Shiner FM 966 Farmhouse Ale

Well here is another offering from The Shiner brewery. This is their spring seasonal beer. This is FM 966 Farmhouse ale 5.6% ABV, which is the farm to market road in Shiner Texas. FM 966 is brewed with Golding, Sterling and Meridian hops for a sweet yet spiced flavor. This beer style was brewed in the cold winter months as a seasonal provision to be enjoyed in the spring months. This spring Shiner pours a light amber color with a thin 1 finger white head that doesn’t stay long and there is a small amount of thin lacing. There is a decent amount of light coming through the glass with some good carbonation streaming from the bottom. The aroma on FM 966 is spicy with a hint of green apple, but just a tiny bit. There is a bit of pepper spice as well. The taste starts out smooth with very faint, light, and thin green apple but then spice comes right behind that. It’s a little bit like a ground pepper spice. This FM 966 finishes a bit spicy but clean with a hint of carbonation. The mouth feel is a medium feel, and the aftertaste is a bit spicy but light and stays just enough to be enjoyable. FM 966 is not overly flavorful or complex. This is a nice drinkable beer with a little pleasant spicy zing on the end. This doesn’t really blow me away like I thought it would, but it’s still a good beer. I would give this a B. Not my new favorite, but this would be something I would have again. I would recommend this beer.  This is a nice spring beer. But as Farmhouse ale goes, this is not the best one; there is much better one out there. But I still say that it is a good beer. I like this one, not my new favorite, but still a good beer. Try this if you haven’t already! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Sierra Nevada Celebration

Here we have a beer from one of the earliest craft beer breweries in the US, Sierra Nevada, in Chico California, and soon to have a brewery here in the mountains of North Carolina. This is the winter/Christmas seasonal Celebration, 6.8%ABV. This is fresh hop ale, so that is using fresh hop not dries pellets of hops like in some IPA’s. This is also known as wet hop. This ale was created in the winter of 1981 and always has the year on the neck label. Sierra Nevada uses whole-cone American hops in this fresh IPA. This is my first time having this, but my second Sierra Nevada beer. Celebration pours a nice rich amber color with a light tan head five-finger head that just sticks around forever and makes such massive lacing around the glass. I did find some light coming through the glass with a small amount of carbonation there. The aroma on Celebration is big pine needles with a big citrus fruit like grapefruit, orange, and some pineapple. There is some orange and grapefruit juice there as well. This just has that classic west coast fresh IPA aroma to it. This is just a very nice smelling IPA. The taste on Celebration is amazing, with a big grapefruit hit at first with a nice orangey/orange juice flavor right behind that. There is a little pine needle taste there too, but it’s a bit faint. Yes there is hop bitterness there to, but it’s more of a citrusy and slightly less hop plant like. The finish on this is clean a bit fruity and slightly hoppy but does finish nicely. The aftertaste doesn’t linger too much just enough to be enjoyable with a piney pineapple, big grapefruit and a little orange. Celebration has a grate balance between piney and citrus hop aromas and flavors, and it wowed me. So this is getting an A from me. This is a good example of a classic fresh hop ale/IPA. Sure it isn’t what you expect from a winter beer, but hey it’s something different for the winter season and it is great. Yeah it could have been a little more on the fruit or hop flavors to make it an A+, but not a whole lot could be done. This is a near perfect beer. I love this and highly recommend this! So go out and get it before it is gone. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Ottakringer Helles Bier

Here is the last beer in my Austrian beer Christmas gift. This one is Ottakringer Hells, 5.2% ABV, a lager style beer. This on is a good commonly found beer in Austria, and has been around since 1837. I also have an Ottakringer stein. I didn’t use it for this beer because you can’t see the beer, it just looks good and manly. But I will use it when I am not doing another blog post. This Helles beer pours a some what medium golden color with a one finger thin white head that goes quick and forms a little bit of lacing. I found lots of light coming though the glass with a decent amount of bubbles. The aroma is bready like a biscuit and there is a hint of a cereal gain to it. But it smells like a good version of an American lager. It also smell quit crisp. The taste is just as crisp with a nice bready semi malty flavor and a hint of the nice cereal grain. The mouth feel is light, crisp and refreshing. This beer does not over power you mouth. Ottakinger has a nice crisp grain after taste. This bee has a clean finish with a hint of tiny bubble on your tongue. I would give this a B+, this beer is good but has a little room for improvement but it’s not bad. I enjoyed it, and it’s easy to drink, a good sessionable beer. I would recommend this to a lager or light tasting beer drink. This Ottakringer Helles is well brewed and tasty. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!  

Wieselburger Bier Gold

My love of beer has led me to many wonderful beers and style on that some times get over looked is lagers. Some beer geeks say that lager is a dirty word. But I think that some average national domestic lagers aren’t the best but some foreign and/or imported lagers are much better. Here is on from Austria, another Wiesleburger Bier and this is their Gold a Euro pale lager, 5.0% abv. This pale lager pours a bright golden straw color not unlike must US lager. There is about a half a finger thin white head that doesn’t stay to long no does it fade to fast. I saw a big amount of bubbles from the bottom of the glass with plenty of light coming through. I could see right through the beer. The aroma on this Gold was of light malt and straw, with a very tiny metallic scent but I was really looking hard. The aroma is similar to a Pabst Blue Ribbon but better. The taste is of light straw, light malts and a faint biscuit flavor. The mouth feel on this Gold is very light, crisp and very refreshing. This beer finish clean and crisp, with a nice refreshing bubble on your tongue. The aftertaste is light malts, but does fade quickly leaving a small metallic taste in the back of your mouth. This beer is very sessionable, both in taste and in the abv%. You could drink this all day during a hot summers day. I’m giving this an A. A very well crafted lager here. I would recommend this to every beer drinker. This isn’t overly complex in any way shape or form. I loved it. This could be your everyday beer. I would say so! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Wieselburger Bier Stammbrāu

Well here is yet another beer from my wonderful Austrian Christmas gift, another Austrian beer. This one is Wieselburger Bier Stammbrāu, 5.4% ABV a pale Euro lager. The Wieselburger brewery has been around, and in business since 1770. This Austrian beer comes with a neat swivel top. This pale lager pours a medium golden color with a finger and a half white head that fades at a medium speed and leaves behind a small and thin lacing. This Wieselburger has a good amount of light coming through the glass with nice tiny carbonation bubbles. The aroma has that common Euro lager scent, a musky grainy aroma with a hint of a biscuit like smell. The taste is much better than the aroma; there is semi-sweetness to it with that hint of a grainy biscuit. This is better than the more common Euro lager you find. There is a small metallic taste on the end but doesn’t stick around. The mouth feel is light with a nice fizzle of carbonation on you tongue. The finish is somewhat bubbly, clean, and crisp. Wieselburger has an aftertaste that fades kind of quick with a fading biscuit quality. This is a good everyday beer, so getting an A- from me. There's nothing wrong with this one at all. This is just a plain everyday good drinking beer. I do recommend this if you’re in the market for an everyday beer, and the swivel top is a cool conversation starter. It does get points for that. So go out and try this one, you might like it. Happy New Year! Cheers! Please drink responsibly!