Fall is Here

I know you can't tell from the 98 degrees it was yesterday or the 98 degrees it will presumably be today, but fall is here. At least, the first fall seasonal is here, New Belgium's Hoptober. Summer is my least favorite season for beer so I was quite excited to see the first fall seasonal on the shelf yesterday. Even if I recalled that I didn't really like Hoptober.

I bought it anyway, along with a sixer of Hoss. I'm mainly writing this post so that I remember next year, I really don't like Hoptober. This continues my distaste for New Belgium session beers. I like Skinny Dip and, of course, I love Frambozen and 2 Below is a nice beer to watch football with on a cold Sunday afternoon. But, that's about it for New Belgium.

Hoptober boasts five hops and four different kinds of malt (including rye), yet somehow, delivers no flavor. It reminded me of a lighter colored more watered down Fat Tire. That's as close to a compliment I can come up with for Hoptober. Wait, here's another one, there's no objectionable taste. That's because there's very little taste, it was neither malty nor hoppy, it was like a weak beer or second beer. I now have 5 of these Hoptobers left and I can't think of an occasion where I would want one.

On the bright side, we're almost to Fall when we can walk outside without breaking a sweat and we can drink fall seasonals with some flavor. Just don't drink Hoptober and expect any.