Things have been mundane on this site for a while. Buy a bottle of bourbon or whiskey, take a few sips and some pictures, post a brief review and move on. Today, I intend to touch on a little beer, a little photography, and a little more. I will wander more than I have lately, so indulge me.

Right now, I am sitting outside. The first taste of fall weather is upon us. When I am in the sun, I am little warm, when the shade passes by, I am just cool enough to enjoy the fire I made. This is the first fire of the fall season, and required me to clean out all of the ashes from who knows how many previous fires. There is almost a dirt quality to what I dug out of the fire pit. I got the fire started easily enough after that and now, let me talk about a couple of beers I found.

This story starts with a trip to the grocery store Lidl. Lidl is a low cost grocery store that I have come to enjoy because of the simple layout of the store. Lidl carries their own line of beers. Judging by my favorite beer review site untappd, Lidl sells many unspectacular yet well priced beers. I stop by the beer section and notice several six packs of “Craft Explorers Oktoberfest Lager”. I pick up a six pack because of the $7.99 price tag and Oktoberfest, a style of beer that is always good to enjoy.

I come home, and go to check in the beer on untappd. The beer checks in as “Star Hill Festie Oktoberfest Lager”. I try a couple of more times, but I keep getting the same mapping. I decide to drink the beer and I give the beer four stars out of five, which on my scale means I like the beer enough to go get more sometime. This could be the end of the story, but not for the alphageek.

I decide to do a little searching online, and I come across this article that explains that Lidl uses other small breweries to produce beers under contract. The article I linked to explains that the addresses are the same, and the brewery declines to comment. Well, that is the part that is relevant to my article. Go read the The Grog to see some interesting opinions on Lidl beer.

I follow up several days later with a trip to the local grocery store, and I find a “Star Hill Festie Oktoberfest Lager” on the shelf. I decide then to do the alphageek thing and compare these two beers. This is not by any means scientific. I am going to drink them and tell you what I think. You can always comment below if you don’t like the way things are done here.

I take both beers outside and decide to get a picture before enjoying them. I am going to refer to one as Lidl beer and the other as Star Hill. If you can’t keep up, this is probably not the site for you. This attitude probably explains why few folks read these reviews. I decide to take the picture using my little Olympus camera that I love using. The camera is small and light which makes for an easy to use experience. I snap a picture or two (does anyone know how to take exciting beer bottle pictures?) and decide I will edit the pictures on my Chromebook using the Adobe Lightroom mobile version. Okay, I know the program changed to another name, but I need something to let my reader know I am not doing editing on the desktop. So I pull my camera’s card and load via a card reader into Lightroom. I wanted to use the raw version of the program which I cannot do with wireless transfer from the camera.

I look at the picture and decide I should use a tripod next time, or at least a faster shutter speed. I still think better composition would help.

So, I am now ready to taste each one and give you an opinion. They pour the same color. You are going to have to take my word on it because I am done with pictures.

I take a sip of each one, and notice right away they are close to each other. I immediately decide I cannot tast a difference between each of the beers. They are both delicious beers and I rate either one a four. If these beers are different, I cannot tell.

One could head down to Lidl and enjoy a resonably priced Oktoberfest. I recommend that my reader go get a six pack right now and enjoy. I certainly intend to enjoy both beers while I relax next to the fire for the rest of the day.

There are many bottles of fine bourbon here at the alphageek headquarters. While attempting to clean up, I came across this bottle from several years ago and thought a review is in order, no matter the lack of timeliness. It is a great experience to live near a distillery like Bowman’s that excels at producing interesting releases of bourbon for all to try. This distillery and limited releases have become a victim of the bourbon craze that will never seemingly end. For the last several years, the lines have been nearly oppressive and certainly more than the alphageek is willing to wait in. The future always brings change, so perhaps we will get a chance to try another limited release.

This is a review of Abraham Bowman Release 16. I could do a long listing of the label, but how about you go read it on the picture below? This is aged in old barrels, so it is whiskey not bourbon.

Nose: I get mostly oak, and a hint of grain. Most of the grain awakens instinct of corn. Maybe there is a little leather in there too.

Pop: There is almost a fire like sensation on the intake. Release 16 is strong for a 100 proof whiskey.

Taste: Taste is the surprisingly mild, considering the up front fire. The whiskey has a great body, and I recommend small sips that linger before finishing.

Finish: Almost a hint of cocoa while the fire comes back.

This is a good whiskey, but not one of my favorite Abraham Bowman releases. This release offers insight into the re-use of barrels and I of the opinion that there is a reason to stick to single use of barrels. Still, I had no trouble finishing my pour.

One of these days I am going to have to write about my lack of ability to decompose the aroma and flavors of bourbon. I just know what i like.