The Session #44

I'll be joining the ranks of "The Session" this week (or at least attempting to). The Session is a collaboration of beer bloggers who team up to discuss a certain topic on the first Friday of every month.

This week the theme from our host, The Beer Wench, is "Frankenstein beers". It should be an interesting one. I don't know that there is anything that's categorized as a Frankenstein beer that I would intentionally drink. In my mind, these beers usually seem to be designed and shaped by marketing departments more than history or good taste. Perhaps it's the German in me, but to make an analogy, I would much rather have a well-built car than "the biggest car in the world" or a car that's half car and half scooter. I like car-cars, and beer that tastes like good beer. Something new and interesting can be nice, but it's rare that a reinvention of the wheel is an improvement on the original. Newness is not greatness, it's just sellable.

Now, before I start to sound like a torch-holding member of an angry mob, it's also important to note that almost every beer style probably started as a Frankenstein beer. Lager brewing was rejected in parts of Germany for years as an unwelcome "Frankenstein" beer compared to the top fermented Kolsches and ales of the time. Even beers we think of as being pretty regular, like American pale ale, was a Frankenstein version of English pale ales and ESB with citrusy American hops and loads of late hopping. By today's standards, they may seem dull or uninteresting, but 30 years ago something like Sierra Nevada Pale Ale would not have tasted similar to most beers called "pale ale". Same goes for porter, lager, steam beer, IPA etc.

Every new idea and beer style was frankenbier at some point. So while I might not enjoy novelty brews just for the sake of novelty, all the beer we drink was a Frankenstein beer at some point, even ones which are steeped in tradition. So let's keep making and drinking Frankenstein beers, but let's do so with an eye on the future. I'd hate to see craft beer replaced by novelty beer. And that, fellow beer drinkers, is what we get to decide. We do so by drinking quality beer with an open mind, and by rejecting fads that reduce the quality of craft beer that we love.

Cheers!

Oktoberfest

Right now The Muddy Pig* has a pretty amazing list of Oktoberfest-style beers (and even more Oktoberfest-in-name-only beers). I had a chance to stop by and ordered a flight which included Hartmann Festbier, Gunther Marzen, and Goller Fasten Bier**.

On the other side of the table, for comparison, were 3 American versions of Oktoberfest. They were Avery Kaiser, Two Brothers Atom Smasher, and Rogue Maierfest. They were red, highly alcoholic and super sweet. Pretty classic examples of what American craft beer thinks Oktoberfest means. The other 3 were quite different. Here were my quick impressions:

The Gunther (pictured front, center) was very light in color being very light yellow, almost like a pilsner. I was told this came from a German Brewpub which simply does not distribute in the US. My connotation of brewpub beer is that it tends to be full and high in body as compared to perhaps commercial examples and that was definitely the case with the Gunther. It was really good. With the body came some sweetness in the Gunther which was balanced by a slightly higher hop bitterness than in the other two. The key here is that the sweetness wasn't overpowering and it wasn't even the first thing that hits you. 

The Hartmann was most like what I might have expected as compared to Hacker Pschorr or Spaten but probably preferable to either. It was very easy drinking but full of flavor. This one seemed to have a grassy hop flavor which with the light body and malty foundation worked really well. Again, not sweet at all, slightly alcoholic, but balanced more than anything.

For sure, my favorite was the Goller (pictured right). If there is any way I can find this in the US, I will do so. It was absolutely what I'd hoped it would be. The initial flavor is bready-malty and very dry. I wondered if some toasted or roasted malts were used (or maybe just a high percentage of Munich or Vienna malt). After the initial impression of toastiness and malt hit you, the hop bitterness and faint lager-like alcohol comes in and blends with that cracker-like maltiness again in the finish. Great beer. This is one, like a great album, where as soon as you process all the flavor from one sip, you're ready to start again, and you notice something new and great each time.

Here's to Oktoberfest! Prost!

*herein referred to as "the best bar in America"

**A note on Oktoberfest lingo: Those three beers are all essentially the same style of beer. Oktoberfests are brewed in March and stored until October, so they will sometimes be called Marzen (Marz  = German for March) or something involving the word "fest". A lot of this is regional. Some of it is brand differentiation (so to speak) but it's not really quite as confusing as it might seem

Summit Unchained #5

You heard it here!

I have it on good authority that the 5th beer in Summit's Unchained series is going to be an Imperial Pumpkin Porter. Those are all words I've used to describe beer, but not ever together. Should be an interesting one.

The Unchained Series is a seasonal variety of limited beers. Once they're gone, they're gone. They started with a Kolsch, then a Scottish /90, India Rye Ale, Belgian Golden Ale, and the upcoming #5. After the Kolsch, I thought that the Unchained series might focus more on classic styles that are hard to find, but this will be a sure departure from that.

Tasting notes and a review when the beer hits the shelves.