Beers in Review: With two holiday-appropriate beers
With St. Patrick's Day just passed, and the big festival held here in Columbia yesterday, some of today's beers are still themed to the holiday, including the longtime Irish standard.
Leading off with a beer released by the local Conquest Brewing in honor of the holiday and the annual festival held in Columbia. Ol' Ossifer is a very low ABV (just 3.7%, lower than Budweiser or Bud Light) amber ale obviously intended to be able to drink all day during the St. Pat's festival. It pours a gold to reddish color, and didn't have a lot of body for me, though I may have been influenced by past beers I drank that night. Interestingly, the first note was some hops, with included floral and piney notes for me. This eventually leads to grainy, biscuity notes towards the end, along with maybe something a little smoky, but I again wonder if my palate was influenced to misinterpret a toasty malt note or something.
Next up is the St. Patrick's Day standard: Guinness Draught Stout. Now, in line with our disclaimer, I must mention that this beer was provided at no cost as a result of one being poured in error at a local watering hole. At this point, the beer either would have been given away or dumped. So, that was a free beer for me. Guinness is a pretty straight-forward stout with pretty strong flavors. They include primarily roasted malt. I also got some hints of coffee, and some very feint chocolate notes. This beer came from a nitrogen tap, just like the Murphy's Stout from this week's video review, so the beer was very smooth and creamy when drinking.
Finally, one of Sierra Nevada's newest offerings: Otra Vez gose. Flavors include sweet grapefruit and pear, leading into an increased sourness and some mild, but not overpowering, saltiness. The sourness continues to linger, turning into a tingly feeling on the tongue that continues after drinking. Putting it all together, with the specific flavors and fairly mild saltiness, this gose almost plays like a grapefruit soda instead of a beer. It's a very different year-round offering from Sierra Nevada, but one that could do well as a summer beer.