Two More Beers From O'Fallon Brewery!

A little over a week ago I received an early Christmas present of some beers from St. Louis that I can't get in Baton Rouge!  I already reviewed the two reserve series beers from Schlafly, and one of the variety pack beers from O'Fallon.  Now it's time to take a look at two more from O'Fallon.  I wasn't terribly thrilled with the first one, the Unfiltered Wheat, so hopefully these two exceed expectations.

First up was the O'Fallon Hemp Hop Rye.  The beer is a nice looking hazy amber color, but very little head at all and no retention on what was there. So, mixed bag on the looks.  There's a much stronger smell than I expected, malty caramel dominates but an earthy spiciness comes through too.  The taste is a little weaker than the smell, but I'm also picking up some hoppiness I missed on the nose. The other flavors are all present too with the rye earthiness coming more to the front than the amber malts. More complex than expected, and really a nice beer.  It's a little thin, but not enough to really take away much from the beer, just not anything to add.  I found the unfiltered wheat from O'Fallon to be a little boring, but this one is the opposite, very interesting and I'll definitely be looking forward to the second bottle!

Up next is the 5 Day IPA, poured from a bottle into an RSAK pint glass.  It's a hazy deep amber color with a finger worth of white head.  Decent retention... good looking beer!  The smell is a little faint, but what's there is grapefruit hoppy.  The taste is similar... there's somewhere funny on the end that I can't place but it's not bad.  It's not a bold IPA, but a decent one and really easy to drink.  To compare to some local IPAs I'd put this one slightly better than the Jockamo IPA from Abita, but below the Hopitoulas IPA from NOLA.  It's definitely on the more tame side of the style.

Both beers are a definite step up from the Unfiltered Wheat, and I still have one more O'Fallon beer to try, so look for that review coming soon!  

Hemp Hop Rye:

My Rating: B

BeerAdvocate: B

5 Day IPA:

My Rating: B-

BeerAdvocate: B+

India Pale Ale

Quick Review: O'Fallon Unfiltered Wheat

Another one from St. Louis... here's an Unfiltered Wheat from O'Fallon Brewery. This brewery is actually located in O'Fallon, Missouri, which apparently a Western suburb of St. Louis proper.  The brewery opened in 2000 and has grown considerably since then! 

This offering pours a hazy golden color from a 12 oz. bottle into a Tin Roof pint glass.  There is a small white head that dissipated quickly. You can tell it's an unfiltered beer... definite haziness to the beer, which I think is a good thing.

The smell is dominantly wheat and a little sweet, like straw maybe. The taste is more of the same, but noticably watery, which isn't too uncommon for the style. There is a really thin mouthfeel, but this wheat beer is super easy to drink. It's not much of a winter beer, but I think I'd like to revisit this one on a hot summer day!

My rating: C

BeerAdvocate: C+

Wheat Beer

Christmas Present #1 - St. Lous Beers!

"Santa Claus" came a little early for me this year for at least one present, as yesterday my friend Lynn who currently lives in St. Louis, came through and dropped off a gift bag full of local St. Louis beers!  She also writes a blog about living in St. Louis... check it out!  Fortunately there is more to beer in St. Louis than Anheuser-Busch... and fortunately Lynn knew to go for the smaller local breweries!  Here's what she brought me:

What we have here is an 8-beer sampler pack from O'Fallon Brewery, and a couple of reserve series 750ml bottles from the Schlafly Brewery.  The four beers from O'Fallon (two each) are the 5 Day IPA, Hemp Hop Rye Amber Ale, Wheach Peach Wheat Ale, and Unfiltered Wheat.  Of these I think I'm looking forward to the 5 Day IPA the best, but the Peach Wheat Ale sounds interesting too.  Hopefully they are all fantastic!  The two beers from Schlafly are their 2009 Bourbon-Barrel Aged Imperial Stout, and their 2009 Oak-Aged Barleywine.  Excellent job in picking these two out, Lynn, I'm really excited to give them a try!

Such a great early Christmas present... I'll be sure to report back on how good they are!