Beer & Me

and the pumpkins can’t be far behind.

*Sigh* I just don’t know if I’m ready yet. Usually I love this time of year – cooler weather, turning leaves, more beer festivals than one can keep up with – and the annual harbingers of this season are the Oktoberfest and pumpkin beers that start hitting the shelves around now.

Celeste and I went out to eat tonight. When the waiter asked for our drinks order I asked what seasonal they had on tap. He cheerfully told me that they had just hooked up a Sam Adams Oktoberfest today.

I had one but just didn’t enjoy it like I have in past years. It’s a good example of the style but it was just kind of sweet and uninteresting to me tonight.

Luckily I had a six pack of Two Hearted Ale waiting for me in the refrigerator back home.

I dropped into a local good beer shop earlier this week and found a brand new bottle. I’m a fan of Thelonious Monk’s music so I was drawn to the label.

Besides groovy packaging this Belgian strong dark ale is a beer with a mission. A portion of the proceeds from each sale will go to the Thelonious Institute. Its mission is “to offer the world’s most promising young musicians college level training by America’s jazz masters.”

Sounds like a worthy cause to me. I haven’t tried the beer yet but I’ll share my tasting notes here when I do. I’ve no doubt I’ll enjoy it; I have yet to be disappointed with anything made by North Coast Brewing Company.

For some time now I have not bought Heather Ale from the Fraoch brewery in Scotland. I saw it everytime that I dropped by the local beer store but I ignored it. It seemed like little more than a gimmick. But today I decided that I would finally try the stuff.

Turns out it is a lovely beer. The ale is on the lighter side though it is still substantial enough that no one would confuse it with a lager. The heather, I presume, adds a very nice flowery and fresh aspect to the beer giving it a refreshing and spicy flavor. I enjoyed it thoroughly and might have to go pick up a few more bottles tomorrow