Have you ever heard of goetta? It's pretty much a quintessentially Cincinnati thing. It's a kind of breakfast sausage that has a lot of grain in it to kind of make it more substantial. It's a strange thing to explain but goetta is really great (I once had a hotdog with goetta and maple syrup on it--it was one of the best thing I've ever eaten).


Another quintessentially Cincinnati thing is Christian Moerlein. So, when they announced they were making a goetta-inspired lager, I got pretty excited. I didn't ever anticipate doing a post on the stuff, however, because I never thought I'd find it. Luckily, it was sitting on the shelf at a local bottleshop  yesterday. Thus, here we are: Glier's Goetta, a lager from Christian Moerlein.

I was sold on this brew from its ad campaign. An all-American lager inspired by camping days of yore? Sign me up. Also sign me up for the kickass color scheme on the can. Blues and whites coming together in a nostalgic '50s throwback? Yes, please.

I'd seen this beer at my local Kroger for months and months and months. At $8.99 a sixer, it seemed to be calling out to me. I just never got around to taking the plunge and buying the beer. However, that changed recently. And, well, here we are.


Up for review today is Uinta's Baba Black Lager. This is my first black lager, so, going into the brew, I had no idea what I'd find. If you pull up a chair, open a up a beer, and give me some of your time, I'll tell you exactly what I've found.

I feel like people have been talking about craft lager for a while, saying how it'll be "the next big thing." This is a phrase I've been reading for the last year or so. And, you know what? I'm down for it. I'd much rather each brewery have 50 different lagers than 50 different IPAs. Excuse my hyperbole, but you know exactly what I mean. I'm of the opinion that it's more challenging to make a bad lager than it is to gnarly IPA.


If you've hung out around the blog here long enough you know that I'm no stranger to craft lagers (see lagers here and pilsners here). While it's never been my favorite style, it's one that I thoroughly enjoy and, over the years, I've learned what makes a lager seem great to me. And unbeknownst to you but beknownst to me, I love cheetahs. They're my favorite animals and have held that spot ever since Beast Wars was on TV. So, when Rhinegeist announced that their craft lager, Cheetah, was being canned for year-round availability, I just about lost it.

This is part 3 of my short, 4-part series on Michigan brews. You can take a look at the first part, in which I discussed Atwater's Purple Gang Pilsner, to get a better idea of what this series is. To briefly describe it, I built a four-pack and threw in some beers native to MI that I'd never before had so I could share my first impressions of them with you, my beloved readers.
Short's is one of the most recent breweries to cross my radar. The very first time I encountered it was when I was in Michigan in January and my cousin insisted that my dad and I try their Bellaire Brown, which, he claims, is the best brown ale in the world. Do I agree with him? That's neither here nor there because I'm not talking about Short's Bellaire Brown today (I may in the future, though). No, today I'm discussing the brewing company's Vintage Premium Lager.

If you'll harken back to a few months ago you'll remember that my very first beer review post on John Likes Beer was for a brew offered by Rivertown Brewing Company, specifically their Pumpkin Ale. You may also remember that I thoroughly enjoyed it (I rated it at 8.5/10 and Purrl gave it a whopping 9 hiffs). Today I'm discussing my second beer from them: their Blueberry Lager.

This season, I'd planned for two respites from the heavy, stout-laden maple offerings I'd be drinking. The first was a maple cider. The second is this afternoon's beer: A smoked lager featuring maple syrup. I figured that ought to be light enough, right?

I'm actually excited for today's beer, mainly because I've never before encountered a lager that features maple syrup as an adjunct. But, somehow, Oxbow figured out the trick to pulling it off. I bought this can back in February or March of this year (the canning date stamped on the bottom is January). I'm following the instructions printed on the label: It's been kept cold in my fridge since I brought it home and I'm enjoying it within a year of it's production. 

Now, without further preamble (excepting the bit immediately below where I talk a little about Oxbow), here's Sap Haus.

The sun's out and shining in a bright blue sky. Sure, the temperature's high, but there's a subtle chill in the light breeze. I just got back from a short run and am nearly ready to settle in for the new Rings of Power episode but, before I do, I want to take some time and celebrate the cooling weather with another Oktoberfest.

Up today is Country Boy Brewing's aptly-named Oktoberfest. I've had one of their beers before (Cougar Bait, back in 2017) and was duly impressed. Let's see how their Oktoberfest drinks.

How hot is it where you are? It's 90° on my porch, where I'm sitting while writing this post. It's been in the 90s the last week and it'll be in the 90s for the week to come. Wish those people who said the summer heat would kill the virus were right. Oh well.


Because it's so hot and because of the virus, we won't be seeking out fireworks tonight. I'll do some yard work later on and maybe some dishes. Michelle's working on her taxes. We're just doing an incredibly subdued Independence Day 2020. But, it's not without beer. Case in point: This can of Warped Wing's Trotty Lime beside my laptop.

I've been saving this lager for a day just like today. Upon receiving a sixer of New Glarus beer back in March, I had a vision of enjoying this exact bottle of Two Women on a pleasant, hot June evening. Well, good news for me. The sun's shining. The birds are singing. And, damn, is it hot.


Maybe it's the color of the label. Maybe it's that this beer is a craft lager. Whatever the reason is, the fact remains: I saved this bottle for a day exactly like today. The question is, was I right to do so?

This is an Oktoberfest beer I've been meaning to get to since, oh, about 2016. Back then, my dad sent me a text praising the lager and letting me know that I should try it. For the last two years, I've found it too late for my Oktoberfest season. This year, though, I made sure to seek it out early.


Without further ado, it's time to crack into the can. Here we are: Left Hand's Oktoberfest Märzen Lager.

Have you ever encountered a doppelbock that smells like exactly like the best barrel-aged stouts? Well, that's what today's beer is. I just popped the cap and whoo boy. But I'm getting ahead of myself here. Let's back up for a few moments.

Today's beer is another from my favorite Dayton brewery. It's a maple bourbon barrel aged variant of Warped Wing's Abominator, which I've only had once in my life. I didn't write about it on my blog, but I did manage a quick post for it on my Untappd page. Today we'll find out how well this big boy version of the stuff holds up to my good first impression of the base beer.

Do you remember September 30th, when I drank Warped Wing's Lagerstadt? In my post, I mentioned Holiday Special, a beer that I'd only glimpsed on Warped Wing's website, and promised to give it the full John Likes Beer to treatment come its release in December.


Well, guess what? It's December now and I've been able to track down a sixer of the lager. So, without further ado, I present to you my very first impression of Holiday Special, Warped Wing's holiday lager.

We have, after nearly a month, now arrived at the penultimate Oktoberfest 2022 post. When I wake up now, the temperatures are in the 40s (that's Fahrenheit, mind you). Soon enough, there'll be dawn frost, the trees will finally don their autumn's best, and Michelle and I will be carving our little family of Halloween Jack-o'-lanterns. 

But, before we get to all that, we have to run out September and the final few Oktoberfest-style lagers. So, today we're doing the single can I bought of Toppling Goliath's entry into the canon. How's it drink?

Today's beer is one that I've wanted to get around to for some time. See, Listermann's a brewery whose name always grabs my attention. This means that I've been bummed when I see their Oktoberfest out in the wild because, historically, it drops just after I cement my Oktoberfest lineup for the blog.

Today's the official start of John Likes Beer's Oktoberfest season extravaganza! Sure, I've been drinking Oktoberfest-style lagers since they first hit the market in July (don't judge me too harshly--I'm always in a rush to get to fall), but I've been a benevolent blogger and kept my Märzen- and festbier-related hijinks away from the site.

Until now! See, the page on the calendar turned overnight and we've landed squarely in September. Munich's big Oktoberfest is two weeks and some change away. I'm not holding back anymore. Let's get my meager celebration started immediately and kick it all off with Platform's Brauraiser.

Let's get into the worst beer I've had this summer.

Anheuser-Busch is the Disney of beer. This comparison is all the more fitting once you realize that this beer company owns a string of theme parks including SeaWorld and Sesame Place (the Sesame Street park). These guys have had, for a long time, a stranglehold on the brewing industry run a business full of beer brands that I drink and genuinely enjoy: Rolling Rock, Stella Artois, Landshark, and Johnny Appleseed (which is a cider), among others. But, they also have brews that are a blight upon an industry full of great beverages that pass unnoticed by the masses because of Anheuser's enormous market presence. These include Budweiser in all its various forms, Michelob, Cobra, and Natty.

Now don't get me wrong. Bud, Michelob, Cobra, and Natty all have their places. They're usually at college parties where they get people (who may or may not be of legal drinking age) hammered. Thankfully, none of those beers have a place anywhere near my mouth or any of my other sensory receptors.

But, like I said, I find some Anheuser-Busch brands to be enjoyable. Most of these fall under my umbrella term of "butt beer." For me, this is somewhat a term of endearment. It's beer I can drink that's inexpensive and no fuss. Specific examples are Rolling Rock and, the beer I'm discussing today, Busch's Signature Copper Lager (of which a twelve pack'll run you nine bucks).

In München steht ein Hofbräuhaus: Eins, zwei, g'suffa!

Da läuft so manches Fäßchen aus:

Eins, zwei, g'suffa!

Da hat so mancher brave Mann:

Eins, zwei, g'suffa!

Gezeigt was er so vertragen kann

Schon früh am Morgen fing er an

Und spät am Abend kam er heraus

So schön ist's im Hofbräuhaus.