Flying Saucer, Memphis, 10 Oct 2010

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The Flying Saucer’s First Annual Fall Beer Festival, which is appearing on different days in October at several of the Flying Saucers locations, landed in Memphis on 10/10/10.

Memphis is lucky to have had so many beer events in 2010.  From the Zoo Brews, to the Memphis Brewfest at Autozone Park, to all the various beer tastings and beer festivals in the region, Memphis has had a great 2010 as far as beer is concerned.  Beergoat attended many of them, but this is the first time we paid enough attention to faithfully report back to you.

Note:  Joe’s Wine & Liquor is putting on an Octoberfest Beer Tasting October 28^th at Playhouse on the Square for $35 a person.

Most beer related events in Memphis rely on the local distributors to supply the tastings and so the samples are not far removed from the selection we can already find at our local beer outlets.  That is where the Flying Saucer Fall Beer Festival stands out.

The Fall Beer Festival started at 12 pm and went until 10.  They offered 10 tastes from the 20 selected options for a $20 fee.  For an additional $10 you could have four more samples from the Rare Beer Tent.  All samples were 4 oz, which, if one took advantage of the full $30, equals 3.5 pints consumed.

The festival was set up on a blocked-off Peabody Place right in front of the Memphis Flying Saucer.  The south side of the street had 5 beer tents for the $20 fee and the north side had the Rare Beer Tent which one could purchase access to for $10 more.  The north side also had a brats and burger tent, cooked right there on the grill, and a Flying Fish tent with gumbo, etc.  Earlier in the day, the sun was beating down a solid 90˚, forcing most festival goers to seek refuge inside the Flying Saucer, but as the sun went low and the temperature dropped, the street filled up.  A mediocre DJ played music throughout it all.

Beergoat tasted as many of the beers as possible.  Here are the highlights:

Dogfish Head Punkin Ale:  Light ale smell, mostly of added spice.  Mild flavor, slightly hopped.  Clean and refreshing with a vague sense of spice though out.

Ghost River Black Magic:  Your eyes deceive you as they gaze on what appears to be a dark porter.  Just as a magician pulls a rabbit from his black top hat, Ghost River pulls a pale ale out of this black lager. Maybe that’s why they call it Black Magic.  It starts with roasted malt nose and flavor, and notes of chocolate, but finishes surprisingly clean with a strong ale bitterness.

Yazoo Cask Fresh Hop IPA:  Perhaps the rarest beer at the fest, this ale is all hops with a powerful grapefruit nose and high alcohol.  The hops flavor dominates from mouth feel to finish, satisfying any who love hops and annoying those who want something else.

Sierra Nevada Celebration 2009:  Always a great winter beer, this Celebration shows up after a year of maturation and impresses.  Full flavored richness ends with pleasing hops bitterness - a fantastic winter warmer.

Sierra Nevada Tumbler:  Easy drinking brown ale.  Recommended after raking leaves.

New Belgium Hoptober:  Even easier than a Tumbler, with a bit of hops to please the pallet.

Spaten Franzeskaner:  Evident banana esters abound as if they used Belgian yeast, which also comes through in the taste.  Overall, this ale provides a refreshing mouth feel, especially served cold.

Stone 10.10.10: Consumed on the day for which it was named, this unusual outing for the normally hop heavy Stone Brewing most resembles a Belgian-style golden ale.  It is clean and slightly sweet with flowery herbs present in the nose as well as flavor.

Stone Russian Imperial Stout:  A translucent dark brown with creamy brown head. The nose is nutty, perhaps pecan.  Rich maltiness pervades, distinguished by nuts, chocolate and coffee flavors.  The high alcohol stands out in the finish.

Sierra Nevada 30^th Anniversary Ken & Fritz Imperial Stout:  This creation from Sierra Nevada Founder Ken Grossman and legendary Anchor Brewing head honcho Fritz Maytag is awesome.  It has everything a beer drinker wants in an imperial stout – almost black with light brown head, roasted malt, full mouth feel, complex flavor, high alcohol.

Sierra Nevada 30^th Annivesary Ken & Jack Black Barleywine:  Beergoat enjoyed this beer immensely but is unable to comment on the quality of said beer given the Beergoat’s state at the time of consumption.

Anchor Steam Old Fog Horn 2003:  Seven year old barley wine from the founder of the modern craft brew movement.  Need we say more?

While the event was enjoyable, it could be improved on in the future.  Beergoat noticed a couple of obvious drawbacks.  One, the flyers stated there would be 6 beers to choose from in the Rare Beer Tent, but they only had 4 available at a time.  The Sierra Nevada Tap had the Ken & Fritz Imperial Stout on all day.  They didn’t switch it over to the Ken & Jack Barleywine until 8 o’clock, when Beergoat chased down the guy in charged and begged.  We never saw the Charlie, Fred & Ken Imperial Helles Bock. We felt attendees should be able to choose from all six for the premium.

While the thoughtful selection set this event apart from other beer gigs in the area, the price was high for the number of beer samples one could actually taste.  Yes, the event was 10 hours long and the samples were a full 4 ozs, but compare that to a $35 ticket to have as many one ounce beer samples as you wish at Zoo Brew, which is also a fund raiser.

Over all, this was a unique and welcome event on the Memphis beer scene.  Beergoat was pleased with the thoughtful selection and the hard working beer goddesses and management.