I don't care that most of last week was in the 80-degree range. It's October. It's finally, finally October. And, here in week two of the month, a chill is beginning to settle upon the region. What's the weather going to be in a few days? Who cares? It's cool now. The nights are dark and lengthening. Let's dive into pumpkin season.

The first beer of Spooky Finger Puppet Ghost Month 2023 is something I picked up after '22's pumpkin beer season. I saw an eight-pack of it on my local bottleshop's shelves and couldn't resist the impulse purchase. I drank the first seven in pretty quick succession but have held onto the the final can for today. I'll let you know what I remember about the ale: It's light and I like it.

The beer's from Lone Pine (makers of my favorite Independence Day beer not brewed for Independence Day). Grab yourself a drink and find a blanket for the cold. This evening, we're drinking Pumpkin Party.

Ah, Christian Moerlein. I've had more than a few of their beers and can't say I particularly care for what they do. The only one I've done up on the blog was their Glier's Goetta Lager, which landed squarely in the "okay" range. Anything else I've had from the brewery unfortunately ranks lower.

I'll tell you now that the only reason I picked up this beer was because it was the first Oktoberfest available at my local Kroger this season. I've had it and have already formed an opinion on it (you might be able to read between the lines of the above paragraph for a spoiler) that I hope to get down in type today. Buckle up; it might just be a rough ride.

It's that time again for what's become a yearly tradition here on the blog. See, for the uninitiated, San Francisco, CA's Anchor Brewing does a special beer each year for Christmas. Each annual label bears a different hand-drawn tree each year the beer boasts a new secret recipe. This goes back to the first Anchor Christmas Ale, in 1975.

Since 2015 (when I drank the 2014 Christmas Ale out of season), each new variant of Christmas Ale's been around the blog. Some I liked more than others. Let's see how 2022 stacks up to the rest.

I've never had anything from St. Bernardus before. 

I know, I know. They're a famous brewery and their Christmas Ale is what a good chunk of Europe seems to view as the definitive Christmas beer. I've always associated winter warmer ale styles with Christmas, but, because it's the jolliest day of the year, let's give St. Bernardus Christmas Ale a go.

Maple Month's roaring right in this year. The weather's attained a sustained chill. I've spent the better part of the day writing my heart out for NaNoWrimo and working for the man so it's time, at long last, to break into a beer.

I'll drop the fanfare here and get right to it: Today I'm drinking Roak's French Toast Devil Dog. I had initially hoped to do a two-for post, featuring this and its BBA variant but a quick glance at the ABVs of the stouts led me to think better of that plan.

It's suddenly hot again. Why? I mean, it wasn't exactly chilly when my last post went up but today it feels like we tripped into some weird time vortex and wound up in mid-August. Which is fine--I don't harbor any particular ill-will toward summer--but I've already mentally shifted into my fall space.

It's good that I had today's beer stashed in my fridge. I was planning on drinking it regardless of how the day's temperatures turned out. Now that I'm breaking into it, here's hoping that Narragansett's Fest can help me regain that bit of fall that I've lost so abruptly.

Summer's not over yet! While I've moved onto Oktoberfests and pumpkin ales in my personal, non-blog drinking life, I still have a summer series to bring to its conclusion. I have a couple more lo-cal beers to write about and just under a week to do it. Easy enough. Don't sweat that this is my first August post.

It's especially easy enough since after today I'll only have one left. And, speaking of easy, today's beer should be an easy-drinking one: MadTree's Ramble On. This is a beer that's been on the market for a while now, but I haven't given it a go. Let's see how it is.

Happy Labor Day! We're back at it again with a MadTree beer. This isn't exactly a new beer--I think (but I can't find any info to back this claim) that today's beer dropped in MadTree's taproom either last year or the year before. 

It is, however, new to the blog. See, this year MadTree canned it threw it into distribution. That means that I was able to track some down to drink from home. I ran out the day it hit the market to pick up a sixer. Now, I'm about to crack into my seventh can of it (meaning that, yes, I've had this before, as those of you who follow me on Instagram can probably tell). What is today's beer? Oh, it's Ziegler, MadTree's Oktoberfest lager.

Did y'all have a nice Valentine's Day? Michelle and I went out to dinner, came back, had a drink (beer for me, wine for her) and went to bed. It was uneventful, sure, but it was pretty much my ideal Friday night.


Well, we did all of the above while swinging by a bottle shop between dinner and coming home. The goal was to purchase her wine (which, if you read that first paragraph, you'll know was a successful in that endeavor), but I also was looking for a little something special to write about today: Listermann's Kris, a cheetah beer (it's pretty well documented on the blog and on my Twitter that I'm a big cheetah supporter). I was lucky enough to find it, packaged with its companion stout, Remus. So, today, I'm drinking them both and presenting my thoughts on them to you. Let's get to it.

Michelle and I were excellent consumers today. We were out from 9ish until 4- or 5ish. Now that we're home (I'm the proud owner of a PS4, since the PS5 is supposedly on the horizon), we've since busied ourselves with decorating for Christmas. We set up our tree (Chrissy Treegan, a Colorado Spruce and sister to last year's Chris Pine), and Michelle swapped out our fall decorations for Christmas ones while I hung our lights outside.


After that, we trimmed Chrissy to Nat King Cole's gentle crooning (I have a 1967 pressing of The Christmas Song on vinyl and, boy, is it a treat). Now that I've showered the sap off me for the second time, it's officially the Christmas season here on the blog. So, let's christen it with tonight's beer: Braxton's Jubilee.

Today is the first autumn day that actually feels autumnal. When I took Lottie out this morning, I was compelled to throw on a hoodie because it was 54°. Can you believe it? Better yet, the forecast isn't showing anything above the 70°s for the next few weeks (it's refusing to show me anything further than that). What a spectacular day to put up my second Spooky Finger Puppet Ghost Month post!


For your frightful pleasure today, I'll be discussing Ellicottville Brewing Company's (EBC from now on) addition to the wide array of pumpkin beers: Pumpkinville Latte. Let's find out if it's up to the blog's spooky standards.

Full disclosure: I've had Franz before. It's been a Cincy Oktoberfest staple since I've lived here. It's one of those standbys that fill shelving units at grocery stores, gas stations, and bottleshops from August and into October. It's a pretty popular beer.


A few years ago, when Michelle and I started house hunting, we took her dad to Rhinegeist's HQ. On tap at the time (mind you, this was in August) they had a sour variant of Franz that I adored. While I'm still holding out that Rhinegeist will bottle that someday, I'm ready now to crack into my can of the classic Franz to give my "official" thoughts.

This is not the post I'd intended for it to be. It's not the post I'd expect to make for the first of 2018's Christmas beer blowout, nor is it a beer that I'd imagined I'd include here. It's a beer that, until today, I had no idea existed. But, now I know better and I'm pleased to give the ale it's due here.


See, we visited my folks for Thanksgiving. On the way out of town, Michelle, my brother, my folks, and me decided to swing into Mount Vernon, OH's new (and first ever) craft brewery: Stein Brewing Company. My dad and brother each got a pint (Michelle got a pint of cider) while I opted for a flight. I'm pleased to say that each beer I had was a fine entry into the greater craft beer canon. Four of the seven I tasted, however, are each beers worth talking about: The Woodward (an IPA with habanero), Temperance Crusader (a stout with maple), Jackets Orange (a blood orange IPA), and, the beer of which I got a crowler in order to do a full post this evening, Ole Doc Neazer.

Would you believe me if I told you that this is a post I've wanted to make since the summer after I started this blog? That'd be summer 2015, mind you. Well, I hope you said yes, because it's a true statement.

During summer 2015 I accompanied my dad to the Michigan Maritime Museum in South Haven, MI, where I was awed by the exhibit on the Edmund Fitzgerald. See, as often the ship pictured on the bottle of Great Lakes' porter named after the it, the story printed on the label never hit home. But in the museum, listening to the exhibit looping Gordon Lightfoot's "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" and looking at enlarged photos of the ship in its prime, everything clicked.

Today is the 43rd anniversary of the sinking of the ship. To get the full impact of this post, I recommend you hit the link directly above to hear the story of her sinking from ol' Gordon himself before reading onward, or maybe listen to it in the background as you read this. Today's post is about Great Lakes Brewing Company's Edmund Fitzgerald, the first porter I ever had.

We've made it to Halloween night which, on the blog, marks the finale of Spooky Finger Puppet Ghost Month. It's been a gloomy Halloween, which may be why we haven't heard a single knock on our door tonight. Michelle and I weren't sure we'd get many trick or treaters here anyway, which means that now we have to eat all the candy I bought for tonight by ourselves. Bummer, I guess. (I did see a family across the street before the rain started in force, but it guess the downpour scared them inside.)

Summer seems to be winding down (meaning that autumn seasonal posts on the blog are right around the corner) but we technically still have over a month until the season ends. That leaves plenty of time for cookouts, lawnmowing, beach bumming, and simply hanging around outside, enjoying the warmth and the lively nature.


In light of all of this, today I'm writing about a beer that seems like it will be decidedly summery. This is the first post in some time that I'm going into blindly, but the label alone gives me a good feeling about it. And that fact that it's from Dogfish Head. Today's beer: Dragons & YumYums.

Happy Spooky Finger Puppet Ghost Month! For the entirety of October, my posts will be solely about fall seasonals. The first brew lined up is Blake's Apple Lantern. You may remember way back in April when I wrote that Apple Lantern was my most-wanted cider. Well, guess what. I found some.


It took me a bit--I had to hit up all my beer regular beer stores--but I finally tracked it down. Because I didn't know how long the place would have it on its shelves, I was sure to nab two sixers. I wanted to wait until it felt like fall to post about it, so here we are. I'm wearing a long-sleeved shirt. It's fall. How is the cider?

I've been holding onto this beer for months. I'm pretty sure I picked it up in March, and by then it was already probably five months old already. But that age is nowhere near what it'll take to humbug my Christmas spirit. That's right, folks. Welcome to the third annual Christmas in July post!


This year, we have a little something special for the occasion: West Sixth's Christmas Ale. Will it enhance my holiday mood or remind me of the cruel summer weather outside?

Bad news, faithful readers--it's that awful time of year where my electric bill skyrockets. We have a really drafty apartment and only have a box fan and rickety old window a/c units to keep us cool during these warmer months. These are energy sucks. On days where it's in the 80s and 90s I can just about feel the money pouring out of my pockets and into the greedy hands of the electric company.


But, it's not all bad. I mean, I still have some badass beers to enjoy. Take, for instance, the one I'm enjoying today. I think it's technically Braxton's spring seasonal but it's a hefeweizen and, hot damn, do I love a hefe on a hot day. I've had this lone can in my fridge since I bought it a few months ago. Will my first impressions of this beer negate my money-draining air-conditioning woes?

Here we go again. You know tomorrow Christmas because I'm dipping into the yearly Anchor offering. This is the third year I've been able to try this ever-evolving Christmas ale--each year the recipe for the brew contained within the bottle changes, just like the illustration of the tree adorning the ale's label.
In over the last year-and-a-half (I drank the 2014 ale randomly during the spring of 2015) I've come to expect holiday goodness from Anchor. How does this year's Christmas Ale hold up?