Arcadia Whitsun Ale

Arcadia Whitsun Ale
Arcadia Brewing Co.
Battle Creek, MI

Freebie #6. Note: Again, I was too lazy to lift the glass so I free poured.

If only Bell's Oberon tasted this good! This is what I envision when I want a summer wheat beer and not some prickly porcupined citrus hop-twang that makes one make the lemon-suck face all the way to the portapotty. This even has a toasted malty caramel flavor to it that makes it robust enough to drink through the cool fall nights by a dimly-lit campfire while roasting wooly mammoth in the U. P. All right...this isn't a Normal Rockwell painting and I'm not one of the BA brothers doing a review in dirge form for the rubbed out masses: Good beer - the good times and good friends are purely optional.

-Wörtwurst

Tucher Helles Hefe Weizen

Tucher Helles Hefe Weizen
Brauerei Tucher Brau
Nürnberg, Germany

Freebie #5. Note: I was too lazy to lift the glass so I free poured.

When I saw this on sale for $1.09 a 1 pint 1 fl. oz bottle I couldn't pass it up. Well, I could have but somebody else was paying and Peggy was working the counter so I felt obliged to make her work so I could look at her Christina Rici looking face and feel beery. Neither experience has disappointed so far. Where many hefes go off into a wheatified orgy of wheat, banana, cloves, more banana and even more banana and cloves this wheatus takes a more fruitish lagery sour fang in the face approach. The tang of citrus forms a perfect amalgamation with the wheat and other gentle spices and makes this about my favorite hefe, except for Hefe Jo Hefe the dancing girl.

-Wörtwurst

Jolly Pumpkin Madrugada Obscura Dark Dawn Stout

Jolly Pumpkin Madrugada Obscura Dark Dawn Stout
Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales
Dexter, MI

The fourth beer in my gift sixer...a re-review.

Memory is a strange thing. The first time I had this beer was at the brewery in one of the most unassuming towns on Earth. The Son of Jeffries was in a festive mood and some local, who seemed to have been there a few long minutes "sampling", was imbibing. Seeing as I was only driving a few more miles I thought that I should as well. The immediate response to this cold dessert is to drink it down and so I did. Most stouts have a beefy character to them and you feel it right away. With this Belgian candy cocktail of chocolate and sweet yeast you feel it ten minutes later and it comes in a wave of sugary dreamlike visions. I had a dreamquest that day myself. It involved species beyond our own with fanglike appendages and a thirst for blood. It tore itself upon me and then took to the town of savages and devoured them all. I could hear their screams drown out the cricketed night and then the being came to lay itself beside me in silence. I've seen it a few times since and it takes something each time. This stout is no elixir against it but rathera portal for its return. It's worth the horror to uncap this merangue of cocoa and spill out my spine once again.

-Wörtwurst

Flying Dog Dogtoberfest

Flying Dog Dogtoberfest
Flying Dog Brewery
Denver, CO

The third beer in my gift sixer...

I can see why you guys are a bunch of drunks because beer sure tastes good! Even dog beer. It is the season afterall for the seasonal and with 45 degree temps expected tonight I'm getting a head start. This one does a softshoe between the two favorite beer glossarist's terms: sweet (& malty) and hoppy. There's both in here and neither is to extremes and to be quite frank, it's kinda boring and I'm not really impressed. It's a decent oct but does nothing for me to warrant another tasting. You know how dogs sniff each other's asses? Well, it's kinda like that in a metaphysical way: it passes me by as a viable act of reasonable taste.

-Wörtwurst

La Bouteille

Jack from Stella Artois e-mailed me last week and asked if I would like to take part in a sneak preview of a film they are releasing called LA BOUTEILLE. I suppose this means THE BOTTLE and is simply stated as a story of "One lovely lady's wish. One man's undying quest." So he sent along a gift pack which includes the above lovely card stock flyer, six coasters (below) and a huge poster (I'll take a picture when my batteries are done recharging.).




The official launch date is September 18, 2007 but this little pass I have entitles me to an earlier showing on the 15th! Yes yes...I've crossed out the password and the website http at the bottom so nobody will steal it. Of course I'll forget all about it but if you'd like to see it and have something to trade (namely some beer I haven't reviewed) I'll gladly send this stuff your way. I simply won't use it and I know there are a lot of Stella Artoisians out there who would drool over it. So let me know and look out for this movie. I'm rather interested in seeing what the hell it's all about.

PS

Jack, don't be afraid to send me along some beer next time!

Abita Pecan Harvest Ale

Abita Pecan Harvest Ale
Abita Brewing Co.
Abita Springs, LA

The second in my gift sixer...

I think Abita is going for a fest beer here with this offering and it's quite successful at it. That said, if you're expecting an Octoberfest or a pumpkin beer you're not going to get it, although there are elements of each here (carmel and malty malt of the Okt and a slight nutty/fruit affect at the end). There is also a slight zing to it and the more I drink this down the more I AM reminded of an oktoberfest afterall. But there are no busty German fraus around and I'm not about to pick up a 3 liter boot and drink from it while loosening my liederhosen on the dance floor. This is a good fest staple in the making. No cool horse glass from Saratoga included.

-Wörtwurst

Arbor Brewing Espresso Love

Arbor Brewing Espresso Love
Arbor Brewing Company
Ypsilanti, MI

Ah- a little reprieve from the beer hiatus with a gift six pack I received for helping a friend of mine with some computer work. Well, it was more like a gift 8 pack but this one was included twice and Jolly Pumpkin's Dark Dawn Stout has already been reviewed so it's unofficially a six pack. Yay!

I was a bit surprised to see this one listed as an oatmeal stout on BA but only because I thought it tasted more like a milk stout. Hardly effervescent and rather flat, which is quite unusual for Arbor whose beers seem to want to spew out 75% of the time. This is not a knock against them whatsoever because their beers are pretty much top notch all around. This one I'm not quite sold on. The blending of the sweet with the gruff coffee is tantalizing, but it seems that a little more dark chocolate accent would push this over the hump. As is it reminds me a lot of the Hitachino Sweet stout poured into a cup of semi-rich coffee and chilled for breakfast but a sweet tooth got it before it could finish festering its goodness completely.

-Wörtwurst