JAKs Brewing – September 2019 – “Oktoberfest” Edition

October 2, 2019 Jesse

Mike and I were inspired, after seeing some chatter on social media, to attend a local “Octoberfest” celebration at one of the local breweries this year. It just so happens that JAKs is very near to my house and we decided to check out the 4th annual JAKtoberfest! Bring your own stein and we’ll fill it! Wear your favorite lederhosen costume and win a guaranteed spot in our mug club! Beer olympics! Two beer releases, a pumpkin and a German pilsner (Side note I’ve only had one pumpkin beer that I liked and it was JAKs). This is going to be cool!

Mike arrived at my place and we walked over to JAKs, all ready to get our fall celebrations on and try their fest beer. As we approached, we commented to each other on how empty the place was. Why is it so empty? It should be jumpin’, right? People wearing lederhosen, polka music, something… We made our way inside and asked what the fest beers were. Do you all have an Ocktoberfest beer? It doesn’t seem to be on the menu. “Yeah, next week. On the 28th.” Wait, what? When is JAKtoberfest? “Next week.”

Crap. We’re a week early. On the bright side, neither of us wore lederhosen, although that would have made for a great story. Well, since we’re here, let’s have a few beers.

I saw they had a barleywine on the menu. Well, I just tried one of Mike’s homebrew barleywines and was a big fan. I got a taster of that and, yeah, it was pretty darned good. But, rather than jumping into one of those right away, I thought I’d have something a little lighter to start the evening off, however.

Isophot Saison – 6.3% 25 IBU – I thought a saison would be a good start to the evening. I quite enjoyed it. Light with the expected Belgian flavor from the yeast.

Barleywine (2019) -10.3% 74 IBU – OK. Time for a big beer. I don’t have to drive, so I might as well indulge a bit. I had ordered a half pour, but, not surprisingly, this beer is served in a slightly smaller glass anyway so they only had that size. Fine by me, my only concern was frying my palate for the next beer. This is a great barleywine. It’s advertised as having some cherry and that is certainly coming through. It’s boozy, of course, but not unpleasantly so. It’s a nice warmth at the finish. It’s showing off it’s 10% ABV.

Berry Brut IPA -5.9% 14 IBU – I thought I’d give the brut a try. Oddly, this tasted very similar to the barleywine and it looked just the same, as well. I thought that maybe the barleywine was just taking a bit to wear off, even after having some water and who knows about the color? And, does this taste really boozy for a brut? Not very dry, either. Weird. No matter. It was very good. Onward.

JAKRabbit IPA – 5.9% 96 IBU – This was a really good IPA. Nice piney forward hops and well balanced. Very drinkable.

By the time we had both had four of the beers, we figured it was time to call it a night. The beertender came by and verified that what we had during the night. We asked that the check be split as well. Eagle-eyed Mike pointed out that we only had the one barleywine and it should go on my ticket. “No, you had two of those.” “Well, I actually ordered the brut for my third beer…so…”. That explained immediately why the “brut” and the barleywine tasted and looked the same. It also explained why I was feeling the effects of drinking a few beers to much. Good thing I wasn’t driving. (By the way, they did me right and didn’t charge me for the second barleywine.)

[Mike] Jesse and I have an “as of yet unpublished project” going on right now, exploring the various styles of beer. We recently decided that we were going to jump out of our prearranged schedule and enjoy and write about Oktoberfest / Marzen, since they are in season, so this was the perfect opportunity to try some local variants.

So it was just plain hilarious that we mixed up our dates and ended up at JAKs a week early. Still, it ended up being a fun time, and I don’t regret a thing. It’s always nice to hang out with friends, and we ended up with our own little Oktoberfest 🙂

I certainly don’t regret that Jesse carries a small flashlight, which saved us from being surprised by a several foot drop in the drainage area. That would have been bad. Especially after all of the barleywine that he had.

Docktoberfest – Marzen – Dry Dock Brewing Company – Since it wasn’t really Oktoberfest, this was what I had to work with. JAKs had a guest tap, and I’ve had Doctoberfest before, but not in a long time.

As Marzens go, it might be considered a little middle of the road, it’s pretty light, slightly malty, with a pretty neutral finish. It’s a pretty good interpretation of a Marzen, especially if you don’t like the sweeter versions that some breweries tend to put out.

Something Klever Amber – 5.6% – I really enjoyed this one, nice and malty, well balanced, hint of caramel, really just a tasty beer. I can see this as a staple for any self respecting brewery.

BlackJak Chocolate Porter – 7% – “Oh Man! Why don’t I drink more porters?!” That’s pretty much what I think every time I have a good porter, and this was no exception.

This is delicious, rich and chocolatey, creamy with a nice full mouthfeel. It didn’t come across nearly as heavy as I was expecting. Loved it. I really need to try more porters!

Caffeine Withdrawal – Coffee Stout – 8% – What do you follow up a delicious porter with? Why not a delicious Stout? This was perfect, another just creamy beer, nice coffee flavors, smooth mouthfeel, and again, it didn’t taste like 8%. Glad I wasn’t driving either.

It wasn’t too long ago that I avoided stouts, they just were a bit too heavy for me at the time. Well let me tell you, those days are over!

Beers we’ve reviewed at JAKs: