Quick Sips: Bell's Oberon Ale

Bell's Oberon Ale is something of a standard for beer lovers in the middle United States. In some ways, it's the flagship brew of this fantastic Michigan brewery.

Oberon is a wheat beer -- very traditional style during the summer -- with a clean taste and smooth-drinking character. It's often served with a slice of orange, and it's easy to see why. The citrus goes well with it. But even on its own (which is how I had it this most recent time) this is a crisp, refreshing summer beer that goes down easy but still offers good taste.

It's far from the best wheat out there, but it drinks so nice you'll want to go back for seconds (and thirds) on a hit summer day. Worth picking up if you see it.

Weyerbacher brews a heretical stout

Weyerbacher is a fantastic brewery out of Pennsylvania that really deserves more attention, especially since they've been crafting exceptional beers for 16 years now. They do some fine year-round beers, the Merry Monks being my favorite, and also do a large number of small-batch, limited release and seasonal beers.

Among them is Heresy, which is their Old Heathen imperial stout aged in Kentucky bourbon barrels.

And it's a pretty nice one. Just look at that tasty pour! The rich, foamy head so thick you can flat a cap on it!

Thing is, for being a pricier version of their standard issue imperial stout, the oak aging didn't do much for this brew. It has a slightly woody nose with a touch of bourbon, but you really have to be looking for it. Most of this is just nice imperial stout with strong chocolate taste from the roasted malt. Not that there is anything wrong with that! It's a good beer with a great roasty flavor, just didn't seem to benefit much from the barrel aging (which is all the rage these days among American craft brewers).

Comes in at 8% alcohol, but it's a very smooth 8%. You'd never known it was a more potent than usual brew. I've seen reviews that said the alcohol taste was kind of hot, but not in my experience. Maybe it's because I've had it for a while and let the alcohol mellow. (The bottle was about seven months old, stored at room temperature.)

All in all I'd say the Heresy is worth a look, but if you balk at the price consider a single bottle rather than the four-pack.

Fill up your beer jug while you fill your gas tank?

So imagine you roll into the gas station to fill up the tank. While you're there you also get a half-gallon jug filled with some local craft beer. You then drive away, content that your car will keep going and you'll have a fat jug of beer ready once you get where you're going. This sounds like some sort of bizarre fantasy land dreamed up by someone who has had three too many, doesn't it?

Well, it looks like some Sunoco stations in west New York are now filling growlers with craft beer. That's right. Stop in to get gas, and get a growler fill while you're there.

Maybe I find this concept mind-boggling because I'm from New Jersey, where in their infinite wisdom lawmakers have decided that allowing convenience stores to sell bottles of beer to adults is far, far too dangerous to consider. Hell, they don't even let us pump our own gas.

Anyway, from the story:

"I don't think people expect to see beer taps at a gas station," said Kim Wilson, sales shift leader at the Tonawanda Sunoco on Niagara Falls Boulevard. "People come in and say, 'Woah! When did that happen?' They are really excited."

I bet they are! Growlers are a great way to bring fresh draft beer home with you. Any place offering growler fills probably has great beer on tap, too, making them an especially attractive choice for the person who wants to enjoy great draft beer in the comfort of their own home.

So this is a pretty cool idea. I wonder if it will catch on? I'm sure some will have safety concerns -- since they're meant to be reused, most growlers are only sealed with some tape or a sticker -- but overall anything that spreads top notch craft beer is okay in my book.

Going big with Westmalle Trappist ale

Trappist beers sure do get a lot of respect. Beers like Chimey and Rochefort are some of the most highly regarded in the world. Among the rare few beers that can call themselves Trappist beers is Westmalle Abbey and their famous Westmalle Tripel. It may look like an approachable beverage (click the photo at left for a larger version), but make no mistake, this is a BIG BEER.

Tripels (sometimes spelled "trippel") are an acquired taste, and this one is no exception. Looks light and fluffy and drinkable, but one gulp and you realize it's a sipper.

A common misconception with beer is that color tells you how "heavy" it will be. People think dark beer = thick beer or heavy beer, but that just isn't the case. For example, Guinness is a low-alcohol beer with about the same calories and alcohol content as Miller Lite, Bud Light, etc. So while Westmalle Tripel looks light, it drinks like a lead weight, with lots of body and a robust 9.5% ABV alcohol content.

The taste is sweet but not cloyingly so, a touch spicy but not in your face. The beer lacks all the dark fruit flavors of Belgian darks, but does have lighter fruits in the aroma. They're especially noticeable as you let the beer ease into warmer temperatures. Dominant is a "bready," almost pastry-like taste. The beer has very active carbonation -- all that head in the photo was generated with a gentle pour -- and foams up quite a bit in your mouth. I drank this while eating a pasta dish with a mild cheese and the beer completely overpowered the food despite a very clean taste.

Excellent beer, but you know what? I'm going to piss off the hardcore beer folks when I say I like American tripels better than this one. It's sacrilege, I know, but the aggressive hopping of beers like Flying Fish's Exit 4 are more appealing to me, adding balance to the weight of a big beverage like this. They're Americanized, highly hopped, very spicy, robust, full of flavor. And, for me, more desirable.

No, you're not supposed to say that about one of the most praised beers in the world -- BeerAdvocate rates it an A-, a notch over the B+ for Exit 4 -- but there it is.

Which isn't to say you shouldn't give it a try if you spot one and enjoy Belgian styles. It'll run you about $5 to $6 for the bottle, but the cost of entry is worth it because you'll experience a heady, challenging beer unlike most you'd normally be drinking.

100 years ago today, the violent activist who helped kickstart Prohibition died

Carrie Nation was, shall we say, an exuberant woman. She was a key figure in the Temperance Movement, which paved the way for one of the most idiotic laws in American history, the Volstead Act. With it came Prohibition -- along with murder, organized crime, corruption, and other fun pastimes.

Mrs. Nation wasn't merely against alcohol. She believed in violent protests. She was known for raiding bars with a hatchet, leading groups of women inside to smash the place to pieces. That's right, a hatch-wielding old lady who roved the country chopping up taverns because damnit, people shouldn't drink. Surely she was a joy of a woman.

Today, 100 years ago, she keeled over before having a chance to see her dreams of prohibition become reality.

How sad.