's Best Brown, a great year round brown beer brewed by Bell's in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I consider Bell's my first craft brewery even though that is a slight exaggeration. I went to college in Kalamazoo but at the time I didn't drink beer at all so I can't really claim to have been a fan in the 90s. I'm willing to jump on that band wagon now, though.

This brown ale is one of my favorites when I am in the mood for malty goodness, which I usually am about this time of year. It is well balanced with just enough hops to give it some character but not too much to draw attention away from the roasted malt flavors.

If you like traditional browns with just a hint of something extra this one is a good bet for you. It is sweet and caramel-y. It is perfect for a crisp fall afternoon or for the first beer to quench your thirst after a long and strenuous hike.

For the second hike in as many weeks, we drove down to Tallulah Gorge in North Georgia and met up with some friends from Atlanta. The hike around the gorge is pretty easy with the most difficult being over 600 steps down to a suspension bridge and 500 steps back up to the top of the gorge. It took me a while to make it up the steps. I'm not really what you would call "in shape" and I have asthma so I puffed my way up one section of stairs at a time.

After our hike we drove up to the town of Clayton, Georgia and discovered their quaint downtown area. We stopped for dinner and drinks at the Universal Joint. I was surprised to find this place in such a small town. There is also a Universal Joint in Ashevlle.

There I ordered a Duck Rabbit Brown Ale which is brewed in Farmville, North Carolina. They served it to me in a Red Hare glass, which is a brewery out of Atlanta. It seemed appropriate. Duck Rabbit specializes in dark beers and their Milk Stout is one of my very favorites of all time, which I know is a pretty bold declaration.

Duck Rabbit Brown Ale is rich with a very well played bitterness to the hops profile. It is a strong beer that can stand up on its own if you like that sort of thing. The dominating flavors for me in this one is chocolate and coffee but neither are overwhelming. They play off each other and the hoppy bitterness very well. If you want a brown beer with a little more punch than most of them check out this one.

Have you been out hiking this fall? Have you stopped for a beer afterwards to quench your thirst? What have you been drinking?

The Most Astoundingly Mediochre Pumpkin Beer of the Season

When I am out with friends they often ask me what kind of beer I like.

Or they ask me what kind of beer they should like.

The divisiveness of Pumpkin Ale always stirs up an interesting conversation. Do I like this one? Do I like that one? What makes a good pumpkin ale?

Really, if you like a pumpkin ale - drink it. Don't worry about what everyone else thinks.

I like many pumpkin ales. My favorite of the season so far has been the Boxcar Pumpkin Porter.

My least favorite was this one:

The New Belgium PumpKick.

I like New Belgium beers just fine. Some are better than others. Because it is widely distributed I can usually get one even in a place that only serves the macrobrewed giants and that makes them worth their weight in gold.

What I will say about the Pumpkick is that it was all around average.

Of course, one of the reasons that this pumpkin beer is not among my favorites is because it has a fruitier flavor rather than a spicy one. Give me those pie spices and that is how I know it is fall! 

If you, on the other hand, are a bigger fan of actual pumpkin flavor then this might be a reasonable choice for you.

This one should be available in bottles at most grocery stores through the fall, and New Belgium is pretty spread out these days, so if you want to give a pumpkin beer a try check this one out. See what you think.

Mecktoberfest in Charlotte, NC

Earlier this month, Matt and I were invited by some friends to see the Indigo Girls play with the symphony orchestra in Charlotte. These aren't just any friends but friends from college - old roommates. One happens to live only an hour from us here in Asheville now and the other...well, he may be considering a move south some day relatively soon. This area of the country does have a certain magnetic draw to it. Once you're bit it is hard not to let it spread under your skin. As the Indigo Girls say:

When God made me born a Yankee he was teasing.

The concert was simply amazing and it was absolutely great to spend time with our friends.

But, this is a beer blog, is it not?

Yes, yes it is. And I am getting there. While in Charlotte we were able to enjoy an Autumn Seasonal beer from the area's largest beer maker, The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery.

The beer of choice was their fall seasonal offering Mecktoberfest. It was pretty darn good.

Here is yet another truth about beer drinking. The beer is always better if you're with people you care about and are enjoying yourself. Beer is an extremely social beverage and is meant to be enjoyed that way. If you're thinking about trying a new beer go check it out at a bar or the brewery rather than buying a six pack and drinking it at home. You can talk with the bartenders or the brewers. You can start conversations with other bar patrons who can tell you about their favorites. Invite some friends and enjoy the experience.

So, part of the reason I enjoyed the Mecktoberfest so much was because I was sharing an evening of music and friendship. I highly recommend you try this approach as well.

Catawba Valley King Don Pumpkin: Not as Bad as I remembered It

Brewed in Morganton, NC, not far from Asheville is Catawba Valley's annual pumpkin ale, King Don's Original Pumpkin Ale.

Shortly after I began to enjoy beer I decided to give this one a try. We we were at Barley's, a popular taproom downtown, and I spotted it on the wall.

If you're not a craft beer drinker I am here to tell you that beer is, in fact, and acquired taste. It took me forever to like any beer and when I did it was a progression from one style to the next. For example, I use to hate the taste of hops but now Pale Ales ad IPAs are some of my go-to beers. Your tastes really do change.

This first time trying Catawba Valley's King Don's Original Pumpkin Ale was...well...traumatizing. I did not like it! However, at the time I found it hard to express what I didn't like about it. It took me a while to develop the "Pumpkin vs. Pumpkin Spice" flavor profile comparison chart (patent pending!). All I knew is that whatever I just put in my mouth was revolting.

There is one other important truth to know about beer. It is subjective. While beer snobs can say that the big name macrobrews are "disgusting," clearly their sales indicate that someone likes the taste of their beers. Not all palates are created equal. For example, there are two beer trends that I am not particularly fond of: smoked beers and sour beers. But both of these are popular for a reason - because someone likes them. The same is clearly true about Catawba's pumpkin ale.

So, to make a long story short, I did not like Catawba Valley's King Don Pumpkin.

Recently, as people are learning that I am attempting to DRINK ALL THE BEER! this fall, they began to ask me about this particular, and popular, pumpkin ale.

When I saw it on tap at our regular Monday night bar, I figured it was a reasonably safe environment to give it a try. The bartender, also a friend, would gladly make fun of me for it but I knew the pain would only be temporary. I asked her for only a half pour so I didn't have to commit to a full pint.

Tenatively, I took a sip.

And it really wasn't as bad as I remembered it.

Here is the third truth of beer drinking: Go ahead and try things you though you didn't like before. If enough time goes by you may find your tastes have changed just enough to let you appreciate this beer.

I certainly wouldn't put the King Don Pumpkin at the top of my list of favorite Pumpkin beers, but it wasn't awful. There was more pumpkin spice flavor than I remembered. It was entirely drinkable. If you really love the pumpkin beers this time of year and are in the Catawba Valley Brewery distribution area, it is worth a try.

Oktoberfest at Wicked Weed

On Friday, October 4th, I was feeling the need to be social. I wanted to head downtown to where all the action was...

And the action was at Wicked Weed as they kicked off their Oktoberfest season.

They brewed 3 special beers for the event and I tried two of them: the Fest Beer and the Uncle Rick's Pilsner.

Matt and I arrived around 7pm and were delighted when we discovered the downstairs/outdoor seating at Wicked Weed decorated for Oktoberfest. They had created a beer hall atmosphere with long tables and Oompah music. You can't help but tap your toes along to the tuba! I've never been to Oktoberfest in Germany, but I have been to one in Helen, Georgia, which is really the same thing, right?

I really enjoyed the Fest Beer, a traditional marzen beer. It was everything a marzen should be: dark gold, malty, and higher in alcohol than typical lagers.

I did not try the wheat beer they brewed for the occasion, but I did have the pilsner which was absolutely delightful, light, and refreshing. It had a surprising amount of flavor for a pilsner, which is known for being a very mild beer.

Oktobefest at Wicked Weed runs through this Friday, October 11th, so don't miss out!  Check out these special German style beers while you still can! 

How About Some Browns

When I started this series I suggested that classic American Brown Ales were also "Fall Beers." There is no real reason for this except my personal preference. Unlike Oktoberfests and Pumpkin ales, you can get brown beers all year round but the comforting roasty flavors of browns make me thing of the cooling weather and falling leaves so I drink them this time of year.

Here are a couple browns that I've had recently.

Sweet Josie Brown.

Lonerider Brewery out of Raleigh, North Carolina, brews a fine brown beer called Sweet Josie Brown. It is, in fact, a pretty sweet little brown ale. It is very dark and the head is thick and creamy. It has a delightful sweet chocolate malt flavor with some light hops to balance it out, but not to many to make it an overly bitter beer. This is a really great drinking brown and goes well with a lot of flavors. I admit to drinking this one other times of the year as well if the desire to have a brown ale strikes me.

(I didn't have any good props for the photo of Sweet Josie Brown)

Beer Guy Grown.

Here in Asheville there is a local beer guy named Tony Kiss. In fact, people here do call him "The Beer Guy." Asheville Brewing created a tribute beer of sorts called Beer Guy Brown that they release again from time to time. I hadn't been able to grab it on tap there...until yesterday. The Asheville Brewing location on Merrimon Rd. in North Asheville is also known as the Brew N' View where you can see $3 second run movies and order a pizza and beer at the same time. Super fun times!  This week we went to see The Wolverine when I saw the tap labeled "Beer Guy Brown." I was finally able to give this delicious beer a try. It is a really drinkable beer - what people in the know call "sessionable." This just means it would make a great afternoon sipper for leaf watching from your back patio. Or something. It went very well with my buffalo chicken salad as well.I'm not sure how long this batch of Beer Guy Brown will last at Asheville Brewing, but I highly recommend getting out to give it a try.

(As you might imagine, it is difficult to get a photo of a beer in a dark movie theater.)

What kind of brown ales do you love this time of year?

Holy Crap, this stuff's delicious... Boxcar Pumpkin Porter

I sat down at the bar at Barley's, an Asheville institution, and looked up at the chalk board above the taps. My eye was immediately drawn to the word "pumpkin." 

Then I noticed the other words around it "Starr Hill Brewing Boxcar" and then, "Porter."

A porter? What deliciousness is this?

I don't have too much experience with Starr Hill, a brewery out of Virginia. I know I've tried a few of their beers before, but they haven't stood out to me before.

Until now.

As I have mentioned before there are two types of pumpkin beers - pumpkin flavor and pumpkin spice flavor. I am firmly in the pumpkin spice camp.

This pumpkin porter was a near perfect example of the style. The dark, rich porter was an excellent base for the pie spices. Porters can be heavy beers but this one made me want to go back for more. Seriously, if you have any desire for a pumpkin spice flavored beer, this is one of the best offerings I've had in town. Get thee to Barley's before it is gone!

If you're not in Asheville, check out the Starr Hill Beer Finder here!  

Bell's Oktoberfest at Jack of Hearts in Weaverville

It is so great to go to just about any bar in town and be able to find at least one or two Autumn beers on tap.

It really is Bell's, not Oskar Blues! 

Last week, at Jack of Hearts in Weaverville, I was able to enjoy a pint of Bell's Oktoberfest.

Bell's Brewery is based in Kalamazoo, Michigan, which is where Matt and I both went to college. I like to consider Bell's my first craft brewery even though I didn't drink beer at the time. My sister still lives in the area so I get to visit there frequently.

Bell's Oktoberfest is clean, light, and refreshing. But the "refreshing-ness" might actually be its downfall. Bell's is known for its full bodied beers. Even their flagship wheat beer, Oberon, is robust, rich, and flavorful, and very different from most wheat beers. The Bell's Oktoberfest is good enough and certainly drinkable but it isn't their best brew by a long shot.

Even though Bell's is brewed in Michigan they have a pretty expansive distribution area and you should be able to find Bell's Oktoberfest in several bars around Asheville and throughout the South East. And Midwest. And, for some strange reason, Arizona. Happy Drinking! 

Highland Brewery's Clawhammer Oktoberfest

Asheville has a ton of great beer. It is really hard to pick one favorite. In fact, it is so hard I rarely try to take a stand for one single beer because as soon as I do, I discover something else that blows my mind. While I was writing for a local beer blog I was often tasked with declaring the best beer at each brewery I reviewed. Highland, an Asheville staple, as the easiest for me to determine. It isn't just one beer that is their best but all of their seasonals. Throughout the year, Highland has several amazing offerings that simply make your mouth water at the very thought of them.

Highland's Autumn Seasonal is no exception.

I offer exhibit A: Clawhammer Oktoberfest.

It is only the beginning of the season but I am making sure to get my fill before it disappears. In fact, as we were out to see a Football game on Sunday the bar was already out of the Clawhammer that they had only tapped two days before. And we were ordering beers at 1pm! Trust me, it really is that good. Check it out for yourself.

Along with the clean, crisp lager taste, Clawhammer also incorporates some fall spiciness to the mix.This added personality gives it a slightly different spin on the typical Oktoberfest beer. Try it while you still can! 

Green Man Brewery's Harvester

My Asheville amble of autumn ales is awesome!

See what I did there.

Dark and mysterious....

Well, anyway. I recently found myself at Green Man Brewery or, as locals like to call it, Dirty Jack's. It is called that because of their original relationship with Jack of the Wood, one of the Asheville's most popular bars. Dirty Jack's is a tucked away in an area that is now called the South Slope but use to be way off the beaten path. Because of the location it tends to be populated primarily by locals on most nights but visitors are discovering it more and more.

While I was there I stuck to my goal of trying the autumn seasonals so I ordered the Green Man Harvester. I didn't even ask what it was I just figured it would be delicious. Turns out it is an Oktoberfest and a delightful example of one, I might add.

This lager was light and refreshing but with all of the richness that I love about a good Oktoberfest. I recall having some Green Man Oktoberfest last year but this seemed different. It isn't unusual for brewers to continuously tweak their recipes from year to year. If you're in the area I definitely recommend trying this years Harvester.

Don't worry - there are tons more autumn ales and lagers for me to try before the season passes. And, if I am on a roll, I'll keep going with the winter seasonals!  I love drinking beer seasonally. It really makes me feel connected to the cycles and the community.

What Autumn Seasonals are you enjoying right now? 

The Good Luck Trolley that Never Was

Here we are not getting on the trolley.

On Friday, September 13th, Matt and I headed downtown to join the Asheville Blogger Society on a special Friday The 13th trolley tour to the Oskar Blues Brewery in Brevard. As we neared the corner where the bloggers waited to board the big red trolley we knew there had to be a problem.

The trolley wasn't running.

Before our Friday the 13th adventure even started it was struck by bad luck.

We chalked it up to the ominous date and set about to have fun anyway.

The bloggers and our guests wandered over to Barley's Tap Room and took over the upstairs bar. There, along with some fantastic discussions, I was also able to try a few seasonal beers.

My black cat and the Oktoberfest.

• Foothills Oktoberfest. I thought this was a beautiful example of an Oktoberfest lager. It was rich and delicious with beautiful fall color. 
• Big Boss Harvest Time Pumpkin. As I have mentioned before, there are pumpkin beers I like and pumpkin beers that I don't like. Unfortunately, the Big Boss pumpkin feel into the "eh, not so much," category. While it had hints of pumpkin spice it lacked the body that I look for in a pumpkin ale. Your mileage may vary. 
• Laganitas Lucky 13. Much like Sierra Nevada Flipside, this isn't a "traditional" autumn beer, based on my own completely arbitrary criteria. However, after the ill-fated Friday the 13th Beer Trolley I thought that enjoying a Lucky 13 beer would be an excellent idea. I am a huge fan of this California brewery and love most of the beers that they offer. Lucky 13 was no exception. As an imperial red it is high in alcohol and heavy to drink. The flavors are complex and there are plenty of hops and plenty of malts to please just about anyone.

Your humble narrator and the Lucky 13.

Wicked Weed Off With Their Gourds! PumpkAnne Ale

I have loved Wicked Weed since it opened early this year. I was excited to read that they were doing not just one but a series of pumpkin ales this Fall.

The series is called "The Gourds are Coming" an they will be releasing each pumpkin beer throughout the season. We found ourselves at Wicked Weed and I couldn't wait to try the first installment: The PumpkAnne Ale. 

This 7.3% alcohol beer may be a perfect examples of the kind of pumpkin ale that I prefer. The taste of those pumpkin pie spices were all over the rich malty beer base in the most perfect way.

Wicked Weed specializes in relative small batches and constantly rotating taps of their own brews. I have tried many beer styles and flavors there that I would probably not try anywhere else. I am always amazed at the new selections of both hoppy and Belgian style beers available every time I go into the bar. If you never thought you would like a Pumpkin beer check out the PumpkAnne ale before it is gone. I understand the next Pumpkin installments are a smoked pumpkin beer and a sour pumpkin beer. I admit that those two particular flavors are not among my favorites but I may give those a try just to see what they are all about.

And Now For Something Completely Different

I love to drink beer seasonally and for me the impending Fall means Browns, Pumpkins, and Oktoberfests. Sierra Nevada's regular Fall seasonal, Tumbler, is probably my favorite brown this time of year. I've already enjoyed a few in early September.

But this year, Sierra Nevada switched things up a big but adding an "Early Fall Seasonal" to their lineup: Flipside Red IPA.

Funny story. I was out at the store the other day. I saw this on the shelves and I thought "hey, that looks good. Let's try it." So I bought a six pack.

Later that day, Matt came home from playing golf with a friend and in his hand he held...a six pack of Flipside Red IPA. Great minds think alike, as they say.

Yesterday, Matt and I got together with some friends from Minnesota on a Google+ Hangout that we like to call Thirsty Thursdays. They are super fun and you should do them with your friends from around the country and the world. Everyone grabs their favorite beverage and hops into a Hangout. It is just like going out to the bar with friends except you're on the Internet!

I popped open a couple of Flipsides to enjoy as we chatted.

For an IPA this is an extremely mild beer and not overly bitter at all. There is a great interplay between the citrusy hops and the maltiness of the well crafted red ale. As advertised it is a lovely early fall beer to prepare for the coming of the season. If you can get Sierra Nevada in your area definitely give this one a try before it is gone.