OT: Oberon Day is Monday
One of my favorite days of the year.
http://www.annarbor.com/entertainment/food-drink/the-week-in-beer-obero…
A true sign that spring/summer are here. Also, weather next week is suppose to be nice.
Going to the release party at Bells
Wish I could do the same. Some of my fondest memories from my days at WMU occurred at that party and on oberon day. Its basically a school/city wide holiday.
It is the color and scent of a warm, sunny summer afternoon...
Having a pint or two of oberon in the Bell's courtyard, Michigan's spring game, and opening day in baseball are the best ways to celebrate the end of winter!
Hell yeah, that's a good morning post.
wielding swords?
I hate you all. So very, very much
Sincerely,
Those of us who cannot get Oberon in their state.
Seconded.
/NYer who can get beer from all over the world 365/24/7 except Bell's!!
March 26th, 2010 at 10:32 AM ^
I have the same problem in Michigan but with Fat Tire. Until a couple years ago, Magic Hat was not distributed in Michigan.
March 26th, 2010 at 11:13 AM ^
I'll mail you a mini keg of fat tire if you mail me a mini keg of Oberon?!?
I will be up for that. I can email you my address.
March 26th, 2010 at 11:52 AM ^
I've seen Fat Tire in Michigan at a small specialty store up north. It's probably just a matter of the store owner having some special connections. Methinks with some detective work you can find it.
That said, Michigan has several breweries better than Fat Tire.
March 26th, 2010 at 12:52 PM ^
I am in Ann Arbor, and there is a great beer selection here especially at Beer depot on S. Main. However, nobody in Ann Arbor carries Fat Tire. I have literally looked every where.
March 26th, 2010 at 12:59 PM ^
Fat Tire is the flagship brew of New Belgium Brewing, based in Fort Collins. While Fat Tire is pretty good, I would probably rate it as their 4th best beer behind 1554, Trippel and Mothership Wit. When I travel outside of Colorado I just don't get people's fascination with Fat Tire.
it's sooooo heady.
I like mine with a little slice of orange!
March 26th, 2010 at 10:09 AM ^
Is it okay to put fruit in your beer?
Lime in a Corona?
Orange in Oberon?
Passion fruit in Zima? ....okay that one is made up
Personally I do both for Corona and Oberon so take my man card if you must.
March 26th, 2010 at 10:17 AM ^
Orange in an Oberon or lime in a Corona has more to do with enjoying the beer than it does with the ability to grow hair on one's chest.
March 26th, 2010 at 10:31 AM ^
Orange in a wheat beer is almost a mandate.
March 26th, 2010 at 10:58 AM ^
Unless you let the likes of Miller Lite dictate "Man Law". My e-pinion: FAIL.
Orange or no orange, Oberon is one of the best beers evAR.
March 26th, 2010 at 12:50 PM ^
Absolutely agreed. I don't choose to add the orange, but it's not a man thing, it's a taste thing.
Have you had Dark Horse's Double Crooked Tree IPA? It's what God drinks.
March 26th, 2010 at 11:54 AM ^
If being a Man means that you prefer the worst shit available... then yeah, I'll fork over my Man card too.
March 26th, 2010 at 12:22 PM ^
should be:
Unless you are on vacation in a tropical paradise, no matter how much you want it, do NOT order that Pina Colada, Daquiri, or other 9/10 fruit beverage.
Make your wife order it and then drink half.
March 26th, 2010 at 10:53 AM ^
They do not serve Oberon with an orange at Bell's Eccentric Cafe. Therefore, Oberon should not be served with fruit. I believe the call it "NFF" No F-ing Fruit.
That style came from d-bags that thought Oberon was like Blue Moon so why not put some fruit in it.
Horrible, horrible idea.
Please stop the senseless pollution of one of the worlds best beverages with this pointless acidic parasite of flavor.
March 26th, 2010 at 10:56 AM ^
about it. I agree with the No Fruit practice.
The president of Bell's was giving a speech one time at a business school and someone asked him about the orange (even worse on the East Coast bartenders feel compelled to put a lemon in it).
He responded that the beer will have more of it's true flavor without the orange, or fruit whatsoever.
March 26th, 2010 at 11:57 AM ^
Oberon is very well-balanced without the orange. The orange just throws it off.
Blue Moon, on the other hand, tastes better with orange because it is all around lower quality (and I am almost certain they use artificial sugars, syrups, whatever... just doesn't taste natural).
As for Corona, that beer is so bland the lime is pretty much obligatory.
March 26th, 2010 at 12:44 PM ^
For whatever reason most places I've been put an orange slice in Oberon. I just take it off and set it to the side, unless I feel a bout of scurvy coming on...
Sorry to hear that, the closest distributor for Boston would be in Emmaus, PA. I made the drive down there from Parsippany, NJ once and it was totally worth it.
Yeah, I know. I've looked. PA is too far. Though I am going there in July, and I am for sure bringing a couple cases home.
March 26th, 2010 at 11:21 AM ^
Not that it helps you all that much, but Bell's has absolutely taken over Philly in the last year. The pub a block from my house actually celebrated Oberon Day!
March 26th, 2010 at 11:58 AM ^
has some fine breweries of its own. But hey, the more the merrier!
Where is the closet distributer for someone who lives in NW Louisiana. If there is one?
March 26th, 2010 at 10:00 AM ^
It appears to be Alabama, could be Missouri though. You can look up the distributor in AL and MO and figure out which one is closest.
March 26th, 2010 at 12:03 PM ^
But if you are patient, you can get some of that swell LSU beer!
Gack!!!
March 26th, 2010 at 12:35 PM ^
I can't even bring myself to drink a beer from an LSU coozie.
Cue the vagina pun.
Stock up then. The distributor in Emmaus only sells by the case anyways. When I went there, I was looking to buy a six pack of oberon, best brown, and two hearted, but only ended up with a case of oberon. I know, poor me.
personally, i enjoy one Oberon a year. Then its back to Diet Miller for me. The hangovers i get after an evening of Oberon debauchery is close to a malignant brain tumor. Tastes good, just instant dehydration.
I love the taste as well but for some reason I get the worst hangover from the stuff. I drink just one a sitting now. Wish I could drink it more but being old and stuff I can't do the hangover-every-weekend routine anymore. I drink Michelob Ultra now! (checking for my man card....)
March 26th, 2010 at 12:49 PM ^
... you don't have one.
jk
ps. Oberon is fine. It's the cheap stuff that gives me hangovers... bud, et al: headache in a bottle
March 26th, 2010 at 10:11 AM ^
It has B-complex vitamins that can help function as an anti-hangover preventive measure.
I used to homebrew a lot, and started drinking the "sludge" after I found that out. I'm not sure if it's placebic or actual therapy given the amount consumed. But, waking up with a cranium only 1 size too small as opposed to 2-3 sizes too small seem to make it worthwhile.
Oberon seems to have morphed over the last few years. I loved Oberon when I was in K-Zoo for undergrad a few years back, but in the recent years it has become more bitter and less sweet ime.
March 26th, 2010 at 10:30 AM ^
I bet they use the same hops from year to year (why mess with a quality beer recipe). However, the exact bitterness from hops can vary from year to year due to the growing conditions.
March 26th, 2010 at 12:01 PM ^
You might be unlucky, depending on how much of it you drink. I have seen wild variability in Oberon over the years. Some batches are entirely transparent and taste more like Leini Summer Shanty (which really grinds my gears!)
Quality control needs to get their shit together, ime. But I guess that's the price paid for popularity and mass-production
March 26th, 2010 at 12:06 PM ^
More hoppy, less yeasty...
Still a fine 12 ounce curl though!
I've noticed the bitterness too, thats why I always put an orange slice in there. It makes it 10x better.
I grew up in Kalamazoo and remember when Bell's Brewery had no beer garden (just a hole in the wall store front) and Oberon was called Solsun.......I think there was a copyright dispute over the name.
Given all of the micro breweries around the country, it's pretty amazing how popular and well respected Bell's has become over the years...nice to see.
March 26th, 2010 at 12:31 PM ^
Maybe Bell's has surpassed Derek Jeter as our most famous export.
Oberon day is a very fun day for us in the 'zoo.
[edit: Geez, I totally forgot Kalamazoo's third-most famous export: last year's name of the year runner-up and M grad Iris Macadangdang.]
March 26th, 2010 at 10:24 AM ^
I'm super excited to see the mini-kegs, too. This year the mini-kegs will feature a Salvador Dali "The Persistence of Memory"-inspired design:
http://beernews.org/2010/01/bells-oberon-2010-pays-homage-to-salvador-d…