‘tis the season for good brew

As a guy who enjoys the outdoors I’m not a fan of the weather getting colder but one thing I do enjoy are the seasonal beers in the fall. The winter beers tend to be a bit too spicy for me but I’m a fan of the oktoberfest märzen. From BeerAdvocate.com:

Before refrigeration, it was nearly impossible to brew beer in the summer due to the hot weather and bacterial infections. Brewing ended with the coming of spring, and began again in the fall. Most were brewed in March (Märzen). These brews were kept in cold storage over the spring and summer months, or brewed at a higher gravity, so they’d keep. Märzenbier is full-bodied, rich, toasty, typically dark copper in color with a medium to high alcohol content.

The common Munich Oktoberfest beer served at Wies'n (the location at which Munich celebrates its Oktoberfest) contains roughly 5.0-6.0% alcohol by volume, is dark/copper in color, has a mild hop profile and is typically labeled as a Bavarian Märzenbier in style.

I like the roasted malt flavor. Yesterday I got some Hofbrau Munchein Oktoberfest, Duck-Rabbit Schwarzbier, Allagash Black, and Sierra Nevada Estate 2009 from their Harvest Series. The Duck-Rabbit Schwarzbier is a seasonal for them and I had my first last night. Good stuff. I’ve been diggin’ the Hofbrau Munchein Dunkel and Maibock lately too. Definitely going back to those dark German styles.

Another similar beer that I’ve been enjoying when I can get my hands on it is Stone’s Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale. It’s only brewed on occasion so it’s not around much. I didn’t realize till now that they just started brewing it this year. I’ll have to stock up next time it’s in stores.

I hit the stores this weekend and the fridge is full.

I didn’t go out till late last night and at 8pm I was enjoying fine craft brew, eating fresh picked Virginia raspberries, and listening to sweet jams on Hot Jazz Saturday Night. Life was good.