Micro'd: Gordon Biersch Brewery

(Note: This is part one of a yet to be determined number of installations titled "Micro'd" in which I go to a microbrewery and drink every different beer I can before being: a. thrown out b. divorced c. a new father. Who am I kidding? I really just had a few beers before going out to eat with my parents. My life is not exactly ripe with adventure at this point. It is worth noting that all beers were sampled in pints, and not those pussy beer flight things that they enjoy on the coasts where binge drinking is done mostly in closed quarters.)

Gordon Biersch brewery is a chain of breweries that is headquartered inexplicably in Chattanooga, TN despite not having a restaurant in the state of Tennessee. They have locations all over the place, though, like San Fran, Colorado, and the one I frequented in the heart of the Power and Light District in downtown KCMO, (a truly pretentious, over the top, enjoyable in quarterly doses venue) where I sat on a Friday night and drank by myself for an hour or two. They offer a really decent, somewhat expensive lineup of apps and entrees that are allegedly made from scratch and the food looked good for standard upscale brewery-type fare (think Upstream or Lazlo's-ish).

The beer report:

Marzen: Their most popular beer and the first one I tried. It was Newcastle-y in color and sweet like that beer as well. A potentially great beer after a round of golf or other non-threatening situations, I felt like this is what they recommend to people who only drink Bud Light or are on a diet. No hops to be seen. The Jonas Brothers of beers really. I don't know what that means.

Czech Lager: Now we're on the trolley! A pilsner that was truly spicy. It had some kick and some gusto. Pizazz! Shazam! Wheee! No seriously, this one was really good.

Hefeweisen: Full disclosure time: I wouldn't describe myself as a big wheat beer fan and this one also fell flat for me. Something about the combination of fruit in beer and the loaf-of-bread-in-a-glass factor got me here. If a company could make a wheat beer that didn't require fruit and didn't make me feel like Prince Fielder after two glasses, I could potentially be in.

Golden Export: Their Budweiser, and the last one I had. This is really what they recommend to people that only like light beers. I thought it kind of had a paint thinner aftertaste. Not good times. If you go to microbreweries seeking beers like this, see also: Coors Original anywhere west of Exit 305 (Alda) in Nebraska.

They also had a seasonal bock I regretfully wasn't able to try, in retrospect this should have replaced the Hefeweisen for me. Out of the four beers I had, big raising of the glass to the Czech and (less so, but still) the Marzen. Bad times to the Hefeweisen and Golden Export.