Who the fuck is John Octor Loney? This is Beer in Front, part
of the Oddpods Media Network. Sometimes the beer in front of you is the
best one yet. I'll talk about some old school beers that maybe you've forgotten
about, some new beers that have the potential to be a classic. I'll
also talk to various people around the beer world and get their stories all about
beer. That's Beer in Front and it's coming up now. Welcome to episode
one hundred and seventy six, the September fourth edition of BIF. I'm your
host, John Octor Loney, and BIF is a proud member of the Odd
Pods Media Network. Thanks to Ai Michelle from the Infectious Groove podcast for the
read you're saying to yourself? Who the hell is John Octor Loney? Stay
tuned to the end and I'll have a special jag off of the week segment
buried after the closing music like a tease from an upcoming Marvel movie. All
right. Thank you to Ai Michelle from Infectious Groove Music. You could check
out their podcast Mondays over on your favorite podcast platform, and also the AI
voice of a famous actor who Shall Go Nameless. If you want to learn
more about what I'm upset about. You could stay tuned to the very end.
Some people don't like the Jagoff segment. That's why I really don't do
it much anymore. But this will be at the end, like after the
music, So if you want to hear it, stay tuned after the music
at the end of the show. So welcome to Beer in Front. I'm
your host, Dave's Alatoris and Beer in Front is a proud member of the
Oddpods media Network. This week, I'm having Octoberfest beers. I'm going to
do one from Hot Throw in Munich and two local Chicago ones here. I
love this time of year, big fan of the october Fest style. Whether
it's fest beer or Marzen, both are really good. So this time of
year, when everyone's putting out an october Fest beer, it's great. So
stay tuned a little bit later, I'm gonna have three beers in front for
you. My back still hurts. Went to the doctor on Wednesday and he
did a little poking and prodding and it still hurts. So he was like,
yeah, there's no way you're going back to lifting heavy suitcases. So
he gave me another week off up to my dosage of the muscle relaxer and
put me on some steroids. So I don't know if there's a podcasting Hall
of Fame. I don't know if I'm going to be eligible because I'm now
on the juice, but I'm taking steroids and muscle relaxers for another week and
hopefully this gets better really soon. Need to give a big thank you to
my neighbor Greg. Greg took the paddle board off my hands so I will
not be attempting to paddle board down the Chicago River. So thank you to
Greg for taking this paddle board off of my hands. In Beer News Brooklyn
Brewery, they're going to honor one of New York City's greatest hip hop artists
with the special can from Notorious Big. They're doing this on their iconic Brooklyn
Lager, so look for that in the New York areas soon. I've talked
before about the blurring of the lines between non alcoholic and new products that have
alcohol in them, but now White Claws doing it in reverse. They're coming
out with a zero alcohol seltzer that has four different flavors at only fifteen calories
per can. So I guess you could get a zero alcohol white Claw near
You read over on American Craftbeer dot Com that White Shield ipa, which I
guess is legendary in the United Kingdom. They're owned by Mulson Cores and they're
retiring it, so you will not be able to find the White Shield IPA
from Worthington's in bottles anymore. According to the article, it'll still be available
on tap at certain locations, but there's a huge uproar over in England over
the discontinuing of Worthington's White Shield. Firestone Walker announced some of their plans for
twenty twenty four and beyond, and they're really going to start pushing the eight
O five brand and the Atol five servesa, and what they want to do
with their serves I think is interesting. They're going to move it to clear
bottles instead of the amber brown bottles, and according to them, their research
shows that more than seventy percent of the consumers out there preferred the clear bottle
to amber bottles when it comes to drinking that style of beer, and it
improved their purchase intent by four times according to Firestone Walkers. So that's interesting.
If you're a fan of the Atol five Servesa. Look for that then
a clear bottle coming up. In twenty twenty four. Sad news locally here
in Illinois Oswego Brewing Company they're going to close their doors for good. I
think they close it actually last weekend. They opened five years ago. They
had Their top beer was a beer called Haze for Horses. It was a
New England ipa. They just didn't recover from COVID. According to the article
in the Tribune. The owners didn't blame COVID, but according to the articles
a good article, they had to take out loans and even when business came
back, it still wasn't exactly where it was pre COVID, and you got
to pay the bill. So they were just unable to do it. So
sad news from Illinois where Oswego Brewing Company is shut down. A lot of
breweries are having their October Fest parties, and it's hard to keep track of
who's doing what. But one of my favorites and one that I go to
every year, it's a joint effort between Big Guile and Dubtail. This is
their October Fest diversary that's located in between the two breweries. If you're familiar
with the area. They're less than a block away, so the alleyway air
in between, there's plenty of broom for food, truck, music, beer,
brat worse. So definitely on the weekend of October seventh and eighth,
you need to head over to Beguile and Dovetail for the October festiversary party.
Finally, I read over on Porch Drinking a brewery in Colorado called Cerebral Brewing.
They're making a barrel aged with not your typical barrels. They're making this
with fifteen year Pappy barrels. Now they only have two, so there's not
gonna be a lot of this beer out And if it's anything like Pappy,
I'm sure this thing's gonna go for a left arm and it's gonna be super
rare to get. But if you're in Colorado and you see something from Cerebral,
you definitely have to try this with Pappy barrels. That's got to be
outstanding. Hey, this is Grabbing the Brisket Podcast. Join us every Monday
when we talk about the latest trends in barbecue, interviews with world top pit
masters, celebrity cooks it like Wee Man from Jackass, and musicians like rich
O'Toole, So check us out. We do beer reviews, barbecue fails,
so many fires, dude, A lot of people just burn their houses down
for no reason. We also talk about cocaine, hippos versus meth gators,
learn how to make some tailgate gravy, altercations with Texas Rangers, people throw
on reefs and peanut butter cups. Yeah. So check out grab the brisket
dot com for podcast info, viral social media post and so much more.
Octoberfest runs this year from the sixteenth of September to October third. This is
the one hundred and eighty eighth edition in Munich. The first one was actually
a horse race and a wedding reception back in eighteen ten. I don't know
about you, but I think I kind of missed out by not having a
horse race at my wedding reception. They know how to do things right over
in Munich. There are Octoberfest celebrations all over the world. A lot of
breweries put one out. I know Revolution does a good one. There's a
new one this year with the Brewer's Triangle over close to me, so definitely
check that out. But from what I was reading and I remember talking to
Rod Jay, I think last year or a couple of years ago, the
one that they have in Cincinnati, if I remember correctly, that's the largest
Octoberfest celebration in the United States. There are two totally different styles of october
Fest beers out there, and some might be confused because they're, like I
said, they're really different. The first is a fest beer, which is
a style you would have in Munich. It's a light golden color, has
low to medium malt and hop flavor. These check in between five point eight
six point three percent alcohol. The second is usually the Marsin style, which
is probably what we think of here in the States when we think of an
Octoberfest. Marzin is a much darker colored beer, and it has more of
a maulta roma and taste than the fest beer. The Marzin is about the
same in alcohol between five point eight and six point three. Both are excellent
in my opinion. I don't think you could go wrong with either, and
I'm going to have a beer in each style a little bit later on.
Let's get back to this horse race. I know, like here, you
do the dollar dance, you play the hokey pokey, and what's that other
song, the Chicken Dance that's big at wedding receptions here, which I made
sure it was not played at mine. But the horse race. I need
to renew my vows. Ruby, if you us into this episode, we
need to renew our vows and get some horses, all right. The beer
in front of me this week is Hofbrows Octoberfest. Halfbrow Munich was founded get
this in fifteen eighty nine, so this qualifies as an old school classic.
Their Octoberfest is a full bodied logger beer with according to that Now I'm going
to read this from their website with its fine happy aroma. It's perfect alongside
a classic Octoberfest roasted chicken. Can we circle back to this chicken? I've
never had an Octoberfest roasted chicken. But now I'm curious and I need to
find me one of these Halfbrows Octoberfest is a six point three percent alcohol by
volume beer checks in with twenty three IBus over on rate beer. This has
scored an eighty one on a one to one hundred scale and untapped. It's
three point five six bottle caps. They use newer hops like Magnum. Now,
Magnum didn't come out until I think nineteen eighty and Hercules, which has
only been around since two thousand and five. So this beer here from Hofbrau,
it's not what you were going to have in a beer haul in Munich
fifty years ago, but it's still a really good beer. I do pick
this up every year when I see it because I think it's a classic style
on a classic version of the style, and Hofbrau is one of the six
breweries that has the beer in october Fest, so this is one I definitely
pick up. But let's stop talking about it and let's crack this open.
The hopbrow Octoberfest is a really nice light golden color, probably a little bit
darker than your usual macro beer, but not a lot, really nice clear
color, good foam, good two fingers of foam on. This smells really
nice. I get subtle hints of the malt on the air, maybe a
little of the hops as well. That's just really good, nice flavors here.
I get a little malt and a little of the hops. And it's
weird because this isn't a brown bottle, and I'm gonna have to take another
sip. I thought I caught a little skunkiness, but I don't think that's
true. That just had to be me. But let me try this again.
No, that wasn't it. I get the nice malt flavor here,
that's the first thing that hits me. Nice sweetness, a little bitterness from
the hops to balance it out. Once again, this is the fest beer
instead of the Mars end. And this is there's only six breweries that are
making beer for october Fest, and Munich and Hofbrau is one of them.
So this is good. If you see it, by all means you gotta
throw it in the cart. It's october Fest, so grab yourself a Hoffbrow
october Fest beer. All right. One of the local October fests that I'm
gonna have is courtesy of half Acre. This is Loggertown. Loggertown is five
point eight percent according to the website. This is an October Fest that lives
in the multi bosom of Munich's storage tradition. All right, well, they
sold me, so let's crack open Loggertown. Laggertown is more of the marsin
style than the Fest beer. This is darker, kind of looks like a
Vienna lager. So if you're not a beer geek, if you've had a
Sam Adams Boston lager. The color is similar to that good foam. Good
carbonation. Here smells really nice. I get a lot of the malt up
front with the aroma. I think it smells fantastic. Yeah, that's really
really good. Nice malt flavor. Here. Doesn't list the amount of hops
or they use, but it's an october Fest. It's not a hoppy beer,
but it's well balanced. I get a little bit of bitterness, not
a lot, but it's a well balanced beer. Yeah, that's just it's
delicious. There's no other way around it. It's delicious. If you see
this in the Chicago area, definitely put it in the cart. Chicago has
a ton of great breweries knocking october Fest out of the park. Half Acres
Lockertown is always at the top of my list. It's one of my favorites,
one I have to pick up every year when it comes out. Usually
comes out late July, maybe early August. So definitely, if you see
it, it's not going to be around much longer. Put Loggertown in the
carts from Half Acre. Okay, the last of the october Fest beers that
I'm going to have this week on the show. Is fest Beer. This
is from Roaring Table out of Lake Zurich. I love everything they do.
This is five point four percent alcohol. It I ken looks great. It
has that nice checkerboard October Fest like tablecloth field to it. It looks great.
This has Magnum and Mental Frew hops in here. This is I'm in
the can here. It's inspired by the modern lager served every September. This
pale beer is crisp, clean and designed to be enjoyed by the leader.
Well, you only have it in a sixteen ounce can, So I'm just
going to crack open the sixteen ounce can of fest beer from Roaring Table.
Oh yeah, that's a fest beer. Nice golden color to it, good
foam. The smell is really good. I get a lot. I get
more of the hops here, I think than I do from the malt out
of the Aroma. But it smells fantastic. Oh yeah, put this one
in the cart. This is just really good. It's very clean, It's
crisp, refreshing. I like the noble hoop bitterness that I get at the
end. Everything about this I'm digging. Yeah, that's really good Roaring Table.
I need to get out the Lake Zurich. I need to find it
first. I gotta have to Google Maps or pull up map quest or something
like back in the day to find my way out to Lake Zurich. Because
everything that I've had from them has been phenomenal. I pick it up at
my bottle shop here bottles and cans. I don't know if I've seen it
at like binnies or places like that, but if you see anything from Roaring
Table by all means, put it in the carts. I did a YouTube
video on a IPA they did, so look for that. I did what
it's called all American Burger. I remember that one being spectacular, But now
this fest beer is just killer. Put it in the cart. Fest beer
from Roaring Table is a winner. All right. That's going to wrap things
up for the Octoberfest edition of Beer in Front. I thank you very much
for listening. If you need to get a hold of me, you could
email me Dave at beer infront dot com or on all the social media channels
at Beer in Front. Couple things real quick before I say goodbye. One,
if you want to hear the jag Off segment, wait until the end.
If you don't, when the music stops, you can go on to
your next favorite show. I have an old microphone. If you want to
get into podcasting and make like the billions of dollars that all of us do,
you can if you want to start podcasting, I have an older mike.
It's a USB mic that you would just plug into your computer. It's
great, it works great. I have a better microphone now, but if
you're starting out and you need a microphone, I can help you out there.
So if you're interested, you know where to get a hold of me.
All Right, everyone, have a great week. I will talk to
you next week on beer in front and remember sometimes the beer in front of
you is the best one yet. All right, I teased it, or
the AI voice teased it in the open. Here is your jag offs of
the week. I have two first, and they're both AI related. There's
no human beings behind this. It's some artificial intelligence bullshit. But the first
is good pods. Good pods is very good to the independent podcaster. I
get a lot of listens on good pods. Up until last week, I
didn't really have a problem with good pods. But over on the odd pods,
Media and Families, Private discord server. Someone noticed that they were putting
some AI show descriptions on a lot of podcasts, so I had to look
and I'm going to read this verbatim. So this is what the AI machine
decided that they want to put out. Goodpods discovers Beer in Front. Beer
in Front is an engaging and informative podcast that celebrates the world of craft beer.
Get this. Hosted by passionate beer enthusiast John Octor Loney, this podcast
provides a platform for discussing various beer styles, breweries, homebrewing tips, and
everything else related to this beloved beverage. And it goes on and on.
No human being wrote this, But John oct Loney, where in the hell
did you come up with that? I guess enough people complained. They sent
me and a couple other people of private message. Oh the AI goofed and
they took everything down. But John doctor Loney, good pot, you're a
jag off the other one. Now, you remember last week when I had
the Shower Beer, which I'll probably never do an episode on that again because
I think it ran its course where no one listened last week, no one,
There's very few listeners last week. So the Shower Beer segment will probably
be retired, but I had a thing on there. If you were one
of the four people that listened about post a picture of family friendly picture over
on social media, including the hashtag beer in front shower here. Well,
I go to look and see if any of you knuckleheads did this, and
on Instagram they said that hashtag beer in front shower beer violated community standards.
Now, the only pictures that I posted I had from shoulder up because no
one wants to see any lower than that, and it was just on a
promotion for the podcast, so there were no picks. But there was one
that I cannot see. So, whoever you are, Instagram block this because
of some community standards. So Instagram, you are a bunch of jag offs.