Better Beer Blog

For as many times as I’ve written about my homebrews, I have never review any of my beers on this site. Part of me thinks that I can’t be objective. I don’t necessarily think that I’ll rate myself undeservedly high, it’s the opposite, in fact. I think I just might be more strict when judging my own beers that that of others. That being said, I had it all lined up where I’d review both my Märzen and my Altbier but something happened on the way to the homebrew store. Well, not on the way, more like, at the homebrew store.

I was purchasing ingredients for next home brew when Rich, the owner of Beer and Winemakers of America, told me about the upcoming Bay Area Brew Off (BABO) homebrew competition held by the Draught Board homebrew club. On a whim, I dropped off my two entries.

It seemed to take forever but the BABO winners were finally posted on the Draught Board website. Draught Board President Roger St. Denis sent an email out to all the participant earlier in the week but I hesitated posting how well I did until Draught Board updated their website as well.

Now that they’re up, I can proudly say that my Märzen took 3rd place in the Amber Lager category while my Altbier took 1st in the Amber Hybrids category!!! Now I can add “Award Winning Homebrewer” to my short list of achievements, ha, ha, ha! Then again, I probably shouldn’t toot my horn too much as not only did my Märzen had an average score of 21 points (Misses the mark on style and/or minor flaws), there were (it would seem) only 4 entrants into the category. My Altbier fared better scoring an average of 30.2 points (Generally within style parameters, some minor flaws) with also 4 entrants in the category. It was an ugly win but a win nonetheless.

Jon from Beer Obsessed once emailed me to say that should I place, I would be bitten by the homebrew competition bug. I would be lying if i didn’t say I am more inclined to enter more of my beers into competition. On one hand, I would’ve been happy just to place but for one of my beers to take 1st in a category is pretty good. On the other, when you start at the top, it’s a long way down. Granted, I didn’t win BOS (Best of Show) but it’s a good feeling nonetheless.

It validates to me that I am a decent homebrewer. It also raises a valid question, do I brew for myself (as I have been) or do I brew for competitions? One would think that both are the same thing but in reality, it’s not, it’s a completely different mindset. For now I think I’ll continue to brew for myself and as competitions come up, I’ll send in whatever I have on tap at the time.

I had initially bought this beer late in the fall season to try and take advantage of the Oktoberfest beers that were in the store at the time. As much as I like BevMo for having such a wide variety of beers, I am also worried on how they handle their beers. Spaten likes to bottle their beers in green bottles, which you may or may not know, isn’t very optimal for beer storage. Luckily this style of beer isn’t very hoppy so it should hold up well.

Appearance: Caramel brown color, bright. Light tan head approximatey 1/2″ thick.

Smell: Sweet smelling, on the malty side. It could be me but there’s almost a honey sweetness to the aroma as well. Hop aroma was faint to almost unnoticeable. Samboun says, “Not bad, not bitter, smells sweet, kind of like apple cider.”

Taste: Just like the taste, this beer has a malty sweetness to it with what seems to be honey overtones. Samboun says, “Very light hops, don’t really taste any. Clean taste, it doesn’t have a bitter aftertaste.”

Mouthfeel: The wife and I both agree that this beer is light on the palette. It’s very clean, with low carbonation.

Drinkability: This beer has a good level of drinkability. It’s low carbonation means you won’t get bloated while the clean taste makes this one go down easy. If you’re not into bitter beers at all, this is a style that you might find agreeable. I could see myself sessioning these beers for an evening.

Food: A very tradition food pairing for this beer would be with bratwurst and saurkraut. Samboun suggests that seafood (salmon sashimi) would go well with this beer. Leafy green salads with toasted walnuts also seem to make a good pairing with this beer.

Overall: A good drinking beer with a malty, yet clean taste worth picking up.