by Ethan Johnson
November 16, 2008

Sooner or later, a customer will ask me if I have tasted everything we sell at the beer/wine store. Um, no. And if anyone says they have, they're lying. We have roughly 6000 line items in our inventory, and the wines alone would require drinking a different one every day for over a year. Just the same, we are well-positioned to snag the new releases and give them a whirl before our customers realize that we carry them. Case in point: We are now selling Gordon Biersch beers.

Disclaimer: Though I work for a local beer/wine retailer, I was not commissioned to do this tasting, am not receiving any sort of compensation for it, and reserve the right to trash the product publicly as a civilian if it is not to my liking. As with any food/drink article, the reader is advised to consult my Food and Drink Ethics Statement. The beers reviewed in this article were purchased out-of-pocket, by me.

One feature I really appreciate at our store is the "mix six" section. In short, if a customer wants to try a single bottle from a six-pack, we'll gladly break up the pack. I took advantage of this feature the day these beers darkened our doorstep as it was an inexpensive way to try the beers out and have the opportunity to speak intelligently and from experience to the quality of the beers.

I went into this experience with something of an open mind but without the expectation that I'd like everything. I set out to taste each beer, and if I liked the taste, stick with each one until finished. If not, down the sink with a shrug.

Here are all 3 beers (left to right) that are being reviewed. My favorite will be revealed at the conclusion of this article.

1. Gordon Biersch Golden Bock

If Shiner Bock is a legitimate reference point, I'm not into Bock beers. But in the interests of science, I tried it anyway.

This beer is indeed a pleasant golden color. It smelled "beery" (I don't have a better term for this yet). The head fizzed up nicely and then subsided into ye olde bathtub ring. A steady stream of carbonated bubbles persisted. The beer had something of an "amber" taste but with a hoppy center. I didn't find it to be obnoxiously hoppy - which is an article for another time, incidentally - and would be inclined to drink this as foil to a fairly salty dish. Bitter on the finish.

2. Gordon Biersch Märzen

Though this is not labeled such, this is effectively their "Octoberfest" selection. Thus far, I have found this style of beer to be very "autumnal", which is nice right about now, but the quality has varied wildly from brewer to brewer. My favorite Märzen to date is Saint Arnold's seasonal offering.

As seen above, the Märzen is a pleasing richer brown compared to the other two beers. The head flattened out to a thin line in short order, but this beer also featured tiny bubbles trickling upward. The "beery" smell is evident here. This beer had a malty feel to it with a slight sweetness. Not cloyingly so. It was an excellent seasonal offering as the weather broke here in Texas and the beer had a "warming" quality to it. The color was fun to observe against the lamp light. Smooth on the finish.

3. Gordon Biersch Hefeweizen

I am very partial to wheat beers. As a beer n00b, I find them to be accessible and drinkable without being the usual "light" stuff cranked out by the big breweries. My favorite wheat beer to date is Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat.

As is often the case, this wheat beer was "foam city, baby" in the words of Dick Vitale. Strong clove, cinnamon candy (think "red hots"), and banana on the nose. Foggy color, as is normal for wheats. The head lasted for a long time. Taste-wise, I was really disappointed. It was sour and tasted of rotten fruits. I tried to stick with it, but couldn't. I wonder if the "unfiltered wheat beer" advisement was something of a warning that this was going to be "garbage can" beer. Some people go in for this style, I'm told, but I'm not among them. Great-looking wheat beer, but that concludes anything nice I'd have to say about it.

Conclusion:

I went into this expecting to hate the Bock, tolerate the Märzen, and love the Wheat. The shocking results are shocking:

1. Märzen
2. Golden Bock
3. Hefeweizen (unfiltered wheat)

It's been a fairly cold day here in Plano TX, and I have snagged a few more bottles of this to amp up my enjoyment of my favorite season.

Despite my disappointment with the wheat beer, I enjoyed the tasting experience and plan to do more in the near future. I might do a style-specific tasting (all wheat beers, for example) or another brewer-specific tasting. If your local beer/wine shop will sell you single bottles of craft brews, try this at home! <EM>

(The Adventures in Beer index may be found here.)