It started out as a chilly, rainy day here in my little east-of-Cincinnati hideaway. While the nation's winding down from its holiday weekend and summer's last hurrah, I have both feet planted firmly in "it's fall now" territory. And, thanks to the drizzly weather this morning, it really feels like Oktoberfest season has officially arrived.

That last Oktoberfest post was just a warmup. Today, we're diving into the rest of the glorious season with Third Eye's Drittes Auge. Let's see how she's drinking.

Sharonville, OH's Third Eye Brewing Company's backed by folks with over twenty years of brewing experience. The brewery focuses on a rotation of small-batch beers from a variety of styles in an effort to ensure everyone is able to find something that's just right for them.

Drittes Auge is one of those rotational beers. It's a German-style lager ringing in at a commendable 5.7% ABV. According to its description halfway down Third Eye's "Beer" page, it's a drinkable beer, neither too heavy nor filling, with some breadiness and a lightly sweet finish. It reads like exactly what I want a festbier to be.

I'm finding a light maltiness on the lager's nose. It's a bit of honey, some caramel, a touch of biscuit, and a smattering of freshly-baked bread. But it's all subtle, there for but an instant before fading into a pleasantly hopped aroma (floral and crisp). Drittes Auge boasts the bouquet of an immensely drinkable Oktoberfest lager. Which, doesn't quite seem to be what Purrl's after today; she gave my can five quick whiffs before returning to her resting position on the cat tree.

My first swig greets me with bread, honey, rice, and a slight hoppy funk. Before the lager's flavor settles in for the moderate, lightly sweet finish (caramel and honey reign in it), that hoppiness spreads a little wider, mingling with the coming sweetness to create something I can only describe as an almost minty quality, although this doesn't exactly hit the mark. It's strange, but alluring and not wholly unwelcome in a lager. In fact, I think this transition's familiar enough that it's probably present in most lagers, only something I've never quite been able to pinpoint. Or, I could be talking nonsense as my palate's ravaged by seasonal allergies. Only you can decide by trying the beer for yourself.

Moving into territory untouched by my horrible allergies, we turn to Drittes Auge's fast and medium-bodied mouthfeel. The carbonation's mild, leaving us with a clean-drinking beer, perfect for crushing in sizeable quantities over a handful of hours.

The best fall memory I have is from when I was a teenager. I woke up early (well, early for a teen) and ventured out into the woods. It was sunny, but the air was crisp and a frosty fog blanketed everything. 

I wandered through the gold-tinted woods to a meadow on its far side, and stood in awe as the sun spilled over the tall grass and made the the fog glisten as it baked off of the ground. In its own way, Drittes Auge's like that brisk autumn morning.

This is the second offering I've had from Third Eye, and the second one to impress me. I'm giving my can of Drittes Auge an easy 9.0/10. This is the way the blog's Oktoberfest season should've started.