from the twisted minds of snm
Can it be, another German? From the Bitburger stable, a “Bavarian style lager”, pours clear bright yellow with medium strong head that quickly dissipates. Hops aroma but moderated well. There is a certain sweetness that keeps the bitter in check. Clean with just a hint of grain in the finish. Medium mouthfeel. Easy drinking.
May not be the most complex, still a nice drinking beer. 3 out 4 helles monkeys.
Next selection to battle my rant about Doofland not having new German beers is another Oktoberfest, this one from Spaten. Pours dark amber with light head. Pretty strong pilsner style hop aroma, flirting dangerous with being skunky. Green bottle, please keep out of sun! Those hops also produce a bitter, but its not overwhelming. Medium mouthfeel. Also higher ABV than the other Oktoberfests I’ve had so far this season, just shy of 6%.
I’m pretty undecided on this, I’m not a big fan of pilsners, but have been known to enjoy some. Better than 2 but not quite 3 out 4 Oktober hiding as pilsner monkeys.
Just when I was going to complain that domestic craft brews populated with trendy hop heavys were taking a large amount of shelf space at Foodland and German beers were reduced to the usual, this along with a few others showed up. Pours a opaque black with medium head. Dark roast aroma, smooth even bitter that is quite easy drinking. A session dark beer? This very well could be!
It could be because finding darks in this world of IPAs seems so rare, but I could give this 4 out 4 Schwarz monkeys. May the Schwartz be with you!
It’s October, time for Oktoberfest! This is Sierra Nevada’s entry. Pours a light amber with light head. Fair amount of hop bitter, but the floral is not strong. Only a touch of nutty malt comes through on late aftertaste. Medium mouthfeel.
While a decent beer, in comparison to the Sam Adams reviewed earlier, this pales in comparison. Just barely 3 out of 4 Oktober monkeys.
Sam Adams seasonal, Octoberfest. Pours a medium dark amber, small head. Nice balance of hops and malt A bit of bitter and touch of tang that tapers to a very nice nutty finish. Medium mouthfeel. A very nice smooth beer that holds up well to warming up.
Solid 3 out 4 October monkeys.
The other worthy offering from Worthy Brewing is this Kolsch. Pours a light yellow with moderate head. Fair amount of hops and its bitter, but not overly floral. It does linger for a bit. Reminds me of a pilsner, although this is an ale. A medium mouthfeel, the carbonation and astringent keeping it crisp. ABV on the lower side at 4.5%, I’ve heard it said that Kolsch’s are the original “session” beer. All in all pretty good offering,
3 out of 4 session monkeys,
It’s good to have new flavors. While maintaining the tried in true, companies need to keep things moving too. And this flavor contains no caffeine unlike many of the other new flavors they have introduced. Apple juice was never my favorite flavor, but I don’t hate it either. Decades ago when PowerBar came out with their Apple Cinamon bar that quickly became my go to favorite at the time. So this gel kinda gets the lukewarm treatment from me. It’ll be another flavor to add to my selection, but it’s not my favorite. It’ll be one of the ones where I throw into the riding kit to break up monotony, but not one where I almost always have it as a selection on every ride.
2 out of 4 space food eating monkeys.
New energy bars at McB, these prominently feature the word Hemp. In smaller print it states that it has no psychoactive properties. Further reading also reveals made in Hawaii. I guess the experimental farms that they worked hard to obtain permission yielded enough for these? Decided to buy one. I’m all for supporting locally sourced goods, but the bottom line is how are they? Busted it out on my past late solo Sunset Hills day. It was past noon and well into my ride at this point so I was wanting some nutrition. Package opened easily and what emerged was a glossy dark brown bar. Breaking off a piece was a rather sticky affair. The taste was too sweet, the texture too homogenous. I like Cliff bars and their Mojo bars for their more natural textures, I reserve the space food for gels and unnaturally colored sport drinks. The days of the original PowerBars are long over.
Verdict is Root no like. While it served its purpose and didn’t make me ill or want to spit it out, there was no enjoyment. If it did contain THC, then that might be a selling point, but no. 1 out 4 non-munchies monkeys.
Another Oregon brew. Pours a moderately cloudy bright orange yellow with moderate head. Bright citrus aroma, Very low in bitter. Moderately thick mouthfeel. An easy drinking hefe.
3 out 4 hefe monkeys.
Foodland has been bringing in a few selections of Oregon brewery beers. This one is from Worthy Brewing and is a stout. Nice, IPAs have been all the beer fashion rage recently and darks seem to be scarce on the shelves. This pours extremely dark brown, practically black, with a medium head. There’s a good roast and peaty aroma. There is a decent bitter, but is not as high as some might expect. Being a cream stout, this has the addition of lactose which I am sure balances the bitter, in addition to helping it with the thicker creamy mouthfeel. The addition of vanilla I can not detect. If I try hard, I might say there’s a hint in the aroma, but I would never be able to tell if it wasn’t mentioned. This beer also takes kindly to warming up and seems to mellow and get sweeter as it warms. There isn’t a strong aftertaste aside from the lingering astringency.
Anyway, this is a solid stout, and at 7.7 ABV it packs a fair punch. 3 out 4 creamy monkeys.