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Some folks chase Guinness, others Pliny, or maybe the perfect Helles, or a local IPA. That right there is my white whale.
You just sumed up this hobby in a nutshell. 👋 🍻

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Some folks chase Guinness, others Pliny, or maybe the perfect Helles, or a local IPA. That right there is my white whale.

One of these days I'll summon the courage to brew a BoPils, like an Urquell clone. No covering for mistakes in those beers.

If you're ever in Europe, order a pour of Budvar Budweiser. A little slice of pure heaven. You can get it here (called Czechvar, for trademark reasons), but it loses something after the long voyage in green bottles.
 
Today’s Faux German brew might as well be a repeat of yesterday’s Faux German brew – with one notable exception. This one makes no claims on the term “Festbier.” Yes, it is a tasty and nice, predictable “German-Style Lager,” essentially it is a Märzen.

As an Oktoberfest Märzen, that “orangey” color is fine. Mother Earth Brew Company is based out of Nampa, Idaho. I don’t think there’s any potatoes in this one though! Their Oktoberfest is a 5% ABV brew. It again is too cloudy in my opinion, these Oktoberfests are supposed to be crystal clear and have a nice head and lacing. Again, and very similar to yesterday’s brew, this one has no head and no lacing whatsoever. Hey, at least they are spelling “Oktoberfest” correctly!

As I was drinking this one, I did notice quite a bit of clearing, so maybe the haze I was seeing was chill haze, the curse of many homebrewers. I guess that’s another question, is that brewing haze and murk we sometimes see? Is it residual yeast? Is it chill haze? I don’t see any residual gunk here, so my money’s on chill haze. There’s a lot to unpack there.

There is it folks, straight-up reporting to you from dry and parched SoCal, looking for ways to keep saturated, one can at a time. Tasty! Prost!

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I’ve been to Jamaica 3 times. Loved it there. Love me some Jerk Chicken. I’m gonna say Sandals waters their beer in corny kegs. What I got in town was much better, nowhere near the same.
You might be right. I haven't been to Sandals in 15 years but when we went they had Carib on tap and in the rooms. No locals drink Carib. A lot of local places have redstripe bold which is way better than the redstripe we get here.
 
Seems a little early in the season for all the fest beers. Are these all current year releases? Just curious. Thanks for the write ups.
Well, I'm guessing they are leftovers from the 2024 batches, except of course the Alesmith Anvil which is a 2025 release. The Marzens, Festbiers, etc are pretty low hops, so no loss there. These all seemed fresh and fine, interesing all the interpretations we see out there.
 
Couple of hours ago at Gators Grill at Holly Camp in Melbourne, FL:
Crooked Can Brewery (Winter Garden) lager
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to go along with a little lunch (gator bites, frog legs, catfish, hush puppies, cheese grits, corn and shrimp chowder).
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Then Orange Blossom Pilsner brewed in Orlando for dessert.
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Well my Faux German beer project comes to a close today. For the past several weeks, I’ve had an eye-opening review of the many beers and breweries out there making German-style products.

What are my general findings? There are definitely some excellent brews, notably Trumer Pils (Trumer IS an Austrian/US brewer) and Alesmith Anvil Pilsner. I had a fantastic and historic Volksbier Altbier from Three Weavers, and plenty of Oktoberfests and Festbiers from many of the others. There seems to be some continuing confusion as to what constitutes a Festbier and what constitutes a Märzenbier, I think the confusion coming from the fact that Festbiers took over Oktoberfest celebrations from heavier Oktoberfest Märzen. Paulaner’s Oktoberfest is the benchmark there, they originated the Festbier style.

Generally speaking, the US brewers are mostly Ale-houses; I sometimes wonder what the efforts are towards Lagers. Many just aren’t following style guidelines, we have any number of cloudy, low-carbonation, low-head, low-lacing Märzens. This is a bit sad as a Märzen is a fantastic beer, and should have all the bells and whistles – white foamy head, good carbonation, crystal clarity and nice lacing. Those really aren’t being met by many of these efforts.

Today's brew is from San Diego's Alesmith (another of my favorite brewers.) Their Oktoberfest rendition is pretty darn close, still needs better head and lacing, flavor is spot-on, and its clarity is better than most domestics. I love the “Aleschmidt” tag line, a German version of Alesmith! 5.5%, this is a great Märzenbier, you will enjoy… Prost!

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