RED BOOZE!

A recent night out (filled with Mexican food and margaritas), along with a trip to Consumer Beverages, resulted in some glorious adult beverage finds. I stumbled across one beer that I've been dying to try for some time now and another that... all I can say is "WOW"

First, I've got a beer that 1.) I've never heard of before, and 2.) I almost shit myself when I saw the bottle. From the Shmaltz Brewing Company, we've got the Coney Island Freaktoberfest. When I first spied this gem, I thought to myself "Wow, that looks like if the video game CarnEvil was a beer." The bottle label has this ridiculous circus freakshow style gentleman, zombied out and surrounded by strange colors; It was a must buy, especially at 6.66% ABV. The label, among other things, says:

This is not an Oktoberfest... This is Freaktoberfest. Arise and take possession of this bewitching offering of the season. Crafted to lure your spirit's deepest rapture. Conjured to exorcise the grim horrors of the armies of the soulless drafts everywhere.

When I poured this beer out, I nearly lost my fucking mind. It was almost funny- this beer is red? THIS. BEER. IS. RED. What the hell? The last thing I expected from the pour was a different color than the normal deep brown/amber that I'm used to with previous Oktoberfest beers. Amazing. Even the head has a red tinge to it, a reddish/pink foam sits on top of this red- it's red!- beer. It has a mild aroma, nice and fruity with some deep malt mixed with ever so slight hops. It has a nice carbonation to it with a strong lager taste- fruity and dry, nice hops on the back with something... grapefruit with some (eventually) strong wheat flavor on the end? To be totally honest, it kind of has a taste of those red wax lip candies you got at Halloween time, you know the ones I mean.

Extremely freaky, this unique beer is an Oktoberfest at heart and was everything I dreamed it could be and more. I would warn you, though- it's a bit on the boozy side. Simply incredible, but rather gimmicky... which I'm totally fine with!

The next beer, the one I've been interested in since I heard of it a few months back, comes from the Erie Brewing Company and, if you've been following the-booze-blog (doubtful), you'll know just what beer I'm talking about. The Derailed Black Cherry Ale, at 5.5% ABV, is the Sam Adams Cherry Wheat done right.

The look of this beer doesn't really give much a way in terms of taste. A lighter brown/amber color, the aroma and taste are what really make this thing special. The smell is nothing but cherries, really. Not fresh cherries, certainly a cherry extract of some kind (cherry pie filling), but very appealing.

If there is one word to describe this beer, it's this: super fucking good. You immediately taste the cherry, with some slight hops on the back. It's not overly sweet like the Sam's Cherry Wheat- it's the perfect amount of sweet and hoppy. My friend Sean said it best "It's a beer that somehow gets sweeter with each drink."

In my opinion, this is the type of beer that I would give to someone who doesn't like beer- more of a "mixed drink" person, if you will. It's nice and sweet, tastes good, and doesn't really taste much like beer at all. This is one of the best craft beers I've ever tasted, and certainly the best cherry flavored drink (not just beer) I've had to date.

Next I gave the Octoberfest from Harpoon Brewery a try. Harpoon, a nice craft beer brewery that offers beers like the Harpoon IPA (5.9% ABV hoppy India Pale Ale) and delicious Harpoon Belgian Pale Ale (5.8% ABV Pale Ale with notes of fruit). Harpoon is also responsible for the line of UFO Beers, which are gaurnteed to give you a raging boner... really, that good. Harpoon describes the Octoberfest as:

Harpoon Octoberfest features a malty, full-bodied taste and deep garnet-red color. We brew this Marzen-style beer with festivals in mind. Celebrate with us. Prosit!

At 5.5% ABV, I don't really see the "deep garnet-red color," it's really more of a medium brown (maybe some orange?) with good clarity to it. It has a real nice smell, honey with wheat and a decent amount of malt- the taste was just as much. It's a pretty average beer, almost watery and dry on the end. It certainly wasn't my favorite Octoberfest brew to date.

Last but not least, I spied this unique looking autumn beer with on a drunken food run a few nights back and absolutely had to buy it. Shipyard Brewing Company, with one of the coolest label designs I've seen on a beer, brings us the monumentally tasty Pumpkinhead Ale.

Shipyard Brewing Co. offers up some pretty good brews, Export Ale being one of the best.

At 4.5% ABV, this pumpkin ale is extremely good. Medium-golden in color, it has a great sweet, crisp smell with hints of cinnamon and spice. The taste is very similar, but the back-end is full of cinnamon and apple. Wheat is present in both taste and smell, but isn't overpowering- that is where the sweetness comes in. A bit dry on the back, the overall feel of this beer is: cinnamon and pumpkin.

I have to admit, this is one of my favorite Pumpkin flavored beers- top 5 for sure. I like the cinnamon and nutmeg flavors and the nice hint of apple on the back. A bit watery, but otherwise a great beer.


Freaktoberfest 8/10
Derailed Black Cherry Ale 8/10
Harpoon Octoberfest 5/10
Pumpkinhead Ale 7/10