Thanksgiving Day Fun

I'm not known for my superb cooking skills, so when it came time for Thanksgiving dinner with my family, I didn't have much to offer. Most people brought over something: turkey, pumpkin pie, broccoli casserole...the typical traditional dishes. I decided my contribution for Thanksgiving would be to bring beer. I picked out six different varieties from my refrigerator and brought them along to have a beer tasting with the family. My grandfather warned everyone to be careful, or we could end up like that one lady who recently ran over five people. I assured him that six beers split between seven people was hardly going to cause anyone to unknowingly plow over five people, much less hit a curb.

We started out with Pilsner Urquell. This beer was created in 1842 and holds historical significance because it is the world's first golden colored lager. Up until this point all beers were dark and cloudy. The brewery was founded in Pilsen, Bohemia, currently the Czech Republic. This style of beer is the basis of all the pilsner style beers, but it is the true original. There's a lot to be said about Pilsner Urquell, but for the sake of a shorter blog, I'll stop with that. The website is worth checking out if you're interested in learning more. The beer had a lot of fizz, almost like a champagne. It went down very smooth, but left a bitter aftertaste that most people found unpleasant. Generally I like this beer, but it tastes better on tap than in a bottle.

Next we tried Klaster Winter Lager, another one from the Czech Republic. The label on this bottle contains different shades of sky and baby blue which I found aesthetically pleasing. It had a light golden yellow color, moderate carbonation, and a medium body. The flavor was clean and malty, a bit sweet with a hint of honey. At 5.8% alcohol, it was pretty hearty for a lager. Most everyone liked this beer, and agreed that we would enjoy drinking it again.

Following the Klaster, we sampled Choc, the handcrafted Oklahoma original. Named after the Choctaw Nation, this brewery has been open in Krebs since 1925. Choc is brewed in small batches using "beer-perfect Krebs water," Liberty and Cascade hops, malted barley and wheat. It's an unfiltered American wheat, with a cloudy pale yellow appearance. It had an overly fizzy taste on the tongue and it didn't have a strong wheat flavor. Overall, we found it to be "not bad."

Next came the Sam Adams Cherry Wheat. This was one of the beers we had on special at McNellies this month "while supplies last." Supplies were not abundant, and we've run out. No big disappointment in my opinion. I thought this one to be pretty rancid. It tastes like cough syrup, and brought back terrible childhood memories. My sister, who has been sick, thought it was nice and claimed "it was a good beer for sick people," whatever that means (she was probably on medication). My dad countered, "It's a good beer for people who want to get sick." The aroma wasn't bad, but the taste was sour and pretty awful. Most of us decided we didn't like it.

I thought the Cherry Wheat was going to be the worst beer until we cracked open the Christian Moerlein Hefeweizen. This is a German style beer brewed in Cincinatti, Ohio. Before I had a chance to take a sip of mine, I heard the words "Bad" "Tart" "Yucky" "Eww" and "Gross," all from different participants. It was definitely the worst beer we tried. It had a strange flavor; very yeasty, to the point where someone said it tasted like cake. Three week old moldy cake. Although it was dreadful, I wouldn't write it off completely because I have a feeling the bottle was expired.

Lastly, we tasted the Pete's Wicked Ale. This is a reddish brown brew from Utica, New York. It had a smooth and luscious character with a good balance of malts and hops. It was very drinkable, with a hint of roasted caramel. There was no bitterness or strange aftertaste like some of the other ones we tried. I was glad to have this taste in my mouth for our final beer. Collectively, we rated this one as our favorite.

In the spirit of the holiday, I would like to give thanks to my attentive tasting crew.