Octoberfests and Mr. Pumpkin

I always enjoy the holiday season. The heat of the summer has passed, the leaves start changing colors, and the awesome seasonal beers start to show up on the shelves. I have now tried 3 different Octoberfests and while each one has its similarities, they are slightly different depending on who made them. I also got a chance to visit a friend from last year, Mr. Pumpkin.

Samuel Adams Octoberfest

I'll start off with the Octoberfests since I tried them first. Going into this, I wasn't really 100% sure what an "Octoberfest" was. I knew it originated from Germany, but beyond that, was fairly clueless yet interested to find out.

The first pack I saw was Samuel Adams' Octoberfest. It poured a deep golden orange with a fairly thin head yet smelled almost like a wheat beer. After my first sip, I could taste the rich, roasted malts and, well, beer. It tasted like a good golden beer. After a few more sips, I started to notice the dryness of the beer and the ever slight bitterness to it. It was pleasant and refreshing.

Mother's Octoberfest

A little while later I found a pack of Mother's Octoberfest. It poured not as dark as the Sam Adams, but had the same aroma. The fist sip was actually quite similar. Yet another good drinking beer. Of course, their rendition had a subtle hint of hops because, as we all know, "Home is where the Hops is". :) This one too shared the dryness, but the bitterness wasn't really as prominent as it seemed in Sam Adams. It was much more crisp.

A week ago, I had the privilege of going to the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life Leadership Summit in Dallas, Texas and guess what the bar in the hotel was holding: an Octoberfest special! They had batches of Octoberfests from local brewers on tap for a special price and only during the week we were there. Good timing, right?

The beer I had was from Franconia Brewing Company in Dallax, Texas. This one was a little bit sweeter than the others, yet still had that dry, crisp, bitterness to it. It's actually a very good style and after having these 3 varieties, I can enjoy the distinctions between each brew more.

Last but not least, that brings me to Mr. Pumpkin. Last year, I got to try him straight from the brewery and it was absolutely amazing. This year, they've expanded their distribution a little bit and I was able to find him in Joplin at Macadoodles. I was excited to get him home and have a taste.

A good pumpkin spice smell rose from the bottle when I popped the cap and I was instantly excited. A beautiful golden brown beer poured out and the smell intensified. The first sip, however, was not quite what I had remembered. I was expecting a much sweeter beer with a stronger pumpkin spice flavor. What I got instead was a much milder beer. I know last year's batch was created almost by accident which is probably the difference. On one of their brewery tours, they explained how they made a batch of pumpkin beer that was so strong it was undrinkable. They then whipped up a batch of a basic pale ale and mixed them together to create Mr. Pumpkin. Apparently, they brewed straight to the final batch this year which is what the difference is.

Don't get me wrong, Mr. Pumpkin is still a great beer and tastes great, it's just not what I was expecting. It could also be due to the fact that I only had it last year straight from the brewery and this is bottled. That does make a difference for sure. I'm still enjoying it though.

Back to my Dallas trip, I actually had a "flight" of beers. It was 5 quarter pint glasses of different beers from across the country. The Franconia was only one of them. The others were a Boulevard Wheat, Shiner Boch, Deschutes Mirrorpond and Left Hand Milk Stout. They gave me the Shiner because it was a "Texan beer". Unfortunately, I just had two of these with diner a few minutes before. They gave me Boulevard since Missouri is far away from Texas. Go figure. On the plus size, I now know that Boulevard Wheat is great with fresh lemons squeezed into it.

The other two were new to me. The Mirror Pond Pale Ale was a great hoppy pale ale from one of my favorite breweries, Deschutes. Yum. As for the Left Hand, I was a little worried at first because it was a "Milk Stout", but it turned out to be a decent beer. Black and rich with strong roasted malts and the slightest hint of coffee.

Good beers abound and I look forward to what's to come in the holiday season.