Goodness, it’s almost the middle of October already? That is insane and really the only reason it hit me today is the fact that my face is numb from walking downtown tonight. That hasn’t happened since April here. And you know what that means? Fuckin’ snow is just around the corner and I will be bitching and moaning. Just letting you know that ahead of time.
But before I switch gears to winter wonderland I am still full throttle in the celebration of Samhain. So onto a new beer review focusing on one great brew company and a smaller micro. I just love tasting pumpkins, hay rides, campfires, Reese’s Pieces, ghosts and Charlie Brown in an alcoholic beverage. Perhaps I think of this too much.
This evening I am going to start off with a very popular beer company from the country that made Oktoberfest what it is. The Munich, Germany company, Spatan, has been rocking great beer since (get this) 1397. Holy shit, now that is worth bragging rites. They were making beer when the Spanish Inquisition was going on. You know, no one is prepared for the Inquisition.
I figured a backdrop of peanut butter M&Ms would suit this nicely. (That’s for you Lacey) To be honest, if this beer didn’t have Oktoberfest on the label, I would never imagine this to be a Fall beer. It has more of a Summer/Spring taste to be honest. The light body and very little aftertaste leaves one wondering, why Oktoberfest? This should be “Spring-enzi Deutch” if I was to name it. Actually, I kind of like that. No one steal that, okay?
I know I hammered on Spatan about it’s lighter body for an Oktoberfest beer but I really like the taste. You can imagine eating bratwurst with this, I am sure. But if you were sitting outside with a lit Jack-o-Lantern, wrapped in a Snuggie and passing out KitKats, this beer wouldn’t hold Halloween weight. I think I may risk skunking the beer and save a few 6 packs for next year’s boat parties. Hotdogs and watermelon would be a treat with this Spatan special.
Whoa! Hoptober comes at you with both fists! Let me start out by saying, I love IPA (Indian Pale Ales). There are fireworks and fairy dust that fly every time I take a sip of a great bitter IPA. Hoptober Golden Ale does that like no other. This is the beer you want on chilly evenings listening to Edgar Allen Poe-etry around a campfire.
The company that makes Hoptober (amazing name) is Belgium Brewing Company out of Fort Collins, Colorado. To be honest, as a very novus beer connoisseur, I am not familiar with them. I will say that the label drew attention immediately. See? I’m a novus. Really, I can only speculate that the painting is of a bunch of crazed circus freaks dancing in the nude around a campfire during broad daylight. That’s weird, macabre and strange; all three things I find next to godliness. Extra points, Hoptober!
I believe you have to be an IPA fan to really enjoy this beer. It has a bite, a little bitter and an aftertaste that will require either a cigarette or licking the face of Fran Drescher to alleviate the palate. So Zima drinkers beware, you may be in for a disappointment. But really, if you are a Zima drinker you probably have a life of disappointments anyway. Do they even make that shit anymore?
Sorry if you are a Zima drinker. I’m not one to judge and that was a pretty mean comment. Seriously though, expand your horizons. 🙂 Where was I? Oh yeah, Hoptober Golden Ale is the winner in my book. If you are fortunate to find this, buy it and drink it while carving something. The season of the dead emanates from the bottle and it inspires…almost anything!
CARVING RANDOM SHIT 2009!!!
If you know me or have been a follower on my blog, Veggiemacabre, then you know I have this weird addiction to Reduced Fat Triscuits. It has become such a staple in my diet that I believe if I were on death row, my last meal probably would include these crackers. Call me crazy but I love these woven wheat crackers so much, I really came close to naming my cat Triscuit. Looks like my first born will have the pleasure of the name instead.
It turns out these boxes are a pretty good canvas for Jack-o-lantern faces. Way better than the oval and circular objects of the past. The problem is the hollow box can be less protective of the crotch when you are jamming a knife into the flimsy cardboard. Most people would have known that.
So one close call to Rupert and the Diablo Twins and a lap full of cardboard shreds, this is what I have created.
Notice the action-shot fear in my cat’s face when she saw the demonic Triscuit box? Bet she’ll never sit on my laptop keyboard again. Well, actually I am sure she will. Training her is like telling plate tectonics to stop.
Spatan Oktoberfest: B-
I really liked the taste but to me, it does not qualify as a Fall beer. I know these guys have been brewing beer when Columbus’ great grandfather was born and the Surfs were surfing but I just can’t stop thinking of beach balls and cookouts when I drink it. They get a B for their 1397 age and a minus for the Oktober.
Hoptober Golden Ale: A
A solid A for the hoppy IPA that has a little sweetness. The sweetness reminds me of the spices of Fall. I dig that. Plus, the cover art makes my mind go to dark places. And really, isn’t that what where we want our mind to go on the day of the dead?
I kind of regret telling everyone what I named my manhood. Happy Halloween!
Correction Comment:
“Just a comment to correct a few inaccuracies. There is no such thing as an “Oktoberfest” beer as Oktoberfest is not a celebration of beer, but rather a celebration of Bavarian culture. Bavarian beer is traditionally very light. I will also add, since almost no one seems to know this, Oktoberfest takes place at the end of September, running until very early October.
The beer is called Spaten, not Spatan. It takes it’s name from the Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu, which makes the excellent hefeweizen bier Franziskaner.
Anyways, just a comment from a German who does not like fallacies about their culture.”
Thanks for setting me straight. I will do a Polka Dance of Apology.
All that, with the candy in the background, you didn’t make a single reference to Skittlebrau? Shame on you. 😉
I know. How could I? I think you should take the reigns on that one. 😉
BTW, I am sorry for your loss.
Thanks a bunch. It’s all good. I didn’t see her that often, but I’m gonna miss her. It’s tough to go through the first loss of someone in my immediate family that I genuinely cared about.
Rubert and the Diablo Twins?
Rupert (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels)
Not sure where the Diablo Twins came from. Just kind of happened I suppose. You know what? I’ll stop.
No please, go on Will…
I feel the inspiration for a brilliant post coming on…
Then it might turn into a different kind of blog. 🙂
New Belgium! I love them. They make Fat Tire.
That they do! I noticed the bottle cap had a bike on it. Durrrrr. I can be slow at times.
Hey Crazy,
Do they also have flavored reduced-fat triscuits over there? You know, like the rosemary and olive oil or salt and pepper kinds?
If so, I’m on the next bus over.
I hate fat-laden Canadian snacks.
Hey Hot Pants!
You know, I don’t believe so. At least I have not heard of them here. Let me refer to the Nabisco Counsel. Be back to you on that.
You’re always welcome to take the bus here. 😉
I may not be a part of the Nabisco Counsel but I can verify that they do make the reduced fat Triscuits in the rosemary and olive oil flavor for sure, I haven’t seen any of the salt and pepper kind.
Thanks Dan!
I’m on my way…
we have several Ruperts at the gimcrack, but we call them all dick
but that…true. 🙂
A backdrop of peanut butter M&Ms would suit anything nicely 🙂
Nice Box-O-Lantern!
Rupert …. really?
Thought you would like that.
What did you expect? Wayne?
Nope, to be honest something like Captain or Colonel… Commander maybe?
Aaah, a night of Triscuits, Hoptober and Rupert & the Diablo Twins. You’re spoiling us.
Me spoil you? Never… 😉
Gave the Box-O-Lantern to the neighbors and saw it lit from their porch. That was a touching moment.
🙂
Nice. You’re like State Farm.
About another thing that was being discussed elsewhere (cryptic!) – here’s a quote: “We don’t just put off our lives today; we put them off til our deathbed. …This second we can turn the tables on resistance.” Something to think about you know?
Now go make yourself a dang quesadilla!
Saw it lit or on fire?
Just a comment to correct a few inaccuracies. There is no such thing as an “Oktoberfest” beer as Oktoberfest is not a celebration of beer, but rather a celebration of Bavarian culture. Bavarian beer is traditionally very light. I will also add, since almost no one seems to know this, Oktoberfest takes place at the end of September, running until very early October.
The beer is called Spaten, not Spatan. It takes it’s name from the Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu, which makes the excellent hefeweizen bier Franziskaner.
Anyways, just a comment from a German who does not like fallacies about their culture.
You know what? I appreciate that. I apologize for the inaccuracies. This blog isn’t one for 100% accuracies but rather a fun little tidbit of nonsense. I will confess that I have had a few of these before i wrote this. If you couldn’t tell from the Box-o-Lantern.
I think my point wasn’t really about your culture or Oktoberfest (I love them both) but rather an American Autumn flavor that I annually look forward to.
I won’t change the blog but I will copy your corrections to the bottom of it.
Thank you for stopping by. I dig history lessons. Come back by!
Just to be clear I didn’t intend on coming across as condescending or cruel. If it came across as that way I will just attribute it to my still developing English skills.
Anyways, cheers mate!
Oh absolutely not! I really do like people to let me know if I have not been accurate, especially about a culture. That’s how we learn! 😀
Excellent English, by the way.
Cheers!
haben Sie einen guten Tag!
(Maybe wrong on that)
And yet another correction on the correction 🙂
Polka is a traditional Polish dance, it takes it’s name for the noun form of a Polish female: Polka. As in “jesteś Polką?” (are you a Polish girl)
Keep trying, mate, you’ll get it one of these times!
Ha! I’ll stop. Every Oktoberfest I have been too has Polka bands. (search Pumpkins, beer and polka on this blog).
Polka has been influential in Central Europe, including Germany, but it isn’t a German dance. Some say it originated in the Czech Republic, but according to my old babuszka it comes from Poland. I’m from on of those modern, awkward Polish-German mixed marriages.
Yes, school lessons about the second world war were very uncomfortable for me!
Thanks for the compliment on my English, but it isn’t so excellent yet. I still don’t feel the freedom of communication that I do in German or Polish. Though, I have been making advances in my English in a relatively short time. I’ve been learning Russian for longer, and am not nearly as proficient.
Lesson’s in history should uncomfortable for us all. Look at us. Slavery, intolerance, anti-women’s suffrage, ect… I think it is just important to not forget the past but learn and not blame ourselves for our father’s mistakes.
You’re English is really good. And Russian. Sheesh, man. That’s a hefty load.
Well, Russian is not so difficult for me as it is closely related to Polish, just as German is closely related to English. I enjoy learning languages, and Russian was a mandatory language during the old PRL days when Moskwa basically ran the show. Google Pałac Kultury i Nauki, that monstrosity of Stalinist design was a very unwanted gift from Moskwa. When someone gets a bad gift in Warsaw, we have a saying “you never give back gifts,” and it relates to this building. It sounds more sarcastic in Polish, and the old folk have been known to spit on this building, as it is a symbol of the oppression of the PRL. Anyways, all of my Polish elders speak fluent Russian, so I have ample opportunity to practice.
As for English, well, I kind of cheat. I’ve lived in the US for two years going to school in Boston. Live in a place long enough and you’ll learn the language no matter what level of desire or intelligence you have.
As I put and apostrophe on a plural “lesson”. And I am not even bilingual.
Don’t worry, mate. Americans don’t really need to be bilingual, English is the world’s language these days, and it’s your native one! I envy that.
Hi Bill!
Mmmmm… Fall and Beer. Favorite things converging. I will definitely have to give the Hoptober a try. Last night I tried the Terrapin Pumpkinfest and it was really good. Although I’m not sure what the chances are that this little Georgia beer will make it up to your neck of the woods.
http://www.terrapinbeer.com/beers/27-Volume-8—-Pumpkinfest
Very nice spicy pumpkin pie aroma, but actually pretty mild flavor. Not overpowering at all.
Hey X-Er’r! Did you have that at Taco Mac? 😉
I wish we had Georgia Beer. Sadly, not but I will be in the great GA for Thanksgiving so I will most definitely be having a few of those. Thank you fo the heads up!!!
Now I’m thirsty and shall grab a lame-o, non-Oktoberfest beer from my fridge…and maybe watch a little “Beerfest”. Cheers!
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