Field Trip: Capitol City Brewing Oktoberfest 2013

Even wine and beer bloggers need sunshine and fresh air! As I discover local beer and wine events, I hope to have an ongoing series where I take my blog on the road and review the various offerings. In the first iteration of the Field Trip series, I'm going to review my time at the 2013 Capitol City Brewing Co's Oktoberfest, held in Shirlington, VA.

As you walk in to the festival. I don't know that guy.

Held in the Shirlington Village shopping area, this event features over 50 different beers on tap and lots of tasty food. When you get there, you pay $25 to get in, which includes a neat little Capitol City tasting glass (which you keep) and a bunch of tickets worth one drink. You can also buy more tickets if you want, which I of course did. I went along with beer brewer friends Jonathan and Jillian Roberts, whom you may know as the geniuses behind the Ministry of Beer.

The festival. It was packed! Yes, there were quite a few people in traditional German dress.

I figured that I'd like to review most beers I had - 11 total. But rather than give each sample a full-throated review (which would take hours to write up and I'd also be inundating your inbox with updates) I'm going to just give a couple sentences each along with some pictures. This way, you get the important points of the beer and my recommendations. I also made it a point to NOT try any beer I had already had - I don't think I had a single beer yesterday I'd had before, so it was all new to me. No research, no repeated tastings, no discussion. Just quick, first impressions. On to the beer!

#1. Vintage 50 - Short Stack Summer Bitter

Our first stop on this beer-stravaganza was Vintage 50's Short Stack summer bitter. As you can tell by the sign, it's a 4.3% ABV summer bitter ale. Jon and I both had never had it, so we decided to give it a whirl. This was rather tasty! It was light, wheaty, with a tinge of sour bitter taste...that finished off with a lingering aftertaste of herbs and cloves. It was oddly refreshing, but I don't really dig that sour taste enough to seek this out in any quantity. Grade: B+

#2. D.G. Yuengling & Sons - Oktoberfest

Ah, Yuengling. A staple of my college days, Yuengling makes a pretty good brew for the price. It's not my favorite, but isn't bad if you just want a cold beer to enjoy and not think about it. I've had their Black & Tan (great), their original lager (good) and their Lord Chesterfield seasonal (OK.) I've never had their Oktoberfest before, so I decided to give it a shot. Nice color on the beer. It tastes pretty good - wheaty, crisp, but with a strong lager taste. It tastes suspiciously like their lager, so that leads me to believe this beer wasn't brewed from scratch but rather is simply a spiced version of their regular lager. You can probably find better for the price, but certainly don't turn it down if offered. Grade: C+

#3. Brewery Ommegang  - Rare Vos

Brewery Ommegang makes good stuff. Much of what they brew is centered on the Belgian tradition. Their Three Philosophers was just superb, as you may recall from when I reviewed it last year. I've also had a few of their other creations over the years, and have always been impressed. So Jon, Jill and I came across the Ommegang tent and we simply had to try the Rare Vos - a Belgian-style amber. As you can see, it's a hazy orange color. The taste was full, malty, with notes of fruit. The aftertaste was one of muted apples, spices, with a little kick of acidic tastes and alcohol. I really liked this - I've seen it at the store in 22 oz bombers, so I might seek it out again. I also urge any of you not into beer to give this a spin - it's really good. Grade: A-

#4. Uinta Brewing Co. - Hop Notch

Salt Lake City-based Uinta has been getting a lot of attention here at Sip and Puff. I reviewed their Baba Black Lager a month or so ago, and as part of the October Pumpkin Showcase, I'm going to be reviewing their Punkn (which was on tap here at Shirlington.) Since I have had Punkn and really liked it, I decided to try their other offering - the Hop Notch IPA. It was really good! It had just the right amount of hops - full flavored, fruity, but not burnt or overly bitter. There was lots of bubble in this beer but it wasn't over the top. I found this was a delicious example of a perfect IPA. If you like IPAs, give this a shot! Grade: A

#5. Peak Organic - Fall Summit

I haven't had too much experience with Peak Organic. I reviewed their Maple Collaboration last year and enjoyed it. So I saw they were at the festival, so I figured I'd see what they had to offer. Today's offering was their Fall Summit, an 5.7% ABV American amber ale. It poured nicely, with a clear amber color. The beer was smooth, crisp, and ... flavorless. It had no taste whatsoever, except for a slight bitter tinge at the end. It was so strange - I've never had a beer that tasted like nothing before. Well, at least now I know! Grade: D (only because it wasn't aggressively bad, just flavorless.)

#6. Three Notch'd Brewing Co. - Hansel and Kettle

I'd never heard of Three Notch'd before. It's a Charlottesville, VA-based brewery with quite a few offerings at Shirlington. One that immediately stood out to me was their Hansel and Kettle Imperial Oktoberfest. Not one to pass up an 8.0% ABV oktobefest, I had them pour me one. It's brewed with similar malts as Port City's Oktoberfest, so I had a hunch this would be good. Look at that nice color! The taste was deep, malty, with nice polished spices and a warm aftertaste of sweet chocolate. This was really good! I may take a look for it if it's sold in stores. Grade: A

#7. Old Dominion - Spiced Harvest

Old Dominion is a favorite of Jon's. I have tried their Oak Barrel Stout and thought it was pretty good. Their Spiced Harvest is apparently a yam beer with wheat and spices brewed just for 2013. So, naturally, Jon and I had to give it a shot (Jill, who accompanied us, was driving so she wasn't drinking.)

There were some heavy spicy malts in here. Nice tastes of cherries and wheat with an allspice finish. Pretty good! I'd definitely try again, perhaps if they have a six-pack out there. Grade: A

#8. Port City - Derecho Common

Port City should be familiar to anyone who read my last blog post, where I reviewed their Oktoberfest. Naturally Port City was at this event, since their brewery is probably no more than a mile or two from the festival! They had a new beer on tap, their Derecho Common.

The Derecho Common has an interesting history. Back when the big derecho storm hit DC last year, Port City was brewing its beer and was afraid that if the storm hit, their beer might be in jeopardy. If the power goes out during the brewing process, it could seriously affect the beer. Well, the power DID go out, but 5 out of their 6 tanks were OK. The other tank fermented at a higher temperature, and they were able to churn out some of this new, steam-brewed beer - the Derecho Common.

I enjoyed it very much. The hazy yellow color was a good indicator of the hoppy, bright, slightly citrus taste. It had a bubbles to it, which I normally do not like but I think was appropriate for this beer. It was a little sour, which doesn't usually do it for me, but I overlooked that in favor of the nice hoppy/citrus taste. I'm not sure if you can get this in bottles - something tells me it's just on tap - but Port City's website says it's available in a lot of DC bars. Also, they have it on tap if you go to the brewery in Alexandria. Grade: A-

#9. Lancaster Brewing Co. - Oktoberfest

Well, as you might have guessed, there were a lot of Oktoberfest beers here. This is one I'd never tried - from Pennsylvania's Lancaster Brewing Co.

I first heard of Lancaster Brewing Company in college, when I tried Lancaster's phenomenal milk stout. Their Oktoberfest was pretty good, but not as good as the milk stout. I liked the color, liked the aroma of it, and liked the fact the beer was very soft. It had no carbonation, so it was easy to drink. The beer was also remarkably light - refreshing, but light. Pretty solid, good just to drink, but nothing special. Grade: B

#10. Corsendonk - trippel

I like Belgian beers. I like abbey ales. So when I saw they had a Belgian abbey ale on draft, I said, "hey, Jimmy, why don't you try that?" So I did. Bad move.

This beer sucks. I don't know why it tasted the way it did, but I've never had a beer like it. It was bubbly, sour, and had tastes of pine needles, moldy malts, and wheat. It didn't taste like what most people come to expect in this category of beers. It tasted more like amateur mead than beer that allegedly has been brewed since 1390-something. Maybe THIS particular batch has been around that long. It totally was nasty, and I'm surprised that I was even able to finish it (and not pour it down the drain you see in the background of the photo.) Grade: F-

#11. Forge Brew Works - Saison

I'd never heard of Forge before. They seemed to be pretty new and hip, and when I saw they had a saison on tap, I made a beeline. Some of you may recall that I enjoy saisons - Belgian farmhouse ales - very much. This was no exception.

Like most saisons, this was light, foamy, and spicy. The cloudy color is nice, and I definitely got some beer sediment in my glass, which I gobbled up with the beer. One thing I like about saisons is that they're a little sour, which can be kinda cool. Forge made a really smooth and delicious saison, and I think I may investigate more of what this Lorton, VA-based brewery has to offer. Grade: A-

So there you have it - not all, but most of my samples at Oktoberfest 2013. Stay tuned - the rest of October will be focused solely on pumpkin beers. Thanks for reading!