Monthly Feature
Wayne and Leah bring you their monthly take on beer!

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween TMR readers. This month brings you a seasonal from one of our favorite domestic brewers, Magic Hat. The beer, a fall seasonal, is called Hex. Not sure where you sit as you’re reading this, however, where we are the weather is changing and becoming our favorite time of the year…autumn. Cooler temps and changing leaves, fall is here!

Wayne’s Take
Last month we did our Top 5 and Magic Hat #9 was on my list. Maybe in the near future we will review #9, but for this month we went with Magic Hat’s Fall seasonal Hex. Magic Hat, at least until this point in time, hasn’t produced a beer that I didn’t like and the same can be said of Hex. While not my favorite Magic Hat product (#9 still holds that distinction) Hex was very solid. Hex, upon pouring into a glass, had a nice color to it. I wish I had a strict description of the color, maybe a reddish orangish mix, nice color, reminded one of autumn, not a lot of head either. I took my first sip and let it linger for a little while, and how’s this for an oxymoron, it had a simplistic complexity to it. A lot of nice taste lingering, maybe a little spice, hint of cinnamon and then followed by a slight bitterness. Maybe like a bitter walnut??? There were several distinct flavors to it, which gave it that complexity, but not so many that I couldn’t say it was simple. Also, there were two distinct stages following the swallow, the initial taste (as described above) and the following slight bitterness to it.

Leah’s Take
I liked Hex for a number of reasons…number one, sorry to say, was the super cute spooky bottle design. (Hey, it is the first thing you see). It was also, two, a lovely amber color and its nice to start working on the darker beers now that its getting chilly. Three, Hex has a rich but not too heavy flavor that finishes with less bitterness than some comparable beers and has a faint sweetness. It would be perfect to sit down and have several watching football or something.

Wayne’s Meal Pairing
I would pair Hex with a holiday fruit dessert, like maybe a pumpkin or apple pie. I would say that pumpkin and apple pie or sweet definitely, but not as sweet as other desserts. They seem to rely on the natural sweetness of the contents, rather than other desserts, and I think that the fine taste and slightly bitter aftertaste (and I do mean slightly) of Hex would compliment an autumnal dessert nicely.

Leah’s Meal Pairing
Given its very mild sweetness, I think Hex would be fab with something bacony- maybe a pizza with bacon even. I could also see drinking it with sweet-savory like spiced nuts.

There you go TMR readers, another Magic Hat success, hope you try it and like it. Since we were a day late on our October entry, this month we will try to bring you 2 entries. Until next time!