Beer Season Begins

If you haven’t yet picked up the September issue of the Oshkosh SCENE, get it and you’ll see that my Oshkosh Beer Garden column for this month is about Oshkosh’s packed beer calendar. As we stumble into fall and meander towards the holidays we’ll see a number of good-looking beer events. And it all begins this week. Here we go...

Thursday, September 11: Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Across America Tapping at Oblio’s
Chances are, you haven’t dipped into this series of collaboration beers that Sierra Nevada brewed with a dozen of America’s more admired craft brewers. The 12-packs that were the fruit of this labor were sucked up incredibly quick. In Oshkosh, they were gone in a blink. Here’s your opportunity to taste what you may have missed. At 9 p.m. on Thursday, Oblio’s will tap into three kegs of Beer Camp beers. They’ll have There and Back, an English-style bitter brewed in collaboration with New Glarus Brewing; Chico King, a hoppy pale ale made with the help of 3 Floyds Brewing; and Maillard’s Odyssey, a strong, dark ale that Bell’s Brewery conspired on. I was lucky enough to try all three of these beers. They’re fantastic and I imagine they’ll be even better on draught.

Saturday Morning, September 13: SOBs Invade the Farmer’s Market
The Society of Oshkosh Brewers will have a stand at this weekend’s Farmers Market. More importantly, they want to give you some free beer. The SOB booth will be just across from Oblio’s. If you stop by, they’ll happily hand you a ticket that you can take into Oblio’s and exchange for a sample of free homebrew. SOB Jody Cleveland will be pouring his English-style brown ale he’s calls Nemesis. Jody says, “It’s an easy drinking, ‘lighter’ brown ale with a hint of spice that comes from rye malt. Here’s an idea: get your Saturday off on the right foot by pairing Nemesis with a bloody mary.

Saturday Afternoon and Evening, September 13: O’Marro’s Public House 10th Anniversary Party
Hard to believe the O’Marro’s have been doing what they do for 10 years. They’ll celebrate with an all-out blow out that begins at 3 p.m. They’ll have beer specials and special tappings and music outside under a big tent. Shawn O’Marro says, “We’re going to have some beers that have never been on at O’Marro’s before. That’s hard to do after 10 years!” Later in the evening, the party will move inside and culminate in a hootenanny jam session. This will be fun.

There’s no need to bemoan the end of summer, friends. Beer season is here!