Our Tastes-- Single Malt Ale

Still knocking down Rogue beers, I found some of the 1st release of GYO beers from Rogue. Single Malt Ale. SMA is a wildflower honey color with citrus lemony aroma. No head to mention. On tasting, the woody pine flavor comes through, not what I would consider single malt unless you hearken back to young scotch then I feel it. Little to no nose and the taste came before. Made with Dare™ malts and Revolution hops. I may revisit this brew and update with a fresh palate. This is the 1st of many new American only beers. I love the idea of on-site grown everything. That really pushes the definition of "microbrew". Abv 5.3% 

Our Tastes-- Harpoon Ale

The Ale in this sampler has a wonderful fresh hop aroma and a frothy head that dissipates a bit quicker than the IPA. The sites says it is not highly carbonated in order to allow more flavor to come through. The color is lightbrown/red and is the same recipe since 1987. This 5.0%abv brew has a well balanced bitterness and is definitely worth trying.

Our Tastes-- Harpoon IPA

Thought I would try the Harpoon sampler I picked up. It has the Ale, IPA, UFO and Munich Type Dark . I've already tasted and posted the UFO (which is an awesome summertime beer). The IPA pours a nice creamy white head and light orange color. The aroma is less than hoppy for sure, more sweet than anything else and at 1st taste I'm not even sure I'm drinking an IPA. The floral aroma may come from the use of Northwest hops. Now I will say that the aftertaste is not "sweet" as the description on the site implies but I do have that honeysuckle feel. It's 5.9%abv and not the best IPA I've ever had. Don't get me wrong though, even a dog will eat tomatoes on the 3rd day of starvation;(

TnDC Field Trip #5 Oktoberfest

Well Merry and I just got back from a very interesting trip. We went to Oktoberfest in Helen, GA. Now I highly recommend that EVERYONE experience this at least once in your life, I may go back but I'll be over 50 when I do it (or 60 that way I match everyone in the Festhalle). This thing runs from mid Sept. to Nov 1st and may very well be one of the most innovative ways to bring tourist money in for a short period of time. This was a little town that was remodeled and painted to match a small German town then started holding Oktoberfest. So when you peak the mountain and start down into the valley the tan and dark brown village is all you see. BUT the vendors aren't all beer related, it was like a market at the beach with t-shirts that said "Suck my Harley's Smoke" and airbrushed vanity plates for cars. The only true German thing was the food and beer at the Festhalle Merry and I went to. Now wieners and krauts were awesome. The draft beer imported and mostly German, buy a mug (which has a nice logo on it) and get beer specials!! Old farts dancing and slapping them selves during a dance-off. And there was no doubt that Merry and I were by far the youngest people in line for the Halle to open and the line just got longer. The draft Erdinger Dunkel was so good I had to bring The Enabler a bottle of it, the Weizen, ok. We had lunch on the Chattahoochee river at the Underground Troll? (something like that). I even got an iron-on t-shirt;) Go, even just for a laugh. I'll continue to try Oktoberfests in other towns just to see how it measures up. Oh and if you get lost here's the GPS for it:
34º 42' 08.16 N by 83º 43' 36.45 W
2008 is right around the corner!!