Days of the Beer, October 2

The beer for today is Samuel Adams Octoberfest.

On October 2, 1803, Samuel Adams, statesman, politician, writer, Founding Father of the United States, BREWER, died.

Sam Adams was born September 27, 1722, Boston Massachusetts. He attended Boston Latin School and Harvard College. He was one of the early opposers to British control of the colonies. Adams played a key role in protests against the Stamp Act and the Boston Tea Party in 1773. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was a member of the Continental Congress. Adams later became the fourth Governor of Massachusetts.

Sam Adams father, also Sam, had a variety of businesses, one of which was a malt business. Sam worked for his father there, after being fired from a counting house. During his time at the malt business, he was called "Sam the malster". His father died in 1748, and Sam inherited the family brewery and the malt house.

As to the beer:

The first thing you notice when pouring a glass of this seasonal beer is the color. Samuel Adams® Octoberfest has a rich, deep golden amber hue which itself is reflective of the season. Samuel Adams® Octoberfest is a malt lover's dream, masterfully blending together four roasts of barley to create a delicious harmony of sweet flavors including caramel and toffee. The beer is kept from being overly sweet by the elegant bitterness imparted by the German Noble hops. Samuel Adams® Octoberfest provides a wonderful transition from the lighter beers of summer to the winter's heartier brews.

Even though Sam Adams was born and died before the first Oktoberfest in 1810, his birth is during Oktoberfest (which always starts before his birthday) and his death is before Oktoberfest ends.

He was known as "Sam the malster" (maltster) so have Sam's malty beer, Octoberfest, and remember the man who helped the U.S. gain it's independence.

Days of the Beer, October 1

The beer for today is Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest.

Oktoberfest is going on now, what are you still doing here? Why aren't you in Munich?

Oktoberfest is a 16 day festival (the worlds larges fair) held in Munich Germany. There are 6 breweries that supply most of the beer for the fest, the Big Six are Spaten, Löwenbräu, Augustiner, Hofbräu, Paulaner and Hacker-Pschorr.

The original Oktoberfest was on October 12,1810. Prince Ludwig married Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen on that date. He arrange a great horse race for October 17. Their wedding reception was the first Oktoberfest. Over the years, the fest got bigger and bigger, so they expanded to more dates, eventually moving the starting date into September, to allow for better weather. The final week of Oktoberfest takes place in October, no earlier than the third, for the next 7 years.

This years Oktoberfest started on September 20. At noon, the mayor of Munich tapped the first keg of beer. After that, everyone was allowed to start drinking. The last day of the fest this year is October 5.

The 200th anniversary of Oktoberfest is in 2010, if you want to go, you should probably have started planning the trip 5 years ago.

As to the beer:

Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest is one of the Big Six. (There will be a quiz)

Bavarian barley slow roasted, caramelized to a rich, red amber color combined with the purest spring waters from the Alps, exclusive yeast and the finest Hallertau hops.

The beer served now at Oktoberfest probably wouldn't be recognized as such at the earliest ones. Back then, the Oktoberfest would have been a Marzen style lager brewed in March and allowed to lager over the summer. They would have been dark, but since 1872, it's been a Vienna lager style of an amber color.

When you see pictures of people at Oktoberfest, they are normally drinking a lager that is paler than the traditional lager.

So, even though it's the middle of Oktoberfest, go out and have a traditional Oktoberfest lager.

If you find a hot chick in a dirndl, you get bonus points.

Days of the Beer, September 30

The beer for today is Lagunitas Brewing Company Censored (aka The Kronic).

On September 30, 2005, Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published 12 editorial cartoons. Most of these cartoons depicted the prophet of Islam Muhammad. The newspaper announced that the publication was done to help in the debate of criticism of Islam and of self-censorship.

Self-censorship, what an interesting concept. The newspaper asked their editorial cartoonists to draw some pictures, and that ---> is what they came up with.

These 12 cartoons caused a HUGE uproar in the muslim world (it's ok, they hate beer as much as they hate cartoons, so we don't really have to worry about them coming here... unless they are looking to be outraged) where members of the "religion of peace" made death threats against the cartoonists and rioted (among other things).

If you want to know everything, read this whole blog. (Yeah yeah, he has a link to my blog)

Really, if you want to learn this read the above blog. It's very informative.

As the controversy grew, other newspapers reprinted the cartoons. In the United states, there were 27 papers (the New York Sun published one and then two on separate occasions) that printed some of the cartoons, these were the ONLY papers to print them all.

1. Northern Illinois University campus newspaper "The Northern Star"
2. The Communicator
3. Human Events, Washington D.C.
4. Clemson University Tiger Town Observer
5. Clemson Forum
6. Oregon Commentator, University of Oregon
7. Fairmont State University, The Columns
8. College of DuPage The Courier

That's it.

The student editors of the Daily Illini were suspended, and one later fired. They wereone of the first American university papers to run the cartoons. They ran them Feb 9, 2006, almost 6 months after the controversy. (Go Illini)

As a lesson on self censorship, the world failed. What won't you say because you think you might offend someone?

Here's another censorship article for you to read and enjoy.

Crackers

As to the beer:

The Censored
Rich Copper Ale
This ale contains no actual copper but we're pretty literal... It looked coppery, so we lamely called it a copper ale. Lots'a nice caramel malt though...

Alcohol 5.9% by volume

So, for Self Ceonsorship, go have a beer that's been Censored.

I hope you don't get any death threats today.

Beer Review; Flossmoor Station Collaborative Evil

Saturday, we stopped at Flossmoor Station for the release of Collaborative Evil. We aren't mug club members, but we've been to Flossmoor like 5 times this year, so we might as well join up.

After going through the line outside to get the beer (and two bottles of De Wilde Zuidentrein) we went inside to eat. As mentioned before, I ordered "the burrito that ate flossmoor" (steak) Kriddy got my usual Fish and Chips.

Kriddy had the amber; I ordered the Collaborative Evil.

It came in a nice big chalice. It came out a thick brown with bubbles and other stuff suspended in the glass. There wasn't much head to speak of, but it did lace nicely.

It smelled malty and sweet, like sugar, also there were notes of spices in it. A less full pour would have released more flavor, but hey, it was on draft, so you take what they give you. This beer sat on the tongue like syrup. Even though the head looked to be fizzy, there was no fizz whatsoever in it.

It tasted of raisin, alcohol, and spices. But mostly, it tasted sweet. It was delicious.

This beer would be great to for sipping on a day when you have nothing else to do. It'd be perfect for just sitting around, reading a book or (beer) magazine. It's the kind of beer you'd want to drink while sitting in a big comfy overstuffed chair, while reading a leather bound book. Heck, you might even want to drink this beer at room temperature. You should wear an ascot while drinking this beer.

This beer will put you on a higher rung of the social ladder.

At 10% ABV it's not the strongest beer on the market, but if you drank it fast enough, it'd get you toasted. It was $12 a bottle, which is pretty low for a one time release beer. It is not on ebay yet.

If you can find this beer (you'll need a friend) get it. You won't be disappointed. (Unless it seems I hyped it too much, then you can blame me).

Beer Review; Nørrebro Bryghus Old Odense

After Josh, Audra, Steve, Ann, Kriddy and I finished up at the Urbana Beer and Chili thing, we went to Crane Alley for dinner. While there, Aaron offered up a bottle of Nørrebro Bryghus Old Odense Ale.

This one poured out orangish and hazy. It had a fizzy foam that didn't stick around. (The fizzy foam should have been a clue). It smelled citrusy, and vinegary. It was a sour tart smell. Later it started to smell a little of apple cider.

It felt thin, watery. There was a little fizz and it tingled at the back of my throat.

It tasted sour. There was a tart grape flavor in it; also vinegar, and maybe some tart apples.

It wasn't the beer for me, but as I drank it, it became more and more tolerable. It wasn't quite as tart as Cantillon Kriek, but it did put people off almost as much. (They thought I was continuing to tortue them). Ann seemed to enjoy it more, as she drank it. I wouldn't go out of my way for this beer, but with the right foods, it could be enjoyable.

Beer Review; Olde Hickory Bardstown Brand Ale Aged in Bourbon Barrels

Thursday night after returning from the bars, Frank and I cracked open an Olde Hickory Bardstown Brand Ale Aged in Bourbon Barrels, 2007. This was a massive barleywine. It didn't have an extremely high ABV, at 10% but it was enough.

This one poured Amber with a slight haze, and a very thin head. There was some flocculation (chunks) but that didn't affect the taste. It did have bubbles coming up from the bottom, showing that it was bottle conditioned, and still trying to work. It smelled malty and of alcohol, with raisins. Almost like it was a raisin cookie (I drank many beers with raisin in it this weekend). It had a huge alcohol burn while on the tongue and a pleasant drying.

It tasted of raisin and bread, with malt, sugar, syrup and cookie. Kriddy got bourbon in the flavor, but I wasn't noticing it.

Overall, It was a darn good beer.

Beer Trippin; Urbana to Milwaukee and Back

Thursday evening Frank showed up. When I got out to Kriddy's he was already having a beer, so I had one as well. My choice was Mendocino Oktoberfest. We then headed out to downtown Champaign for dinner and some beer.

We ate at Guidos, I had the prime rib sammich, kriddy had the grilled cheese, I'm not sure what Frank had. I'm a HUGE fan of their prime rib sammich, dunno if I've mentioned it before; but when our pool team was at Guidos, it was there solely because of the prime rib sammich. Kriddy thinks it's one of the best grilled cheese sammiches in town too.

After eating, we headed around the corner to Radio Maria for a beer or two.

There, we tried the Eugene City 200m ale, which was ok. We then headed across the street to Blind Pig, and I had the Coney Island Freaktoberfest (top picture). It was good, not quite as malty sweet at the Mendocino Octoberfest, but still really good.

We then headed back to Kriddy's for the night. Frank had brought with him a bottle of Olde Hickory Bardstown Brand Ale Aged in Bourbon Barrels. This was a pretty good brew as well. It's a Barleywine style. (Review to follow; second picture)

Went to bed, woke up and we headed to Milwaukee. Stopped at the hotel then headed out to grab some food and hit some breweries. Had hoped to get to 3, but only had time for 2. First brewery (and lunch) was Water Street Brewery. This place was a brewerania collectors wet dream, except that it's someone elses collection. There were walls covered in cans, bottles, shirts... if it had to do with beer, or had a label from a brewery/bar, they might have had it.

They had 10 house beers on tap. All were pretty good, none were mouth cringinly bad. (third picture). For lunch, I had the Pollack which was awesome, Frank had the perch, Kriddy had ... um... what did she have? It came with some really good vegetables. Oh yeah, it was some parmesean chicken strips, I think. It also came with some stuffed potatoes that were really good.

Next stop was Lakefront Brewery.

Lakefront is not on the lake. It's on a river. It's in a massive Cream City Brick building. We showed up around 2:30, and the guy behind the bar asked if we were there for the tour, and we were like "sure" so he sent us out back. We waited there for a while, then went inside. Saw there was a line forming at the gift shop so we asked/listend to what was going on.

Lakefront's tour is worth the trip. Although we didn't take the tour itself (we've been to breweries before), we did pay the $6. For $6, you get a plastic cup, four wooden nickels, and a coupon. The wooden nickels are good for a cup of the beer, or for 2 you can get a bottle. With the coupon, you can go to any number of other bars in town and have a full pint, on the brewery (before 6 p.m.). At the end of the tour, you can trade in the plastic cup, for a glass pint glass. For $6 you get 4 samples of beer, a pint glass and a beer at another bar.

We left there, headed back to the hotel, and got ready for the game. We were meeting some friends for tailgating. So we pulled out the GPS and looked for a liquor store so we could get some beer. The closest one on the route only had 2 good beers available, so we got a six pack of New Glarus Fat Squirrel, and a sixer of New Glarus Spotted Cow. Drank the beer, ate a burger, a guy at a nearby car was drinking Michelob Dunkel Weisse and he gave us 2 bottles, so that was nice. Then went in and watch the Cubs lose :( Worse still there was a fight behind us, and I got splashed with beer. I said to the people around me "great, now i smell like shitty beer".

As I looked around the beautiful stadium, (Miller Park is really nice). I noticed some luxury boxes. This really pissed me off. That MILLER park, (Miller, of the commercials where the delivery guy is pissed off about the luxury boxes) would have luxury boxes. Hypocrasy from macrobrewers? I find that hard to believe... Oh wait. nevermind.

Kriddy and I were tired, so we went back to the hotel after the game (about 1030) around 130 or so, Frank showed up and scared the bejesus outta me. I let him in, went back to sleep, and woke up and prepped for Saturday.

First stop on the drive back, West Lakeview Liquors. I picked up a case of Founders Breakfast Stout; and a couple bottles of stuff from 3 Floyds, most of those will be heading to California. While at the store, they mentioned that Mikel will be there and they will be having a big party on October 11. (If you've followed my links to West Lakeview before, you'll notice they changed their website. Also, they are preparing to start shipping, so that's another one that you can order from)

It was about 1215 as we were leaving WLV, so we had to skip going to Archer Liquors, we headed straight to Flossmoor for the Collaborative Evil release. We got there just in time (should probably join the mug club there). We bought a case of beer, 10 bottles of Collaborative Evil and a couple of bottles of something else that they were selling, but I didn't get the name. A bottle will be heading to California; one will be going to Andy at 7S; one will be going to the next CU Beer club; skot wanted one; I'll probably be giving one to the bartenders at CA as well. A 10 pack of beer goes pretty quick. After buying the beer, went inside and ate. I had the "burrito that ate flossmoor"; Kriddy had the fish and chips. While there, they had Collaborative Evil on tap (review to follow) (fifth picture) and it was good.

After that we headed back to Urbana for the Urbana Beer and Chili Cookoff. It was pretty good, lots of good beers there, highlighted by the Dogfish Head booth. I had 12 samples, I'm not sure what all Kriddy tried. Big Brad got drunk. We met Josh, Audra, Dirty Steve and Ann there. I felt kind of like I was Emily at the Great Taste of the Midwest. We had a good time, then headed over to CA to eat. At CA, we all shared a bottle of Nørrebro Bryghus Old Odense, which was a slightly tart beer. I had the calamari to eat and it went pretty good with that.

We finished up, I headed home to pack up some beers, then headed out to Kriddys, where the Gilmore's, Eck's and hippy +1 showed up.

We had 8 more beers there. The highlight was definitely Baladin Xyauyù. This one was almost like Avery the Beast Grand Cru. It also reminded me of a slightly weaker version of Sam Adams Utopias.

I tried to finish off some bottles after everyone left and Kriddy went to bed, but I wound up sleeping on the couch for an hour and a full still glass. Woke up Sunday, and cleaned up a little then we went to Hoots.

That's about it. The highlight beer was definitely Baladin Xyauyù, followed closely by Collaborative Evil.