Beer Review of the Week: Leinenkugel’s Oktoberfest

Leinenkugel’s Oktoberfest is classic märzen style ale, which has nice caramel body with under tones of pale hops. It has little aroma to add to the experience, but it does pout with a coppery-amber color into a pint glass. As the head subsided, it left a nice two finger thin lacing around the glass. This flavor was nice and smooth with the caramel and hops making up the majority of the flavor profile and finishing with a nice creamy after taste. In summation, this was a surprising good traditional style beer that came out of Leinenkugel Brewing Company, which is known better for its sweeter style beers.

Rating:

• Drinkability – 3 out of 5
• Flavor – 3.5 out of 5
• Refreshness – 3 out of 5
• Smell – 2 out of 5
• Overall – 11.5 out of 20
• Price – $7.99
• ABV – 5.1%
• Style – Märzen

Mondary Beer Review Of The Week: Leinenkugel 1888 Bock

I am typically not a fan of Leinenkugel’s beer products, since they known for their fruitier sweet beers, but I recently ran across 1888 Bock while at a Red Wings hockey game at Detroit’s Joe Louise Arena. I was quite surprised by the dark brown color of this lager style beer. It has a very inviting malty taste that finishes with hops undertones and slight milky flavor on the backend. Being 5.2 ABV, this is a beer that you can have a couple of them while hanging out around a table with some friends having some tasty treats and chatting. After doing some “research” into bocks, I found this to a very traditional style bock and an excellent example of bocks in general. American Bocks have been around since the early German immigrants came to this country, making Bock one of the classic and early styles of American beers.

Rating:
• Drinkability – 5 out of 5
• Flavor -4 out of 5
• Refreshness – 5 out of 5
• Overall – 14 out of 15

Monday Beer Review Of The Week: Leinenkugel’s Fireside Nut Brown Ale

Nut brown ales: somewhere between a pale ale, amber ale, and porter, this style of brew is nice and malty and perfect for chilly-to-cold weather. Leinenkugel’s Fireside Nut Brown Ale is no different: Distinguished hazelnut malty ale with tastes of chocolate and caramel, this is a great late fall ale.

Light brown in color, which is the first thing one will notice when Fireside is poured into a beer mug, this ale has lots of autumn flavors, especially hazelnut and chestnuts… “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire….” (Thanks Frank!) Highly recommended drinking for anyone who likes the maltiness of a porter and the clarity of an amber; unlike English Nut Brown Ales (Sammy Smith makes the ultimate!) this ale is lighter with more caramel flavors. Perfect for drinking while raking the leaves

Drinkability: 8 out of 10
Flavor: 7 out of 10
Refreshness: 7 out of 10!!!
Smell: 7 out of 10
Price: $6.99 for a 6-pack, right on par for this type of ale; 8 out of 10
Overall: 7 out of 10. Leine’s is great, but doesn’t hold a light to Sammy Smith, but what can one say to a twist-top 12-oz compared to an English pint? There really isn’t a comparison. This is a great American ale that doesn’t try to compete against the English, but rather to re-invent the Nut Brown Ale for the good ol’ US of A.