13 beer blind Ofest Taster

I picked up the Licher in WI. http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2709/99845 I'd say it's a fairly typical Festbier.

As far as the Capital: I'd rank it last as well, although Victory ran it pretty close as I just didn't care for Victory's malt profile at all. Have you had this year's Capital? To me, it was quite buttery and seemed off. Definitely not what I was expecting from it.

 

Is this one of those monster flip top bottled imports? I've seen a couple at stores, but never been headed to a party where I could share.

I have had it, and have a couple left I'll have to try soon, but I got no butteriness when it was fresh. Too bad if it's staling so quick.

And I agree on the Victory; it was good, but maybe more crockery/grainy than I'd like.

 

Nope, it's in a regular half-liter bottle.

I picked it up quite fresh too (and it's been refrigerated the entire time) drank one, and still picked up the same profile. Maybe I just got a bad six pack? Something wasn't right. I don't think their lagers have been quite the same since Kirby left.

Edit: If Chaz still has the bottle, maybe he could snap a picture of the Licher and post it. I'd be tempted to pick more up for the price. 2.99 for a half. Not too shabby!

 

The Capital struck me as being 'under-lagered' (there's a nit I don't get to pick often!) and rushed, which was a major disappointment; this is the brewery that Kirby built! And now they are cranking out sub-par lagers? And it's not the first offering from Capital that I've had which has underwhelmed in the past year, either. I used to be a very big fan.


I was expecting nothing at all from the Licher, and so it over-performed. With so many examples the Maerzen style has really evolved in recent years, going from the deep orange-amber I recall in the late 1980s to a fairly light (almost 'Wiesn') color variation, and I recall that the local markets in Germany have demanded this. Oh well.

Victory was as disappointing as it has been in recent years (and I still see some of last year's packages throughout western Wisconsin and the Twin Cities metro!), but the Stevens Point offering (and I had a bottle last night) really wasn't bad at all! The Summit version has been biscuity and almost dry in recent years as compared with the nearly fruity, richer malt profile that I recall it as being for many years. Not bad, and I probably would've ranked it higher if I was more of a homer. As it is it's an out-sized example of the style, almost "Imperial", so I keep that in mind.

More or less -- if I did it a bit more fairly there would be three categories: Must Buy - Preferred - Not Preferred. Hardly scientific, but it's how I grouped them in my mind (and the bottles in the leftover six-pack baskets. )

 

Well, I had an Autumnal Fire last night that seemed as good as ever, don't give up hope!

 

They've really been surprising me here and there with some of their specialty labels.

 

For the money, Point is the most consistently-satisfying oldline regional and "Crafty"-contract brewer out there.

 

Even beyond Schell? I dunno...

 

Well, Schell can be a bit higher than Point at retail (e.g. 8.99 vs. 8.29) and that's just seven dimes but it might tweak the penny-pinching habits of some of the Thirtysomethings (with kids and mortgages, etc) I know!

More than that is the fact that there's a handful of brands from breweries that have newly-arrived to the market (hailing from outside the region) and hit the shelf at $9.99 / 4-pack --that's practically a "New Normal" price-- and even an older cheapskate like me will quickly hone-in on the familiar, especially as most of the places I frequent have limited or no selection when it comes to pick-a-six.

 

Gotta see if I can find some of this.

 

Took the opportunity to chill one of my last Capitals and enjoying it now.

Mild DMS and light spicy hops in the nose. Bready, toasty malts up front in the flavor, balanced by light spicy hops at the end.

I may be getting some slight oxidation in the flavor, but no sort of butteriness at all. I hope your distro wasn't passing off old stock or something. This is as good as I recall Capital to have been in the past. If they swayed from Kirby's recipes for lagers they'd be fools!

 

Really not a fan of the Summit offering this year, which stinks since I usually purchase a lot of it. It is medicinal in quality to my palate and very dry (tried it a few times hoping I was off). I even drank it side by side with many of the breweries mentioned by the OP and it is not up to snuff this year IMO. I personally like the offering from Millstream (a close local) this year over all of them I've tried. Capital, Schells, Point, Sam Adams, Leine and Shiner were all OK but nothing that blew my doors off. I won't even compare the german offerings since I had many of them at a celebration by the liter recently and am a bit foggy....I know they were good at least.

 

Me too. I'll have to check the bottling date to see if that can give any clues.

Agreed! I think it will be good once their new facility in Sauk City is open.

 

Per the Shiner rating. I love O'fests and always do some form of blind tasting every year. Very much to my surprise the Shiner always greatly exceeds my expectations. Is it as good as Hacker Pshorr or Paulener? No, but it is often close to Schells and Sam Adams which are two of my favorites.

Unforunately the rest of the Shiner beers do not do so well in blind tastings.