Seasons Greetings

Like it says above, “Season’s Greetings” to everyone out there! And I’m not referring to Christmas. Although I have to admit, I’m somewhat surprised that I haven’t seen any Christmas decorations up just yet. I mean, it’s already August, the winter festival is just around the corner. It’s never too early to stock up on Santa’s and sleighs and candy canes and all that other gobbledygook that people buy for mass consumption in what has become a nearly three month long event. Oh yeah, I can’t wait for that.

No, when I say “Season’s Greetings” at the end of August, there’s only one thing I’m referring to. Actually, there could be several things that I would be referring to, including, though not in any way being entirely limited to: the new football season starting (both college and professional), the start of a new school year (with new freshmen chicks moving into town), the start of a new hockey season for the recreational league I play in, or the rapid launch of several new video game titles before the winter Christmas Crunch. So yeah, there’s plenty of things to be looking forward to lately, but I’m not here to talk about any of the aforementioned. Today, I really want to talk about Oktoberfest.

More appropriately, I want to talk to you about Oktoberfest style beers. I mention this because this past Monday I went and did something that most single guys are required by law to avoid unless absolutely necessary: I went grocery shopping. Have no fear, though, I’m not turning into some strange cooking creature (read: “woman”). I stick to the manliest of essentials when shopping and hit most of the major manly food groups. This included the frozen pizza group, the salty snack group, the TV dinner group, and milk (because, well, no refrigerator is complete unless there’s a carton of month old milk in the back).

While shopping, I would be remiss if I didn’t journey down the beer aisle to at least take a gander at what America’s brewing companies were offering for my consumption. I wasn’t paying much attention, seeing as how I still feel the need to drink that last fourth of the bottle of bourbon I have, plus the six-pack of milk stout, and the two bottles of chilled sake in the fridge before acquiring any new booze. Now that might seem like a lot of alcohol to you, but let me assure you, I’m the kind of guy who drinks a lot of alcohol. I find that it’s the best way to support domestic businesses (for the record: the sake was brewed and bottled in California).

But lo’ and behold, I did stumble across a case of Sam Adams Oktoberfest Beer. Of all the Sam Adams varieties, and there are numerous ones these days, the Oktoberfest stands near the top in terms of tastiness. But I’ve had that before, and seeing as how Oktoberfest comes but once a year and I can’t get that particular style of beer during any other occasion, I decided to try something I hadn’t had before. And seeing as how I was shopping in a grocery store (note the fact that I was there to buy groceries) and not a specialty beer shop, the selection of micro brewed seasonal beers was somewhat lacking. But that’s ok, I have until the end of Oktober to venture forth and soak up all the seasonal style beers. So, in the end, I selected a six-pack of Blue Moon’s Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale.

Now there’s a difference between an Oktoberfest beer (known as Oktoberfestbier in Germany) and a spiced pumpkin ale. Both are available during the same time, the end of August until the end of October. And since it’s the end of August, I’m going to start enjoying both styles of beer now, while I can. And just so you know, I’m about halfway done with the Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale. My only hope is that I’ll finish writing before I finish my beer. Otherwise, I’ll have to get up and go get another beer. And I think we all know I’m loath to make that much effort.

In my continuing struggle to educate the masses on the wonders and intricacies of alcohol of all shapes, colors, flavors, and varieties, I will now attempt to disclose the inherent differences of these two seasonal fall brews. The traditional Oktoberfest beer is a Maerzen lager that is reddish in color, rich and smooth, exceptionally malty (but not too sweet), and with a complexity of added spices. The more contemporary Oktoberfestbier is fairly similar, but is lighter and paler to entice a more diverse crowd.

Pumpkin ale is similar in color, though it tends to be a bit lighter than traditional Maerzen. Similarly, the pumpkin ales also contain a strong malty backbone. The big difference is that pumpkin ales use pumpkins for flavoring. I’m guessing that’s how they came up with the name, though I can’t be entirely sure, I have been misled before. Brewers use freshly chopped pumpkins, a puree, or other natural or artificial pumpkin flavorings to get their desired taste. In addition, pumpkin style spices are employed as well. This can include nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves.

Though I usually group these two beers together main because they’re both malty, include spices, and come out at the same time of year, they are decidedly different beers. I think, in the long run, I prefer the pumpkin ale. But then again, there is something to be said for a true Maerzen beer, since it has been around for over 130 years. What can I say? I’m a sucker for tradition.

As for my recently purchased Blue Moon’s Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale… well, I’d have to say it’s a pretty decent beer. If you like Oktoberfest style or pumpkin ale style beers, you certainly can’t go wrong with it. Personally I think that there are better spiced pumpkin ale’s out there, but since Blue Moon is owned by Coors Brewing Co, it has much larger distribution than many other specialty and local beers. Therefore, it should be easy to find in your local grocery store, whereas many other seasonal brews can only be found in specialty beer shops.

Well, I’m about done with my beer, my second beer of the afternoon, actually. I’m beginning to think that drinking and writing many not be inclusively conducive. I have no idea if that last little word pairing is grammatically correct, or even if it makes sense, but I do know that it kind of rhymes. And after two beers, I just don’t really care about making sense anymore.