What We’re Drinkin’ This Week…

Stacey’s back from the black lodge and we’re pretty sure she’s not evil. We talk everything from the Twin Peaks Finale, U.S. Open, College football and more! It’s also that time of year and yes we drink a pumpkin beer. Did we hate it or love it? You’ll just have to listen to find out.

Listen to “Episode 77 Weihenstephaner Y’all” on Spreaker.

Tis the season and yes, we went there this week with the sharin’ beer.  New Belgium’s Voodoo Ranger Special Release Atomic Pumpkin.  This pumpkin beer has the cinnamon that you would expect, but it also has some nice heat on it with the addition of habanero.  The contrast between the heat and the cinnamon made this pumpkin beer probably one of the least offensive ones we’ve ever had.  Neither Stacey, Lauren or surprisingly Carrie hated it, although the cinammon on the front end was a little much for Carrie.   Also, this beer wasn’t overly hoppy, regular Voodoo Ranger is a pretty hoppy IPA, but that didn’t come through at all with the cinammon and the heat. Pumpkin beers are still kind of the worst and there are just a lot of bad ones out there, however, if you want to have one because it’s that time of year, definitely try to find the Atomic version.

Leigh’s really grasping at straws this week to hang onto summer with her choice of Angry Orchard’s Summer Honey cider.  Unfortunately summer will probably come to its end with the name of this one.  It was just way to sweet for Leigh, the addition of the honey on top of the apples was just too much.  There are several other ciders that Leigh has had over the past couple of weeks that would let you close out summer in crisp, clean fashion, unfortunately this isn’t one of them.  You’ve still got a few more days until it’s “officially” fall and you might want to skip the cider all together and pick up some spiked seltzer to close out the season.

Stacey dug around in Lauren’s beer fridge this week and came out with Mikkeller’s Fruit Face, part of their Berliner Series, which is actually fitting since we are on the Oktoberfest train right now.  Mikkeller is the same brewery that brought us the awesomely named and pretty good tasting coffee stout Brunch Weasel.  This Berliner Style Weisse beer brewed with mango, coconut and habanero did not disappoint either.  The fruit and the heat were both present in this one, which is always great when a beer can deliver what it promises.  The only thing that Stacey didn’t like about the beer was that without her glasses, she couldn’t read the writing on the can.  She claims it was the lighting in the room we were in, but we know it’s cause she can’t see.

Lauren’s pick this week comes from Lagunitas Brewing.  Lagunitas is a solid brewery and it’s safe to say that we really haven’t had anything from them that we’ve completely disliked or wouldn’t recommend.  The Aunt Sally dry hopped, sweet tart, sour mash ale had a lot of complex stuff going on.  This wasn’t a bad thing, it was just on first sip this beer was very different.  Lauren got fruit, sour and hoppiness, many complex flavors going on.  She wasn’t sure how she was going to feel about this one, but as the show progressed and the beer opened up the flavor changed a bit.  Although she probably couldn’t drink more than one or maybe two Lauren really liked all the different things that this beer delivered.  If you’re looking for a beer that’s got a lot going on with a complex flavor profile that definitely has the potential to change then we highly recommend picking this one up.

Carrie is all in on the Oktoberfest/German beer train this month so it was fitting that her pick came straight from the German beer aisle at liquor barn.  Weihestephaner is the world’s oldest brewery (well according to their bottle anyway) and while they make a variety of different German style beers, Carrie chose to go with the Hefeweissbeir Dunkel this week.  As far as Dunkel’s go this is a pretty good one, although a bit lighter and less carmely than other Dunkel’s you may have had in the past.  Carrie didn’t have any issues with taste or drinkability, however, when poured the beer had a significant amount of foam and there was some sediment in the bottom of the bottle, which also poured into the glass.  The sediment didn’t affect the flavor of the beer, but it may be off-putting to some people.  Brewed under the beer purity law of 1516,  it just doesn’t get anymore Oktoberfest or German than Wehenstephaner’s Hefeweissbeir Dunkel.