What I'll Be Drinking on Inauguration Day

Despite being a professional political reporter, I try to keep politics off of this blog and welcome beer lovers of all persuasions. But I'll be blunt about my leanings in this post: I think the past eight years have been a nightmare.

On Tuesday, I'll be celebrating, and I'll be doing it with the brew pictured to the right: Avery's Ale to the Chief.

The bottle label says:

"Ale to the Chief! We the Brewers of Avery Brewing Company, in order to form a more perfect ale, require new leadership that can liberate us from our quagmires in foreign lands; embrace environmentally sound energy alternatives to imported oil; heal our ailing healthcare system; free us from tyrannical debt and resurrect the collapsing dollar. We hereby pledge to provide him with an ample amount of our Presidential Pale Ale to support in the struggle for the aforementioned goals! Hail to the New Chief!"

And thanks to the Flying Saucer, I'll be drinking it from this:

Avery's The Kaiser Imperial Oktoberfest Lager

So I was thinking tonight might be when I get around to reviewing the Rahr & Sons IPA, but then M'Lady whipped up a magnificent falltime dinner of roasted chicken, brussel sprouts, fall squash baked with apples, brown sugar, and raisins, and homemade cranberry sauce (the real thing, not the gelatinous stuff still in the shape of a can). So nothing but an Oktoberfest would be appropriate.

Quite naturally, I've been on an Oktoberfest kick lately, so I figured this would be a simple matter of going out to the beer fridge, but woe, despite a very full fridge, the Oktoberfest stocks had gotten low. I looked in this corner and that to no avail, and began to despair, but then hallelujah, I found a beer I had bought about a month ago and then forgotten about: Avery's The Kaiser Imperial Oktoberfest Lager.

It was a bit more intense than what I sought in a simple dinnertime beer, but nothing else would do. It will surprise no one who has tried Avery's products that it is fantastic. It's like an Oktoberfest on steroids: 9.37% alcohol — and you can really taste it — with a generous dose of malt and a little more bitterness than I expect from this style. And yet, it was also really sweet, as well. I think that's because of the alcohol. If you're into really strong beers, this is a winner from the first moment it hits your tongue, through the entry into the mouth, and on into the sweet aftertaste. It really helped complete the fall experience brought on by the meal and the fading golden light of the first daylight savings time evening, which is about to dissolve into a crisp, cool night.

This isn't a beer that lends itself to mass drinking (if you were served one of these at your local oompah music festival, you'd be in for an early end to your party), but you really must have at least one of these to make your autumn complete.

A Sensible Solution

The world could use more stories like this:

I went into Grape Vine Market yesterday looking for something Belgian-y, and of course they had a big stack of such right up front. And the very first thing I laid eyes on bore the odd name of Collaboration Not Litigation Ale. The short version of the story is this: Avery Brewing Co. had a Belgian-style beer named Salvation Ale. Russian River Brewing also had a Belgian named Salvation. But rather than go at each other with lawyers, the brewmasters sat down together and decided to combine the beers! That's right, they mixed the two together in the same bottle.

I bought one, but then decided I'd better taste the original Salvations to have a point of comparison (hey, it's important to do these things right). Unfortunately, Russian River doesn't distribute to Texas, but Avery does. Their Salvation is a delicious golden ale, crisp and clean and exactly what I like in Belgian beer.

So obviously the Russian River Salvation is a brown ale, because the combined product is much darker. As is usual for my taste in Belgians, I preferred the golden straight up, but nonetheless, the mixed Collaboration was still might tasty, especially after I let it warm up a bit. Both are highly recommended, and if I ever get out to California again, I'll definitely sample the Russian River.

And since it taste so good, go buy a bottle and reward these guys for having the good sense to work together instead of whipping out the lawyers. Microbrewers need to stick together.