Oktoberfest Beers — Left Hand vs. Ayinger

Left Hand Brewing Co.
Oktoberfest Marzen Lager
ABV 6.6%

Color: Pumpkin orange.
Aroma: Malts, prunes, spice, and a touch of pine & perfume.
Flavor: Sweet malt, toffee, floral with some artificial notes.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Malty
Finish: Clean and soapy.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Good

Ayinger
Oktober Fest-Marzen
ABV 5.8%

Color: Pale golden orange.
Aroma: Grains, yeast and honey.
Flavor: Simple, sweet malts with a slight pumpkin-vegetal quality.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Malty
Finish: Grains.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Good

Blow by Blow
Fire up the Hopping Lederhosen, it's time for a Bavarian-style Bottle Battle! Since we couldn't make it to the real Oktoberfest in Munich, we staged a mini Oktoberfest in our kitchen featuring two Marzen lagers, the traditional style of beer that is most associated with the massive German celebration.

In one corner we had Ayinger, an authentic German brewery that has been brewing for over a hundred years, in the other corner we had Left Hand a brewery from Colorado that has been open for over fifteen years. But age and tradition mean nothing in a bottle battle. They are both equals until one hits the canvas.

The Ayinger was a solid and straightforward beer with simple grain and malt flavors. The Left Hand, on the other hand (sorry), had a whole bunch going on, especially in the aroma — very sweet smelling and almost perfumey. The flavors were more complex as well and complemented the sweet maltiness. So despite a decent performance by the ancient German he ended up getting floored by a clean Left Hand and it was lights out. Prost!

Winner by unanimous decision: Left Hand.

Winter Beers — Ninkasi vs. Deschutes

Ninkasi Brewing Co.
Sleigh'r
(Dark Doüble Alt)
ABV 7.2%

Color: Clear dark brown.
Aroma: Smoke, chocolate and some dank funk.
Flavor: Medium body, sweet and slightly smoky and meaty.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Malty
Finish: Burnt hop bitterness.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Good

Deschutes
Jubelale
ABV 6.7%

Color: Clear reddish brown.
Aroma: Brown sugar, molasses and piney hops.
Flavor: Just like the aroma, rich and sweet.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Malty
Finish: Sweet malts slowly give way to mild citrus hop bitterness.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Good +

Blow by Blow
Winter beers in fall? What the hell? Just as we were enjoying the fine array of fall seasonals we started to notice some winter beers forcing their way onto the scene. It's a disturbing trend that reminds us of how the holidays are starting to blend together with stores flooding their shelves with Valentine's crap on the day after New Year's. If breweries aren't careful this could escalate into some sort of crazy turf war between gangs of fall and winter beers (possibly a future Bottle Battle?). Despite our concern over this seasonal encroachment we are big fans of winter beers, so we waited as long as we could before giving in to the overwhelming urge to see what this year's crop of winter beers has to offer.

It was a well fought battle, with both beers displaying the big malty base and hearty alcohol content that you'd expect from beers that are supposed to help take the chill off of a cold winter's night. Both beers also offer up a nice hoppy bitterness to help offset the sweet, but the Jubelale's bitterness was mild and pleasant in the finish, while the Sleigh'r left us with a bit too much burnt hop flavors after each sip. The other difference was in the mouthfeel — the Jubelale was very rich and full-bodied and the Sleigh'r just didn't have the body to match up with it. So the Jubelale wins in a close one, but both beers will certainly serve you right on a nippy night.

Winner by unanimous decision: Deschutes.

In the interest of full disclosure to satisfy the FTC’s law, this battle features a sample bottle received from the Deschutes Brewery.

Urban Beer Hike Triple Header

It was an epic night of battles as we teamed up with Urban Beer Hikes for a three location triple header. Our first stop was at Beer Authority for a Sierra Nevada Fresh Hop tap tussle.



Sierra Nevada Northern Hemisphere
Harvest Wet Hop Ale
ABV 6.7%

Color: Clear orange.
Aroma: Sweet malt and lemon rind.
Flavor: Toasted malt and intense piney bitterness.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Hoppy
Finish: Intense, long-lasting burnt toast and lemon rind bitterness.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Good -

Sierra Nevada Estate
Homegrown Ale
ABV 6.7%

Color: Clear orange with slight red tint.
Aroma: Grassy with some nice citrus.
Flavor: Fresh, grassy hops with good malty sweetness as well.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Hoppy
Finish: Pleasant mellow bitterness.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Good +

Blow by Blow
We were pleased to find two fresh hop beers from Sierra Nevada on tap so we promptly threw them into the ring together to see who would reign supreme.

Both were served really cold, so it was kind of difficult to decipher the aromas but the Estate clearly had the upper hand. It offered the classic fresh, grassy hops with a nice citrus element as well. The Harvest struggled with its aroma and ended up being mostly sweet toasted malts with some piney hops in the background.

The Estate continued to dominate in the flavor and finish while the Harvest was exposed as a one dimensional bitter bomb without any of the typical fresh hop flavors. We all agreed that if we had tasted the Harvest blind, we probably wouldn't have guessed it was a fresh hop.

Winner by unanimous decision: Estate Homegrown.

The second fight on the card featured two bottles purchased at Big Star Beer Market. The theme: Beers named after tasty marine animals.



Porterhouse Brewing
Oyster Stout
ABV 4.8%

Color: ? (We drank from the bottle. Probably dark.)
Aroma: ? (Hard to smell anything through the neck of a bottle.)
Flavor: Cola, chocolate, coffee, earth.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Balanced
Finish: Bitter lemon and coffee.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Mediocre +

Rinkuskiu Alaus Darykla
Lobster Lovers Beer
ABV 9.5%

Color: ? (We drank from the bottle. Probably amber.)
Aroma: Sweet (We could even smell it through the neck of the bottle.)
Flavor: Sweet cough syrup with some Belgian yeast characteristics.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Malty
Finish: Sweet and medicinal.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Bad

Blow by Blow
It was an international duel with Lobster Lovers hailing from Lithuania and Oyster Stout coming from Ireland. They both were feisty even before the fight as the Lobster offered an enticing naked lady/lobster label and the Oyster countered with the novelty of a pull off cap.

In the ring things got ugly quick. The big Lithuanian was sweet and medicinal, just a mess of a beer. We couldn't even finish it. The Oyster Stout won by virtue of being not quite as bad. It had some weird sweet cola flavor that took away from the chocolate and coffee stout flavors.

Winner by unanimous decision: Oyster Stout.

The final battle turned out to be a can clash featuring beers that we purchased at the 85th St. Market, a place with a surprisingly good beer selection and an extremely nice owner named Chuck.



Maui Brewing Co.
Bikini Blonde Lager
ABV 4.5%

Color: ? (We drank from the can. Probably light yellow.)
Aroma: ? (Hard to smell anything through the mouth of the can.)
Flavor: Sweet, smooth, creamy and easy drinking. Dave noted that it had tiny bubbles (very Don Ho of it.)
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Malty
Finish: Sweet and malty.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Good -

Oskar Blues
Mama's Little Yella Pils
ABV 5.3%

Color: ? (We drank from the can. Probably light yellow.)
Aroma: ? (Hard to smell anything through the mouth of the can.)
Flavor: Crisp, with light citrus hops and some graininess.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Balanced
Finish: Grain and teeny, tiny bit of citrus hop bitterness.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Good -

Blow by Blow
These beers are meant for hot weather, but we decided to see what they were made of on a mild October night in Seattle.

It kind of turned into a slap fight with a lot of flailing of the arms without much contact. Both beers were predictably simple and didn't offer much more than something to wash down whatever you're eating.

Turns out, Dave and I have different preferences when it comes to simple, session beers. He prefers something a bit sweeter and thus chose the Bikini Blonde, I prefer something with some kind of hop presence so I went with Mama's.

Final note: We rated them both "Good -", but they would probably be rated higher if we tried them on a hot day. They both would definitely be acceptable for a beach or a bbq.

Split decision: I chose the Pils, Dave chose the Lager. (Ellen sat this one out.)

Pumpkin Beers — Uinta Brewing Co. vs. Dogfish Head

Uinta Brewing Co.
Punk'n
ABV 4%

Color: Clear pumpkin orange (slightly darker than the Dogfish Head).
Aroma: Barnyard funk, cinnamon, nutmeg and malt.
Flavor: Not much. Thin and a bit watery. Acidic with some grain flavor.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Balanced
Finish: Macrolager grainy flavor and a hint of pumpkin pie spices.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Mediocre

Dogfish Head Punkin
ABV 7%

Color: Clear pumpkin orange.
Aroma: Malty and sour(!).
Flavor: Rich texture. Starts with a bit of raw pumpkin followed by hoppy bitterness.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Balanced
Finish: Subdued pumpkin pie spices and mild lingering bitterness.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Good

Blow by Blow
October is a good month for beer. You've got fresh hop beers, Octoberfest beers and pumpkin beers all fighting for your attention. We're big fans of pumpkin beer, so we chose to kick off October with some old-fashioned pumpkin beer pugilism.

The Uinta is a new kid on the block in the Seattle market. Dogfish Head is an established veteran with a solid record. Both are "punks." Let's get it on!

The battle turned out to be closer than we expected. The Uinta had a nice aroma, but went downhill from there. However, at 4% alcohol it would be a nice beer to take tailgating or to quench your thirst after raking leaves. The Dogfish Head should have crushed the young upstart, but instead it did just enough to win the fight. The texture and mouthfeel was fantastic, but in our opinion it had a bit too much of the raw pumpkin/squash flavor and not enough of the pumpkin pie spices. Mind you, we've tried beers that taste like pureed pumpkin pie and those can be a bit overwhelming so we weren't looking for that. But a bit more of that cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg would really have made us like the Punkin even more.

Winner by unanimous decision: Dogfish Head.

Fresh Hop Growler Grudge Match — Rock Bottom Bellevue vs. Rock Bottom Portland

Yes, more fresh hop madness! This time we were fortunate enough to be invited to a massive fresh hop tasting. Our friends Geoff (Seattle Beer News) and Dave (Urban Beer Hikes) took a road trip to Portland and came back with a bunch of growlers full of fresh hop beer. The tasting was absolutely amazing with some ridiculously good fresh hop beers and some not so good. About midway through the evening, before we even knew what was happening a full-fledged Growler Grudge Match broke out. Rock Bottom Portland and Rock Bottom Bellevue squared off and it wasn't pretty. For this match we skipped the tasting notes and just let everyone vote for their favorite.

The Bellevue Rock Bottom won handily. It was way more aromatic with a ton of delicious fresh grapefruit and citrus in the aroma and flavor. The Portland Rock Bottom wasn't terrible, it just got clocked upside the head by a big wallop of Bellevue fresh hop whoop ass. Final tally was Bellevue 10, Portland 1.

Other standout fresh hop beers: Mirror Pond Fresh Hop, Issaquah Brewing Wet Frog, Snipes Harvest (see Tap Tussle).

Thanks to the guest tasters: Geoff, Dave, Jeanne, Colin, Bekky, Philippe, Chris, Francesca and the one and only Beerdouche.

Rock Bottom Portland
Hop Harvest
ABV ?%

Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Mediocre +

Rock Bottom Bellevue
Fresh Hop Pale Ale
ABV ?%

Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Fantastic

Winner by unanimous decision: Bellevue.

Fresh Hop Tap Tussle — Snipes Mountain Brewing

Snipes Mountain
Harvest Fresh Hop Pale Ale
ABV 5.5%

Color: Hazy, golden yellow.
Aroma: Huge sweet grapefruit and bit of cheese rind funk.
Flavor: Grassy, sweet and citrusy.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Hoppy
Finish: Grassy fading to nice, mellow lingering bitterness.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Fantastic

Snipes Mountain
Zombie, The Fresh Hop Killer
ABV 7.5%

Color: Clear orange with a little brown.
Aroma: Very subtle aroma of citrus hops (perhaps due to lack of carbonation).
Flavor: Sweet grapefruit juice.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Hoppy.
Finish: Bitter grapefruit.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Good-

Snipes Mountain
2Fresh Double IPA
ABV 8.3%

Color: Ruby brown.
Aroma: Sweet and juicy hop candy.
Flavor: Rich, grassy with prominent bitterness (like bitter greens).
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Hoppy.
Finish: Big, bitter and long-lasting.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Good

Winner by unanimous decision: Harvest.
Fresh Hop season is here! In honor of this special time of year, we interrupt your regularly scheduled Bottle Battle for an old-fashioned, knock-down, drag-out Tap Tussle featuring three beers that all feature loads of fresh hops. The battle was conducted at the north Seattle beer mecca, Naked City Brewery and Taphouse during a special event promoting the beers of Snipes Mountain Brewery from Sunnyside, Washington.

So what's with this "Fresh Hop" stuff? Well, it's basically beer made with hops fresh off the vine rather than hops that have been dried. Brewers go to great lengths to get these fresh hops into their beers as quickly as possible since once they are picked they immediately begin to degrade and lose their precious hop essence. It's a great way to celebrate the hop harvest and, when made well, these beers have a very distinct flavor that can only come from fresh hops.

The battle was very entertaining. We could definitely detect the green, grassy notes of fresh hops in all of the beers, but it was most prominent in the Harvest Pale which had an aroma that just jumped out of the glass and assaulted us with hoppy goodness. Unfortunately, the carbonation in the Zombie was, ahem, dead, which may have been the reason it didn't have much aroma. And the 2Fresh was good, but the fresh hop flavors were masked a bit by the big, malty sweetness. So, if you're looking for a pure, clean, delicious expression of fresh hops you should definitely seek out the Snipes Mountain Harvest Fresh Hop Pale. It was a dominant and unstoppable force in this inaugural Tap Tussle.

Imperial Red Ales — Port Brewing vs. Yakima Craft Brewing

Port Brewing Shark Attack
Double Red Ale
ABV 9%

Color: Hazy orangish brown.
Aroma: Burnt brown sugar, strong medicinal notes.
Flavor: Thick, intense blast of floral honey and burnt molasses.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Malty
Finish: Sweet and intense metallic bitterness.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Bad

Yakima Craft Brewing
Imperial Red
ABV 6.6%

Color: Clear brownish ruby red.
Aroma: Sweet roasted malts.
Flavor: Sweet, malty, molasses and honey.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Malty
Finish: Same as flavor with a touch of bitterness.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Mediocre

Winner by unanimous decision: Yakima Craft Brewing.
In perhaps the upset of the year, the young, upstart Yakima Craft Brewing stunned the established veteran, Port Brewing.

Regular readers might note that we have tried a lot of red ales thus far. We do admit to being intrigued by red ales, since stylistically they can run the gamut from hop bombs to malt monsters. In our experience, west coast red ales tend to fall on the hoppier side, but that was not the case with these two. As a matter of fact, we felt that both of these beers definitely fell more on the sweet and malty side of beer styles and we weren't really impressed by either of them.

The Yakima Imperial Red had a much nicer red hue which was the first blow to the murky brown looking Shark Attack. Neither beer had a great aroma, but the Shark Attack was just plain nasty — somewhere between burnt sugar and burnt tires. So, with the aroma, the Yakima Imperial won not because it was great, but because it was inoffensive. This same scenario was played out in the flavor and the finish as well, with the Shark Attack being way out of balance and the Yakima being somewhat pedestrian, but certainly a lot better than Port Brewing's offering.

Honestly, we can't recommend either beer. We'll give the Yakima Craft Brewing company a pass since they are newer to the scene and perhaps finding their legs. As for the Port, they should know better. Their 9% monster gains the distinction of being our first non-tainted beer to be rated "Bad." Intense bitterness coupled with intense maltiness turned out to be intensely off-putting.