Berkshire Brewing Oktoberfest Lager

Berkshire Brewing Oktoberfest Lager (2012)

Autumn Seasonal (Limited Release).

22 fl. oz. / $4.39 USD / 6.8 ABV??

About: "Aged for months prior to release, this Marzen-style lager is brewed using German hops and yeasts, true to tradition. Its orange-amber hue reminds us of the fall foliage that accompanies the season, and its elegant and complex malt structure produces a smooth, drinkable brew. It finishes with hints of spice and a subtle hop flavor, just enough to entice you to have another."

Thoughts: BBC Oktoberfest poured a deep and hazy honey orange color with abundant carbonation and a large fluffy head that eventually died down to a half inch thick slightly yellowed top that stuck around.

It's got a very distinct and spicy scent to it. Noble hops and yeast are prominent, as it smells a bit like a German Pilsner, but there's also a thick haze from those heavy malts that are very rich and even a little sweet. It's a little toasty, and a bit hard to describe the dimensions - almost like a fruity bread but not really, but it's very robust.

Taste is a severe blast of malts that flood around the tongue. Like a peppery semi-cooked sourdough bread. There's a ton of spice in here and flavor bursts all over the place. Little bits of leafy and grassy hops pop and tingle after the swallow and breath in. Somewhat chalky after a short while, but the aftertaste is very clean.

This beer is smooth as hell. Little heavy, and even pretty frothy... but it goes down smooth.

After a while this one is just a tad too sour. Mix that with the extreme peppery aspect of it and it's pretty rough around the edges. The hops gather and linger a bit around the end of the bottle. Still, it's got a pleasant (if somewhat overwhelming) taste, and as I said the finish is clean. I'd say try it.

Berkshire Raspberry Barleywine Style Ale

Berkshire Brewing Raspberry Barleywine Style Ale (2012)

Seasonal Release (February)

22 fl. oz. / $5.99 USD / 9% ABV

About: "This special ale is inviting with its ruby hued appearance from the generous use of half a pound per gallon of fresh raspberries from a local farm only a few miles from the brewery.  Luscious malts and a balanced hop bitterness support the rich sweet/tart character of the fruit.  This brew is dangerously drinkable, challenging the notion of what a “fruit beer” is. Available each year in February, in time for Valentine’s Day." Awwww...

Thoughts: True to its name, this brew poured a raspberry red color straight out of the bottle. Got some pretty good head retention. This beer is has a slight cloudiness to it. 

This smells great. Very sweet, those raspberries come out on top and there's almost like a silky malt flow in the undercurrent. I myself am a bit perplexed as to why my brain went to silky as a way to describe a scent, but it just smells silky smooth. It smells sweet, but not overly sweet and there's a little bit of booze lurking in the shadows. Not getting any hops in the nose.

Taste starts off beautiful with a rich malty tenderness mixed with those sweet raspberries. Very light orange-zest citrus hops come out in the flavor around the middle, and in the end there's a tingling tartness that gently flows in then out. Savor, gulp and repeat. After a while the alcohol brings forth a fog in the mouth that lasts between each sip or chug. The booze seems well hidden, but it's a creeper, slowly wedging its way into the flavors. A gentle bitterness to this beer, I'm going to say, really helps it out from being one of those disgustingly sweet and vomitory semi-brews. This is true Ale, through and through, and it's pretty damn good too.

Mouth feel, and very important, this feels like Beer! It's a bit frothy, medium to heavy, good carbonation, and filling. It doesn't really coat the mouth much in terms of anything sticky, which one may consider with a fruit beer or barleywine/strong ale, but the taste stays long after it's been swallowed.

Alright, poured the rest of the bottle in and now it's a little bit grainy and hazy as all fuck. Berkshire of course produces unfiltered and unpasteurized brews that allow the yeast to remain in the bottle... so always expect a treat when that second glass is in front of you. This beer isn't really complex at all, but I have no problem with the way it presents itself. Especially for a fruit beer, since they're apparently so easy to fuck up.

At the end of the bottle now and it's a bit warm and still tastes good, but it's far better when it's cold. If you're one of those people who think all fruit beers are absolute shite, I'm going to tell you that this one has a 50/50 chance of you enjoying it, and those are the best possible odds in this imaginary scenario. If you give fruit beers a try from time to time and a lot of them suck, which they will, then this one will not. You can trust me. I'm a professional. Though Valentine's Day has far since passed, you can still buy your girl a bottle of this, smash it over her head and say "I love you... when you're unconscious."

Berkshire Sour Mash Whiskey Barrel Aged Saint of Circumstance

Berkshire Saint of Circumstance - Sour Mash Whiskey Barrel Aged IPA (2012)

Limited Release (Brewed Once)

22 fl. oz. / $9.49 USD / 5.7% ABV(?)

About: "Saint of Circumstance Sour Mash Whiskey Barrel Aged IPA married the grassy hop notes of this unique India Pale Ale with the richness of whiskey and oak, creating an enticing brew of exceptional character. The use of a mystery hop means this beer can never be duplicated. Aged 8 months in barrels from a well known Tennessee distillery, we at Berkshire Brewing Company offer up this special brew as a treat to you, our loyal customers. Ad Chris and Gary are fond of saying "Its all about the beer, but the beer is nothing without the people". We hope you enjoy it, and thank you for your support."

Thoughts: Poured a darker amber with a shade of red that settled into a orange hued, near golden haze. The eggshell white head was slow to form and lasted for a short while before frothing out into clusters.

The scent is blisteringly strong and agonizingly beautiful! Very strong splinters of wood from those sour mash whiskey barrels pierce my nose. I'm not really getting much of an IPA scent on this one at all, and I'm wondering if they even completely emptied the barrels before filling it with their beer. Either way, it smells delightful, but if you don't like the smell or taste of any sort of whiskey then you'll positively hate this!

E-Gah... whoo-boy! Straight up sour mash whiskey slap to the face. Any resemblance to an IPA seems to be completely lost in this one. I'm getting a lot of wood around the end and after the swallow once the air hits me again. Then I sucked the froth out of my mustache and cringed as the sour remnants struck their chord once more. Nicely done, Berkshire. They say they use a mystery hop in this so it'll never be duplicated, but I'll be damned if I can't really find much of it here. What I am getting is citrus and light grass, and it's very sour but not like lemons or limes or grapefruit at all, more like orange... but it's funky sour orange like I've never tasted before. Not only is this IPA domniated by the aging process here, but it's really seemingly malt heavy as well. I'm getting a lot of biscuit and a little bit of caramel. The hops, well, they start to come through the more you drink it. But it's an undertone to it all, and that's mainly how citrus and grass likes to hang around on the back of the tongue and taunt.

Mouth feel? Pucker up baby!

The only other beer that I've had that's remotely comparable to this is Innis and Gunn's Whiskey barrel , and even then, they're not even near similar.

This tart as all fuck brew doesn't exactly stand out as any sort of IPA, but as a whiskey aged brew it is decent enough, though totally sour! I can only imagine what it would have tasted like if it were a true IPA with a bit of these flavors. The sour overwhelms everything here. Meh, I finished it.

Berkshire Cabin Fever Ale

Berkshire Cabin Fever Ale (2011)

Brewed and Bottled by Berkshire Brewing Co., in South Deerfield, MA. USA.

Winter Seasonal (Yearly Release)

22 fl. oz. / 3.99 USD / 6.3% ABV

About: "Cabin Fever is a well-balanced, medium bodied ale brewed to sustain you over the long New England winter. Its rich malt profile is reminiscent of an English Pale Ale, while the spicy and fruity hop finish, from German Tettnang hops, gives it a warming and welcoming feeling to bring you back in from the cold. Available from the first week of November through March."

Thoughts: Poured a semi-dark cinnamon amber with a fluffy and frothy eggshell tan head. There are little darkish colorful specks in parts of the head once it settles down which I will assume are the live yeast they leave in their unfiltered and unpasteurized brews.

Smells like a mild chocolate malt at first. Little bit of hops coming through. I let it warm a bit and the scent is still a little hard to get here.

Heavy chocolate malt, little bit of alcoholic coffee and some fruity spicy hops. Dark fruits, Toffee, mild Citrus burn on the finish. This is a strange one! It's not strong at all, yet not horribly bland, but it seems masked. And yet, after warming there is an abundance of flavor and scents. While good tasting and smooth, there's nothing really setting me off about it. Everything is settled down. This is a sweet and syrupy brew with a very good balance of malts and hops.

Light medium, pretty frothy once you get it in your mouth. It's a bit drying. Sticky. Aftertaste is hoppy.

It's a lot better than some of the other Winter Warmers that I've tried, but I'm just going to have to come to terms with the fact that I'm not really a Winter Warmer fan. For the most part they aren't distinct enough for me yet. I of course can determine the quality, which this one has tons of, but maybe I just don't get the concept. They all seem to be lacking some special ingredient to me.