REVIEW: Rhinegeist Franz

So last Friday I looked at an Oktoberfest that's about as traditional as you can get. Today, I'm checking out an Oktoberfest that's at the opposite end of the spectrum. I was taking with Bryant from Rhinegeist a while ago and asked him what they were cooking up in the coming months and he told me to be on the lookout for an Oktoberfest come this time of year. But how do you a brew an Oktoberfest, a beer that is traditionally lagered since March when you've only been open and brewing for a few short months. Well, apparently you stretch the rules a bit. When I grabbed this growler I asked how the beer was fermented since I knew they weren't going the traditional lager route. It turns out that it's brewed with an Scottish ale yeast which, as I was informed, acts sort of like a lager yeast when fermented at lower temperatures. I'm always in favor of bucking style guidelines. Let's see how this one stacks up. To the beer!

REVIEW: Rhinegeist Fiction

Today's post is a bit bittersweet. On the one hand it's awesome. I finally made the trip down to Over the Rhine last night to Rhinegeist for the tapping of their newest rarity, a Belgian style extra pale ale called Fiction. Man, If you haven't been down to Rhinegeist yet, get on it. The place is awesome. Big, open, bright, beautiful architecture, and fabulous beer obviously. It's exactly what I like to see in a brewery. Rhinegeist's brews are currently only available in draft so to get your hands on them you'll have to hit up a bar or head down to the brewery to do so. I highly recommend it, the beers are tremendous. So, today I'm taking a look at Rhingeist's second rarity, Fiction. To the beer!

Bockfest 2012

As I was sitting in Bockfest hall, enjoying a Schoenling Bock with my friend Alex we were discussing how many beer event's we'd been to in the past few months. Pretzelfest,  the Winter Beerfest, and now Bockfest. I've been to more beer related events in the past month than I have in the entire time I've been a beer drinker put together. That's not to say that the craft beer scene in Cincinnati has just recently exploded. Hell, this was the 20th anniversary year of Bockfest. Just that in the past few months I have made an effort to get out to all of these events that I've heard about for so long. It's been a hell of a lot of fun. Bockfest was no exception.

Pretzelfest 2012

This past weekend I headed down to Pretzelfest in Over the Rhine with my fellow beer nerds Alex and Grant. Pretzelfest is a fundraising event for Bockfest which comes in early March, which I am now extremely excited for...