Spaten Oktoberfest

October 15th, 2011

3 stars out of 5

Brewed and bottled by Abita Spaten Brau, Munich, Germany. Bought at the Kroger store on Mason Road and Kingsland in Katy, TX and drunk at home in Katy, TX while preparing dinner of (once again) shrimp fried rice. I needed something that I could cook on autopilot, after spending much of the afternoon wandering around Katy.  I left the house at 1:00 pm in the Flying Carpet with the top down.  It was a beautiful day for driving in the fresh air, the sun was shining, the humidity was low and the temperature was in the low 80’s.  Patricia was deeply into her Leadership class with a paper to complete by the end of the day and I had a long shopping list on the IPad.

First stop was to have been No Label brewery in Katy, to check them out and sample more of their beers.  A great idea that several hundred other people also had.  When I got there the line to get in was 20 or 30 people deep and there was a significant crowd on hand.  I’ll be back another time.  After a slow circumlocution of the field that was their overflow parking lot, I kept moving and headed towards the Kroger Signature store on Mason Road at Kirkland for the first stop on my afternoon soliloquy.

This was my first visit to this grocery store and I was impressed by the selection of food, the nice wide aisles and the friendliness of the store people I interacted with.  For early Saturday afternoon, though, there was a dearth of customers.  Where were all the shoppers?  I need to come out at this time again and visit other grocery stores to see if this is just a great time to shop or if there are other reasons for the quietness of this store.

After Kroger I went to Comcast and stood in line for 30 minutes to exchange the house modem, then to Fiesta to buy Arepas, Pandebono and Pony Malta, then to Pets Smart for frontline, then Target for an oven thermometer and finally to Lowes for an abortive attempt to find a mosquito net for the back door.  Back to the house rather weary a little before 6 pm.

Which is why I wanted to cook something that did not require much effort.

Web site (in English): http://www.spatenusa.com/0_start/index.htm

The web site says: “Our Oktoberfest Beer, created in 1872, is the world's first Oktoberfest beer, brewed for the greatest folk festival in the world. Every year, over and over again, countless Oktoberfest visitors share their enthusiasm about this beer.
Flavor profile: Amber in color. This medium bodied beer has achieved its impeccable taste by balancing the roasted malt flavor with the perfect amount of hops. Having a rich textured palate with an underlying sweetness true to tradition.
Original gravity: 13.7 %
Alcohol content: 5.9 %
Available as 12 oz. 12-pack, 12 oz. 6-pack, 16.9 oz. single bottle and 50 liter keg.”

A nice beer, round and light and easy to drink, but without a perceptible character.  I would be OK drinking this beer again, but it is not one I would search out.