Thomas Hooker Brewery - Octoberfest Lager
Purchased From: Harvest Fine Wines and Spirits
Serving Type: 12 oz. bottle, poured into a Hooker pint glass
Hooker is a local (to me) brewing operation just a few miles from where I live. The brewery is a great visit, I’ve been several times, and plan to more in the future. So, I’ll do my best not to allow local pride to color my thoughts on the beer. Although, I’ve heard that the Octoberfest may actually be contract brewed elsewhere. I’ll look into this in coming weeks.
What little there was on the silky white head on the beer faded fast, after a pretty rough pour. The body has a glowing copper to burnt orange hue and the beer has a great full mouth-feel, without much visible carbonation. Hooker pulls of the Märzen style quite well. The beer has a strong toasted malt character, with light bittering and hops aroma. The combination makes for a well-balanced medium finish. The beer is solid, and it’s local.
While the taste and carbonation held up well to what I expected and what I remember from last season, the bottle was stamped on its face with what seems to be a date “09.08.10”. Not overly concerning, but perhaps this bottle, though just purchased at the start of the Oktoberfest season, may actually have been from last year. The body of the beer had a slight haze, compared to an expected degree of clarity and there was a bit of crust on the bottle head, just under the cap. I cannot say definitively that the date is a ‘drink before’ marker, but it does not seem that it could be a brewed, or bottled on, date, because, as of the sampling of the beer, it’s only September 5, 2010. Unless, of course, they’re following the European date convention.
As I mentioned, I am not concerned about the date, as I enjoyed the German-styled lager. I do, however, plan to follow up on the issue by trying another, from a different case, in the coming weeks. Perhaps I will visit the brewery and clear the air on the contract brew rumor I heard.
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