Beer in the news; buzz food & drink writers sample different fall beers

From the Buzz

Buzz food & drink writers sample different fall beers

They sample: Blue Moon Harvest Moon, Arcadia Ales Jaw Jacker, Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale, Southern Tier Harvest Ale, Shipyard Pumpkin Head Ale, Leinenkugel's Oktoberfest, Sam Adam's Oktoberfest, Woodchuck Pumpkin, and Hornsby's Hard Cider Crisp Apple.

This was done by the food and drink writers... so it's good?

Blue Moon’s Harvest Moon:

We had high hopes for this beer since Blue Moon is so exceptional but were a little disappointed that there wasn’t much of that “fall” flavor to be found.

Ok, there's your baseline. "Blue Moon is so exceptional". I assume they actually meant that as a compliment.

Buffalo Bill’s Pumpkin Ale:

Beth and Jeanine were especially excited about this one because of Buffalo Bill’s Orange Blossom, which is an exceptionally good summer beer.

Paddy likes BB's Orange Blossom. This beer was apparently their favorite.

Southern Tier Harvest Ale:

This ale was crisp tasting, although very bitter. It remained light, though, and reminded Barb of Rogue Dead Guy. It did not have much of a fall or harvest flavor until the end, and it was drowned out by the bitterness.

This is what happens when you have no idea what beer styles are. Harvest ales (for the most part) are celebrating the HOPS harvest, not the harvest of corn, soybeans, pumpkins. They didn't like the bitterness? They shouldn't have gotten a beer that has a predominate characteristic of bitter.

Here's what Southern Tier has to say about harvest.

Harvest Ale is our celebration of the changing weather and the sowing of hops and barley that will be used in our upcoming brews. We usher in the fall with a classic English style Extra Special Bitter of the highest order. Deep ruby in color with an even deeper hop flavor… in fact, we throw fresh English hops into every brewing vessel, then dry hop after fermentation to impart a zesty kick. This beer has real hop character that mingles with fresh malted barley for an experience that will make you wish it were fall year ‘round.

If you were looking for something not bitter... you chose poorly.

Leinenkugel’s Oktoberfest:

- Boring!

Just an amber beer without much pumpkin or spice. There wasn’t much to say about this pretty boring beer.

What? People might actually use this article as an authoritative look at beer, the writers are apparently the food and drink staff. They wanted pumpkin and spice in an OKTOBERFEST? Seriously?

Sam Adam’s Octoberfest:

- Least favorite!

We were curious to try this one because it is everywhere. We were used to seeing it and wanted to try it and were very disappointed. It was very bitter and unremarkable. We realize this might be a bias towards Sam Adams beers overall, but we definitely weren’t impressed by it.

Again, what? Sam Adams Oktoberfest is a malty beer. It's not very bitter. It's not unremarkable. It's pretty much the definitive version of an American Oktoberfest. They have a bias against Sam Adams? What? Why? They claim Blue Moon is exceptional, and they are biased against Sam Adams? Seriously?

This article is horrible. Remember that when you read any other article about beer in the buzz.