More Octoberfests!

Sorry about the radio silence...I'm still plugging my way through the daily Octoberfest beers!  On Thursday I couldn't drink, so I caught up on that Friday.  We took a trip to The Happy Gnome for a wonderful meal with a huge selection of beers to choose from.  We shared a plate of the Foie Gras and Duck meatballs in mushroom cream sauce with truffle...man can Scott Brink chef the hell out of food!  I then had the wild boar chops and perhaps ate more than my fill.

I paired this wonderful dish with the Widmer OKTO, and the combination was quite nice.  This particular beer is deep gold to amber in color with a large fluffy white head made of fine bubbles.  The aroma was pleasant malty sweetness.  In flavor it struck me as a maltiness with a fairly strong bittering component.  I tasted warm toasted bread and an almost oaty flavor as it warmed up a bit.  The end was dry and just under my threshold for astringency.  Overall, very nice.  A 3 out of 5 for me.

This is what it looked like while the sun was still out!

Feeling that I was probably failing in my quest to have two of these beers on this day, but not being able to pass up a Goose Island Dominique from 2011, we headed home.  However, on the way home we discovered, via social media, that my good friend Dave had just tapped his homebrewed octoberfest and was relaxing out by his fire pit.  By the time we made it there, it was quite dark, but there was a cheery fire across the yard beckoning us closer with the hopes of good conversation and homebrew.  I was served a very pretty and clear orange beer in it's proper glass German stein.  I was pleased with the malty aroma and a hint of spicy hop.  The flavor was complex with layers of malt and bread and a subtle hint of cooked apple.  Bittering was spot-on making this end not too sweet, not too bitter.  I think the only thing that detracted was that slight apple flavor.   I know that this beer spent five months lagering, so it wasn't young.  I'd guess that came from yeast that needed a bigger starter.  I'm splitting hairs here, because I actually liked this one better than the Widmer I had earlier in the day!  Rating 3.5 of 5.  Thanks for sharing, Dave!  And we had a great time talking and hanging out!

Yesterday I was all cued up to head out for Summit's Backyard Bash and drink my fill of Octoberfest with a bunch of my friends.  This was not meant to be.  I ended up with the worst migraine I've had in years, losing vision and most of my insides.  Not a great day.  So I spent most of the day in bed and missed a great time.  Grrrr.  Traitorous brain.  I'll just have to catch up on my fest biers today!