September08 Tasting Notes and Ratings

Michelob DunkelWeisse
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Rating: good
Overall score 3.8/5
Appearance 3.5/ Smell 3.5/ Taste 4/ Mouthfeel 4/ Drinkability 4

Appearance: Pours a cloudy reddish rust colored brown. Large tan head with some lacing at top of glass.

Smell: A distinctive banana aroma first is noticeable, then clove and ester smell is detected.

Taste: Very pleasurable clove and banana up front. A hint of vanilla, fruitiness and spice is present. Aftertaste is slightly tart.

Mouthfeel: Clean and smooth.

Drinkability: Interesting flavors and smooth finish makes for a highly drinkable beer.

Notes: This Dunkel Weisse made the 50th style I have sampled. Dunkel Weisse (Dark Wheat) is a style that could easily become my favorite. A big thumbs up to Michelob for crafting a good beer.

[serving type: bottle]


Michelob Porter
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Rating: very good
Overall score 3.9/5
Appearance 4/ Smell 3.5/ Taste 4/ Mouthfeel 4/ Drinkability 4

Appearance: Pours a dark mahogany with brown/tan head. Not very much lacing.

Smell: Hints of coffee and dark roasted malts, not overpowering but noticeable.

Taste: Roasted malt and coffee flavors up front, with a slight smoky aftertaste. Nothing "over the edge" but rather mellow and soft.

Mouthfeel: creamy and smooth.

Drinkability: Lighter than the other porters I have sampled but still very flavorful and very drinkable.

Notes: In my opinion this is the best of the Michelob family of beers. Its of high quality without the expensive price.

[Serving type: bottle]


Samuel Adams Octoberfest
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Rating: very good
Overall score 3.9/5
Appearance 3.5/ Smell 3,5/ Taste 4/ Mouthfeel 4/ Drinkability 4.5

Appearance: Pours amber-orange, no head to speak of and no lacing.

Smell: Sweet, caramel, malt.

Taste: caramel and toasty malt taste with a light citrus hops towards the back.

Mouthfeel: Low carbonation, almost flat. Medium bodied.

Drinkability: Can't just drink one!

Notes: A perfect autumn beer. One of many thing I look forward to this time of year. My only concern is the carbonation might be off. From the bottle there is a lot more carbonation.

[Serving type: on tap]


Budweiser American Ale
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Rating: decent
Overall score 3.5/5
Appearance 3.5 Smell 3.5 Taste 3 Mouthfeel 3.5 Drinkability 4

Appearance: Pours a copper color with creamy white head. Small amount of lacing left on glass.

Smell: caramel malts and fresh hops.

Taste: Dominated with caramel malt with a touch of hop in back

Mouthfeel Medium bodied

Drinkability: very smooth and well balanced

Notes: The biggest surprise of the year. By far the best Budweiser beer. I will drink this beer again.


[Serving type: bottle]


Rating scale
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4.8 world class
4.5 outstanding
4.2 excellent
3.9 very good
3.6 good
3.3 decent
3.0 fair
2.7 mediocre
2.4 poor
2.1 bad

Beer Sip of Knowledge: Fermentation

When early beermakers wrote of the "art and mystery of brewing," it was largely the process of fermentation that imposed the "mystery." Although Louis Pasteur gets well-earned credit for his studies on the nature of yeast, it was his colleague, Emil Christian Hanson, whose discoveries began to reveal the deepest secrets of fermentation. While working at the Carlsberg Laboratory in Denmark, Hanson theorized that a pure yeast strain grown from a single cell would bring a new level of control and consistency to beermaking.

Initially, Hanson's ideas met with strong skepticism from brewers, including his own employer--Captain Jacobsen, head of the Carlsberg Breweries. But science ultimately proved Hanson correct, and his findings have been at work in breweries ever since.


Information poured from: BeerBooks.com