In case you have noticed, updates to Beerliving have been non-existent for several weeks. And its probably going to be a few more weeks before I get back into the swing of regular (or even irregular) postings. As I write this, I’m overseas, in the middle of a long business trip. I would love to be writing about the great beers I’m tasting, but I’m not tasting anything. Which brings me to the main reason I haven’t been posting. Since the holidays I have become the worlds biggest producer of mucus. Which means I can’t taste a damn thing. I can see people physically cringe when my coughing attacks start. Little children scurry away as I walk by them hacking up my lungs. The hotel staff where I’m staying at has starting calling me the coughing guy (but it has a nice ring to with the accent and all) So until I get my taste buds back and am feeling better there ain’t (I resort to southernese when I’m sick) going to be much going on at Beerliving. This is the snoterator, signing off.
Good Things From the Swiss
A couple of months ago (has it really been that long ago?) a very loyal reader of this blog brought back a beer from Switzerland for me to try. At the time I was in the middle of my Oktoberfest (with a K) beer marathon so I hid the beer safely in the back of my beer closet. Recently I finally got a chance to try it.
The beer is Feldschlösschen Premium. From Feldschlösschen Brewery in Switzerland. My Swiss contact has said that Feldschlösschen means little field castle. I’m not sure if that means a little castle in a field, or a normal castle in a little field. Either way I guess it doesn’t matter.
This beer is in the Pilsner style and I have to say it was excellent. I can describe the mouth feel as smooooth. Nice flavor as well. Highly recommended.
The Feldschlösschen website isn’t in English (available languages are French, Italian, and German) so I couldn’t get a lot of information about the beer other than it has a 5.0 % abv.
Feldschlösschen Brewery was acquired by the Carlsberg Beer Group in 2000 and is the best known beer brand in Switzerland. It has been brewed at the Feldschlösschen brewery in Rheinfelden near Basel since 1876 and has been the leading Swiss beer brand for more than 100 years. I’m not sure what the leading Swiss beer brand was for the other 35 years.
In researching this Swiss company, I learned something new. Velcro. No, I knew what Velcro was before drinking this beer. I just always assumed it was invented by NASA or something. But no. It was actually invented in Switzerland in 1948. A few other things invented by the Swiss : Milk Chocolate (adding condensed milk to sweeten the bitterness of chocolate), the Swiss Army Knife (Great naming job on that one!), Bank Secrecy, and of course, holes in cheese.
Again a special thanks goes out to my Swiss undercover agent for bringing me this beer. Maybe on your next trip you can bring a larger suitcase 
Survival Kits for Holiday Presents ?
The Christmas catalogs seem to arrive every day now. And while I buy very little from the catalogs, I do a fair amount of looking. Call me a finger shopper. Not that I’m shopping for new fingers or anything, but it is so much easier to turn pages in the comfort of ones bathroom, uh, reading room. Plus I can enjoy a nice beer while looking for gift ideas. Some ideas took more beer than others to come up.
So yesterday, the Costco 2011 Holiday Online Only Offers catalog/flier showed up. The title is a bit wordy, but that’s their call. The first couple pages have the typical holiday ‘ish items. Fruit baskets, cookie and candy collections, and multi flavored popcorn packs. And then I hit page 5.
A Vegetarian Emergency Food Supply . Check out this mouth watering description: ” 275 servings in a weatherproof bucket. Up to a 20-year shelf life. Now with enhanced flavors and increased nutritional value”
My very first thought was, where the hell is the beer in this emergency supply ? I mean no one can expect to survive on this crap without some beer to wash it down with. Even if it does have enhanced flavors. And notice they aren’t saying the enhanced flavors are good, just that they are present. I guess it sounds better than ” the bad flavors are now even more noticeable with this bucket o’food.” But the 20-year shelf life does sound impressive. Wonder how those ‘enhanced’ flavors are in 20 years ?
If anyone gets me this for a gift, I’m telling you right now. I’m emptying the food out and putting beer in the bucket. You survive your way, I’ll survive my way.
Black Friday – Beer Living Style
As I drove into work this morning I heard on the radio that retailers are reporting good numbers from this past Black Friday shopping day. I guess it isn’t really a single day anymore as several retailers actually started the Black Friday sales late on Thursday. Which is a bit strange. That would be like saying the Friday train now leaves on Thursday night. Oh well. Maybe we should start calling Thanksgiving Gray Thursday. You know, not quite Black Friday, but pretty darn close. Anyway, from reading the accounts I know a lot of people set out early to get the great bargains. I was not one of them. However I do sleep with one of them, aka The Beer Goddess. I slept with her until 3:30 anyway. That was the time she set her alarm to get an early start on the bargains. Silliness if you ask me. I have this sneaking suspicion that this whole get up early as hell and go buy something is really some kind of sham the retailers have invented. Sure they may lure people in with the good prices on certain things, but they can also unload a lot of other stuff on the shoppers as well. I know I would buy all kind of useless crap if I was half asleep. Which is why I spent my Black Friday doing other things.
To celebrate my not going shopping (see, I need just the slightest sliver of something positive to be in a celebration mood!) I opened up a black beer. The beer in question (and in my hand) was Total Eclipse Black Ale, from Hoppy Brewing Co. A very nice stout. Lots of roasted coffee flavor with some chocolate undertones. Now this is the way to enjoy a Black Friday!
Check out the thick head of this beauty!
Win Free Beer and Get Some Gift Shopping Done
The zany holiday shopping season is right around the corner so its time to start thinking about what to get all those beer lovers in your life. The old standby, beer, works quite well. And of course beer themed T-shirts are always a welcome sight under the wrapping paper. But recently (ok, it was several weeks ago) a faithful reader of Beer Living sent me some information about a cool gift idea that comes with the possibility of winning some beer.
PopChartLab creates some amazing graphics. These are large chart like posters (as well as some apparel) on a variety of subjects. Of course some of these subjects are beer related or you wouldn’t be reading about it here. I think my favorite is the Many Varieties of Beer graphic. Now back to winning free beer. If you buy any beer related chart between October 1 and December 31, 2011 you are entered into a drawing to win one of every beer listed on the Many Varieties of Beer chart. That’s over 200 beers worth an estimated $2000.00.
Beer Varieties by PopChartLab
So buy a beer themed gift (buying a gift for yourself counts!) and possibly win some beer. I’m all over it……
For more information visit the PopChartLab website :
In case your wondering, I have no affiliation with PopChartLab. They don’t even now I exist as I haven’t ordered my poster yet
I Was Not in the Hoosegow
As both of my faithful readers can attest, posts have been pretty damn flimsy around here for the last few weeks. Now I could make up some wild story about trekking through the Equatorial rainforest searching for a lost tribe of brewers who make beer from gum trees and being thrown in the hoosegow by the local authorities. I’m not even 100% sure of what makes a hoosegow but it is one of those words that sounds so intriguing. In fact I’ve now used the word three times in this post which must be some kind of internet record. But nothing exciting like that has happened . Instead it has been work, life, work, beer, and work. Notice the multiple use of the work word?
Even though most of the Oktoberfests are over, I still have a closet full of Oktoberfest beers. As well as a Swiss beer that I have been really looking forward to tasting. So hang in there, I’ll be sharing the Beer Living with you very soon.
Gotta run. The hoosegow (four times!) staff seem to want me off the computer now.
Oktoberfest Season in High Gear
This time of year the entertainment calendars are chock full of different Oktoberfest celebrations. The original one in Munich just ended but here in the states they are happening all through the month of October.
This coming weekend is a new one for us, the Tampa Oktoberfest 2011 (or is it the Oktoberfest Tampa 2011 ?) This is the second year for the event so it still may be relatively unknown. It takes place along the banks of the Hillsborough river at Water Works Park in Tampa FL. I’ve never been to that particular location before so I’m not sure what to expect. Of course if you have beer tents, beer, and brats, how can it be bad ?
I’m particularly interested in trying the King Ludwig Oktoberfest Spezial beer. The Tampa Oktoberfest is the only Oktoberfest in the state of Florida where you will be able to get this special beer and one of only three locations in the Eastern US.
The event starts with the Keg Tapping on Friday at 3 pm and continues through Sunday.
Check out the event website for all the information.
The Oktoberfest Beers Keep on Flowing – Leinenkugels Oktoberfest
The Oktoberfest beer du jour is Leinenkugels Oktoberfest, from the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company, Chippewa Falls, WI. I used to work with a member of the Leinenkugel family so have always been fond of the brewery. Back then (late 80′s) Leinenkugel beer was first being introduced into the Florida area. Zoom forward 20 years or so and you can find ‘Leinies” in most grocery stores. The Leinenkugel Oktoberfest is available in September and October (Oktober) and it is not a bad take on the style. I find it a bit over carbonated, but the taste is there. Not as full bodied as some, but more flavor than others. The company website lists the abv at 5.1 %. You can find better Oktoberfest beers, but you can do a lot worse as well. I guess that would make it a middle of the road Oktoberfest beer. The six pack cost me $6.99 (sale price) which is a great price for a decent Oktoberfest.
Label:
Neck Label:
Okotberfest beers spelled with a C or a K running total: K=5, C=1 . I think the ‘K’s are going to prevail!
To Helen Back
After a wonderful few days in Helen GA, I’m back. Helen is a small town in the foothills of northern Georgia. They have a wonderful Oktoberfest that lasts from late September to the end of October. I’ll write more about our trip in an upcoming post. So keep an eye out for “The Best and the Wurst of Helen “.
But for now lets get back to our rundown of Oktoberfest beers.
Today’s beer is Yuengling Oktoberfest. Yuengling has been brewing beer since 1829, but this is the first year they have released an Oktoberfest beer. For this inaugural year it will only be released on draught. I’m a big Yuengling fan so when I saw the tap handle at a bar in Helen, GA I was ecstatic. I might have even let out a little whoop. But after tasting it, well, the excitement died down quick..
The beer had the Oktoberfest ‘like’ taste. Or maybe that should be Oktoberfest ‘lite’ taste. It had the hints of an Oktoberfest (Marzen) style beer, but it lacked the body to sustain the taste. Very thin head. From the photo below you can see how clear the beer is. I ended up having it at two different locations and had the same experience twice. It actually reminded me a lot of the Shiner Oktoberfest. I applaud Yuengling for expanding into the seasonal beers (they release a Bock beer in the spring which is quite tasty). Hopefully they tweak the recipe a bit for next year.
Yuengling Oktoberfest
Okotberfest beers spelled with a C or a K running total: K=4 , C=1
Swinging Doors and Shiner Oktoberfest Beer
And the ‘fest beers keep coming in. Well, I mean they don’t literally come in by themselves. Although wouldn’t that be great ? Maybe a little swinging beer door in the bottom of the real door so beer bottles and beer cans can come in on their own. Of course it should only swing one way so the beers can not escape once they are in…..hmmm..I may be on to something…Oh well, back to the Oktoberfest Beer tastings.
Today’s offering is Shiner Oktoberfest, from Spoetzl Brewing in Shiner Texas. Shiner Bock, also from Spoetzl Brewing, is one of my favorite ‘everyday’ beers, so I thought I would enjoy this one. Well, it is not my favorite. It pours a nice amber , although it is clearer than most of the other Oktoberfest beers. The taste has hints of Oktoberfest beer like flavors. But it just isn’t quite there. Very ‘thin’ tasting ( Now there is a taste defining word!). Truthfully it tastes like they took a fine Oktoberfest beer and added additional water to it. So you get the hints of the taste your looking for but it just doesn’t deliver. The Shiner website claims this has a 5.7% abv, but it sure doesn’t taste like it. The six pack set me back $8.99 which isn’t terrible, but for what your getting it may be overpriced. This is my least favorite of the Oktoberfest beers I’ve had to date. However I do like the rhymes on the label. “Nothing Finer than a Shiner” and “So Fine in a Stein”. But I can think of one they left off: “Nothing Clearer than a Shiner Oktoberfest Beer”
Okotberfest beers spelled with a C or a K running total: K=3 , C=1
Front Label:
Back Label:
