I have to guess at just which Gösser beer this is; I had left some of the beers in there and what was once ice was later a few inches of water, and the label floated right off of this one and turned to moosh.
Diary entry #3, (Probably) Gosser (Stiftsbrau)
Verbatim: Gösser. At home. Label gone completely. I thought it smelt lager-y, turns out it’s dark. Lighter than some darks. Quite light flavour, but with something in there. Sharp and round. Almost fruity.
Afterthoughts, October 2010: So soon after the initial Sam Adams was I again undone by naively thinking that all and only lagers were golden. The path to Beer Nerdery is beset with wonderful re-jugglings of preconceptions like that. I’m also fairly sure that I’m right in saying that this was likely the ‘Stiftsbräu’ Dunkel — definitely matches colourwise, and it does have that slightly sweet note, according to people who actually knew what they were reviewing.
So starts the diary. After years of thinking that it was a birthday present, a look at the date here makes me realise it must’ve been a Christmas one. Shows how rubbish the human memory is, I suppose. (Either that, or I was really, really slack with getting started on the diary, since my birthday is in late August. Which is always possible.)
Diary entry #1, Samuel Adam's Boston Lager
Verbatim: Samuel Adams Boston Lager. 4.8% 355ml ?$ at home w/ nachos. Amber-gold. Quite round and beery, but not overly lagerish, really. Honey-caramelly aftertaste. (Batch.) 7/1/04.
Afterthoughts, October 2010: Weird to look back this far and see the sorts of notes I used to write. I was evidently obsessed with bottle-conditioned stuff, so felt moved to note that this wasn’t. And given that I’d never heard of Vienna / Amber Lager as a style or the differences that would entail, I’m quite chuffed that I spotted the caramel-ness and that I thought it wasn’t just lager as-usual. I revisited this one quite a bit later…
