DARK SKY BREWING COMPANY CAMINO DURO VIENNA STYLE LAGER - a review

 

by Daver as it was, as it will be

Dark Sky Brewing Company is my favorite brewery, there's no debate of that. Their menu is broad, and recipes quite unconventional. Even something as basic as their Camino Duro Vienna Style Lager was pleasantly surprising in how that simplicity wound up so damned complex.

In a departure from earlier Dark Sky beers, the label for
Camino Duro only reads "Clean, malty, & crispy" Keeps things simple, and leaves more room for the can art. Very retro. But we're not here for an art critique, let's check out the beer. Once again, using the Yazoo Brewing pint glass for the tasting.

On first pour, you get a clear amber body with heavy head, thick like sea foam,

regardless whether you pour it slowly or quick. The head fades away after a couple minutes, leaving splatters of foam clinging to the glass. The malt is strong in the bouquet. It smells kind of sweet, kind of syrupy, with a tang somewhere between grapefruit and a blended scotch. The IBU is low at 18, and the flavor itself is pretty simple, just malt, barley, water, easy. It does finish crisp and clean, but it's a little too clean with a mild tingling on the back of the tongue as it finishes. The aftertaste is grainy and tangy, and it lingers in the mouth. Weirdly, the aftertaste fades faster with every drink, so by the time you finish it there's practically no aftertaste. Also, if you let it warm to room temperature in your glass, the finish is less tangy, and mellows into a comfortably crisp and clean finish. But in my opinion, the best way to drink this is cold and straight from the can. When you do, almost no tang is present, and it finishes clean and refreshing, perfectly balanced.

I have to be clear, Dark Sky has a great many beers I enjoy better than others they brew. This beer was not one of them. That's not to say it was bad, not at all. It's an easy beer to drink responsibly, at 5% ABV. It's strange, I conclude this beer was not meant to be poured, only drank. It's exactly the kind of beer you can properly enjoy out of an ice chest. I just wouldn't stock it in my ice chest.

Abita Brewing Company - Peach Lager

by Daver!

Hey all, Daver here. I finally crawled out from under my rock and picked up the keyboard to tell you all about a new harvest (to me) beer. Sorry for the long gap between entries; that's the thing about blogging for fun, on one hand I have no deadlines, on the other hand no content to keep an audience. Let's fix that.

What do we have on tap today? Well, it's a summer harvest release from my favorite Louisiana based brewery, the Abita Brewing Company Peach Lager. Yes, summer release. Another advantage of doing this for fun, the sheer randomness of the selections!

On first pour, this beer has a mostly clear and golden color typical to most other lagers. The head is thin and quickly disperses, though it leaves a white ring clinging along the glass. The locally-grown peaches come through the bouquet with the subtlety of a chainsaw. How many peaches did they pick, a million? Millions of peaches, peaches for me (to drink). It's certainly peachy-keen, both in aroma and flavor. The sweetness is muted, but the overall fruit flavor remains with the pale malt of the brew lending a dry almost effervescent crispness in the finish. It's light on the tongue, strong with flavor without being sweet, and easy to drink. With an ABV of 4.5%, it's an excellent beer to relax with on a hot day. Or even a chilly evening, since we're well into fall as I write this.

Here's the thing, would I recommend it? Yes, but with a caveat. It's good, you won't be disappointed 

by trying this, and you won't get tired of drinking it. But personally, it's not the best peach beer I've ever had. I'll tell you more about that one another time. Till then, this is Daver, closing taps and signing off. 

Oktoberfest! San Tan Brewing Company Oktoberfest German Style Lager

Hello hello! Daver here, still sampling and strangely sober.  Aw yes, now we’re talking, this here is a local brew coming from a well-covered brewery here.  Behold, the San Tan Brewing Company’s submission in the seasonal style beers, the Oktoberfest German-style Lager.

Sigh. And it's in a can. Why do you do this to me, San Tan?

Well, I can’t very well hunt down a bar that’ll be serving it on tap. OK, I probably could, but it’d be too late to post about and I’d lose the capacity for rational thought and coherent sentences. I’ll just bite the bullet and go with what we’ve got here, commercially available. Once again, served in the jam jar mug. I really ought to invest in a proper stein for these German style brews.

On first pour, you have a clear, amber body, with a thin head that fades out quickly. The bouquet is modest but vividly more interesting than in other similar brews. There is a more profound malty sweetness, perfectly balanced with the tang of the hops and the yeast. It's a more robust experience for the tongue as well, the tang is almost like an orange rind, but the malt flavor is still clear and present. The ingredients list shows six different malts used, I like this variety. It's not dry at all, though it's still somewhat crisp, like the bite of a gala apple. It's a good relax-o-beer, with an ABV of 5.5% that's not over the top in alcohol content.

So, despite the dreadful presence of an aluminum container, this was a solid hit for San Tan Brewing Company. And a beer worthy to call itself German-styled. And that is the last of the Octoberfest beers for this month. Thanks everyone, now go forth and sample them for yourselves. Responsibly, of course. Prost!

Oktoberfest! Abita Brewing Co. Octoberfest Marzen Style Lager

Greetings my fellow fall-fest fans, Daver here to once more imbibe a seasonal sample and relate the results of my research and reactions. Gods do I love October! 

I've chosen a brew from this side of the Atlantic but just barely this side of the Mississipi, the Abita Brewing Company's Octoberfest Marzen-style Lager.

A quick perusal of the blog archives will show I’m a little partial towards the Louisiana-based Abita Brewery. Haven't had a bad brew with their name on the bottle yet, let's see if the streak holds with this one. Once again, I’m serving this with the 12-oz jam jar with the handle. I have no idea what they’re actually called, but jam jar mug is as good as it gets.  Side note, the bar where I first saw these used claimed that these were pint glasses and charged me as much. LIES!!!  Will never go back to *establishment deleted* again.

On first pour, this lager has a dark, coppery, amber color, a clear body with a thin head that fades quickly. The bouquet is richer than anticipated, notes of sweet malt cutting through the expected tang of hops and yeast. A higher content of malt used in brewing is behind that, no doubt. It's a broader, full bodied experience for the palate. The tang is thinner,  more subtle, but it's ever present. The finish is still dry, but not so crisp and clean.  With an ABV at a respectable 5.4%, you'll be able to enjoy it casually this time of year.

In summation, if the German import was a basic brew done with great care to its substance, this Lousiana batch has more style to it. Yeah, I'd definitely drink this again. You should too!

Oktoberfest! Weihenstephaner Festbier Märzen

October's a special time of the year for me, friends. Halloween and the cooling temperatures, and all the costumes you could ask for till the next convention. And Oktoberfest!

Yes, I realize that Oktoberfest proper was a few weeks ago. Sue me, you’ll still see these brews on the shelves for a little while. So for the occasion, I thought I'd give a try of some brews specifically for Oktoberfest. The first is a German import, Weihenstephaner’s Festbier Marzen.  Weihenstephaner has been brewing since the year of our Lord 1040, in the town of Freising, in Bavaria, Germany.  Almost ten centuries of Old World brewing expertise, let’s see how this goes.

an import, Weihenstephaner’s Festbier

On first pour, it's got a modest head that thins out quick but lingers as a thin layer on the top and clings a little to the edges of the glass. It's recommended to drink a marzen from a mug or stein. Full disclosure, my mug is big enough for three pints so instead I've used my jam jar pint glass.  What? There’s several drinking establishments out here that use those damn glasses at the bar! Ok, they’re hipster recycle-chic bars, and I only went that one time, but they’re still completely legitimate. Moving on, the bouquet is like a stronger pilsner, the faintest of sweet malt with a tang from the hops and yeast.  The body is a clear effervescent gold. It's a simple brew if one compares it to craft brews from the New World, but wow. You can clearly taste the ingredients. The barley, the subtle hops, and the yeast just sidling in, they’re well balanced. It’s a crisp brew that avoids real bitterness, with a clean finish. It's not fancy, but damn good quality. Most American lagers, or “macrobrews,” who dreamt up that sobriquet anyway, how they have that stronger tang that turns into a rough, skunky, bouquet? This is what those brews only wish they could be. You would need an actual skunk to make this brew curdle. This goes in crisp as a winter chill, finishes smooth as a frozen pond, with a respectable ABV of 5.8%. Do you want to build a snowman? Prost!

And if that’s too long for you, here’s the short version. I liked it, it’s good, try it yourself.

Sierra Nevada Brewing Company - Summerfest Lager

A seasonal brew that is perfect for a hot day. This Czech-style pilsner is brewed by the Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. in California, is exactly what it says, only available in the summer. It has a bright yellow color, and the head fades away quickly with fine lacing as you can see in the photo.

Tastewise, it's crisp, dry, with a clean finish. On closer examination, it's also somewhat malty. It may just be me, but it took a little work rolling the beer around on the tongue to pick up the malt. It's more full-bodied than you would expect from a pilsner. The malt was faint in the bouquet, and I thought I picked up a hint of wheat in the aroma.

I liked it, and would definitely restock it when the summer comes around.

Oktoberfest at Tempe Town Lake

Oh, Oktoberfest.

This past weekend, Tempe Town Lake was host to the Budweiser Oktoberfest, a three-day event with live music, rides, carnival and German food, and more beer than you could possibly drink in one sitting. A few people tried, and thankfully they had friends to carry them out when they failed. Several thousand people were in attendance, and quite a few dressed like German barmaidens, pulling off the look oh so very well! Me, I wasn't going for anything so ambitious as getting plowed, just the opportunity to taste some beers I'd be hard pressed to find any other occasion without plane tickets, passports, or a TARDIS.

(It always comes back to a fucking TARDIS, doesn't it...)

I rode the light rail into Tempe because I sure as Heidegger didn't want to risk driving after sampling whatever beers struck my fancy. The BBF would aid me in narrowing my selections from the near hundred different beers on tap, and checking off the harder to find brews makes the decision easy.

The various biergarden tents they had set up accepted drink coupons, which could only be purchased by cash. VISA fails me once again. However, aside from the many generic ATMs conveniently near the coupon tables, there were drink specials during certain hours of the day to balance out the cash/credit inconvenience. My interest was in a beer flight of 8 German beers for purchasing my tickets between 1pm and 3pm, but as luck would have it I got there just too late. Instead, the purchase table attendent, a sympathetic motherly type with curly brown hair, gave me extra tickets to make up for the trouble.

And thanks to that becurled woman's generosity, I was able to savor the following brews.

Warsteiner Premium Verum - A German Pilsner. Generally my palette for pilsners isn't well refined, they taste alike to me. This Pilsner, though, was crisp, dry, and best of all, a little more hoppy than I expected. It's light bodied, but not too light. One more German, checked off the BBF. Yeah, I liked it.

Estrella Damm - Spanish lager, I thought it was light on taste, inoffensive to the palette but not exceptional. The BBF says that it's an easy drinking pale lager with a touch of hops but I couldn't detect that. My impression was that it was like a thicker, stronger Budweiser. Might try it again, if only to pick up on those hops it supposedly has.

Hop City Barking Squirrel - A Canadian lager, dark orange, and tasted a more than a little hoppy. I'd say it's more like a weak IPA as well as a strong lager, which is a good thing. Fact is, I thought I tasted a subtlest hint of apples, which is weird because according to Hop City Brewing Co's website there isn't any apple in this. Huh. Olfactory hallucinations aside, I really liked this lager, and would enthusiastically recommend and order again.

Firestone Union Jack - American double dry hopped IPA out of CA. The hoppy taste is much more subtle in these double hopped IPAs, so you can taste more flavors all around. The Firestone Walker Brewery claims that this has grapefruit citris-iness, I could detect a citrisy character but I thought it was lemon or orange. The overall taste is mild, but alcohol-wise it's strooooong (7.5% alcohol by volume). I'm a sucker for IPAs, especially double- and triple-hopped, so this is one I'd recommend as well.

All told, it was three hits and a miss beer-wise. But it was Oktoberfest, brauts and beers and cute girls in poofy short skirts with knee socks, it's all a hit! And besides, any day that ends with a cold beer is a good day.

Photo credits:Warsteiner Premium Verum, source: Wikicommons, author: LeeKeoma. 
Estrella Damm, source: Wikicommons, author: Erik Cleves Kristensen. 
Hop City Barking Squirrel, source: Hop City Brewing Co. 
Firestone Union Jack, source: Seattle Beer News.

Worldwide Beers! Pilsner Urquell and Mythos

This past Friday night I was at church, drinking. No, seriously. WAIT COME BACK.
 

Actually, it was a Greek Orthodox church for a cultural festival. A buddy at Lost Leaf had told me about it, as I had been looking for something...anything...that would get me a long way away from home that particular night (long story). Lots of yummy Greek food, they had the best gyro, and these little donut things, loukoumades, that are covered in honey and filled with cheese and joy, omigod you guys. There were also cash bars serving beer and wine, and there were a lot of wine bottles floating around. They had this lager on ice called Mythos (love the name), a Greek import.

I can best describe it as like Budweiser if they actually cared about making a good product. It's your basic lager, nothing unique about it, but very well made. Its taste is crisp yet inoffensive, and it's light bodied. A good beer to relax with company.

In my pursuit of "slaying the dragon" at the George & Dragon, that's how they call filling out their beer flight for a t-shirt, the bartender Jana suggested I try Pilsner Urquell, a Czech beer they had on tap which was also on the Big Beer Flight list. I'm always down for what's on tap. I had tried this before in the bottle but it was a couple years prior so I'd forgotten everything about it.

Mmm. It tasted like sourdough bread, which I quite like. Otherwise light on the palette, and there was a hint of cloves in the aftertaste which I really liked. Now the BBF book describes it as "blend of Moravian malt and aromatic Saaz hops," which is probably where the sourdough taste comes from. It also says "the aroma is dominated by a floral, spicy hop character," but I didn't pick up on that. It's a quality pilsner that stands out because of that unique flavor.

And there you have it. Mythos wasn't in the BBF, but it was still a good night, good times, and good drinks. Pilsner can be found anywhere, and both are worth trying. I'm your Beer Blogger, and it's beer o'clock somewhere.

Photo credits- Mythos Beer, source: Wikipedia Commons, original author Shadster.
Pilsner Urquell, source: Wikipedia Commons, original author Gent Thaçi.