Beer: Bell's Oberon Ale
Brewery Location: Comstock, MI
Beer Style: American Pale Wheat Ale
ABV: 5.8%
Baseball season is here! I love baseball, I love the Cubs, and I love good beer on warm day. Oberon is one of the Bell's seasonal beers that I first started with when I first got into craft beer. This beer is brewed to correspond with baseball season, but also helps signal that spring and summer are here. I have very fond memories of this beer and the summer time at college and playing golf with a sixer of this in tow. I had a bottle of this over at my best friends house, and this is my first Oberon of the season. Something you may not have known is that Oberon was once called Solsun, but Molson sued over the name and Oberon was born.
Oberon pours very hazy orange/amber hue with one fingers worth of thick white head that dissipated very quickly and left minimal lacing. The nose is loaded with spicy wheat and orange citrus zest scents are very apparent upfront with a little bit of lemon lagging behind. The taste isn't as bold as the nose would indicate, but the flavor profile is an equal combination of fresh citrus fruit (mostly orange) with the soft wheat malt apparent as well. There is also maybe a touch of clove hiding in there as well and accented with the spicy saaz hops. The mouthfeel is very light and crisp and slightly effervescent. I will certainly be drinking more of these this summer, and they are 8.49 a sixer at Trader Joe's.
A great summer brew for those lazy summer days, or the days when you've been working outside. I think this years batch isn't nearly as sweet as the 2007 batch, but if I had my choice I would still reach for Three Floyd's Gumballhead over Oberon. Personally, Gumballhead sets the standard of pale wheat ales for me.
Cheers!
Matt
4 comments:
The warmer weather is definitely calling for these types of beers...maybe I'll swing by the Trader Joe's down the street from to see if they have some.
First things first: GO WHITE SOX
Ok, thats out of my system. I have never had Oberon but my pal Andy raves about it so I will be checking it out soon, especially since Bells is being distributed in Chi Town again (finally).
Summer beers rule!
Interesting that you think this year's batch isn't as sweet as last year's. I think it's sweeter and spicier.
Speaking of Oberon and baseball going together, Oberon is now being sold at the Cell (Sox park) at the Beers of the World stands. Hopefully they'll keep selling it all season (and post-season!) long.
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