Well, the house is quiet now, and relatively clean.

For the last three days I have hung out with my closest and oldest friends. Since we all live hundreds of miles away from each other, it is little wonder that this only an annual event. From Friday afternoon until Monday morning we have hung out, talked, played video games, ate lots of unhealthy food, went to the brew pub to watch the Giants beat the Redskins, stayed up way too late, got up way too early, and through it all enjoyed lots of different beers.

Below is a list of the beers we sampled. They’re not listed in any particular order and don’t include the samplers we had at Brewer’s Alley.

• Unibroue La Fin Du Monde
• Young’s Luxury Double Chocolate Stout
• Saranac Octoberfest
• Mendocino White Hawk IPA
• Paulaner Octoberfest
• Lagunitas Censored Rich Copper Ale
• Flying Dog Classic Pale Ale
• Boulder Beer Company Hazed and Infused
• Mendocino Black Hawk Stout
• Brooklyn Brewery Oktoberfest
• Samuel Smith’s Imperial Stout
• Heavy Seas Small Craft Warning Über Pils
• Boulder Beer Company Planet Porter
• Mendocino Red Tail Ale
• Andersen Valley Brewing Company Poleeko Gold Pale Ale
• Red Hook Late Harvest Autumn Ale
• Tröegs Oatmeal Stout
• Mendocino Eye of the Hawk
• Magic Hat Jinx
• Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA
• Stella Artois
• Wexford’s Irish Cream Ale
• Dogfish Head Punkin Ale
• Wychwood Hobgoblin Dark English Ale
• Guinness Stout
• Fuller’s London Porter
• Samuel Adams Octoberfest

As you can see, we try for a variety of styles from a variety of brewers. We probably overdid it a bit this year, but, again, we only do this once a year and we had a lot of beer left over. The Double Chocolate Stout was probably the surprise of the weekend. Smooth as silk and surprised all of us. I didn’t think much of the Black Hawk Stout—I don’t think stouts should be “smoky”. The other guys may have had one or two others that they didn’t like, but for the most part none of them disappointed.

Of course, our motto is: “While life is not about beer, beer is all about life.” The real appeal is being able to get together and leave life’s responsibilities (i.e., wives, children, jobs) behind for a couple of days. Put to it, we’d rather have the weekend without beer than beer without the weekend. That we’re able to have both is what makes life worth living.

Ron, Max, Don: Thanks guys.

In my search for Oktoberfest beers, I came across this Late Harvest Ale from Red Hook. I couldn’t find a description of it and I thought it might be something akin to the Oktoberfest style.

Well, it is not, but it sure is great! I’m not sure what style you would call this beer, but it has a great hop aroma and hop bite. It is copper much like any Oktoberfest but, again, between the hops and this nice toasted taste, it is not an Oktoberfest style. (It is not a lager, either) If I had to put it in a category, I would just go with “pale ale.”

I like to have a beer on hand that can go with just about anything, anytime. The Harvest Ale does just that. Note that Red Hook only makes this for the east coast, so you may be out of luck if you live elsewhere.

Red Hook makes many great beers, including one of my favorite ESB’s.