Additional notes 09/16/23 (pictured)

Of late I’ve been trying to fill in a few gaps in terms of notes and reviews for beers that I’ve drunk a lot of prior but have looked at old notes and thought, “what?”! This time of year there’s obviously great opportunities to do that with Oktoberfests and Festers.

12 oz bottle from a six pack.

Immediately the Festbier (rather than the Märzen) becomes apparent from the pour. A golden body with a nice, two finger wispy white head. Looks well-carbonated and feels ‘crisp’ – how I hate that word applied to beer, I prefer ‘well-defined’ or ‘clean’ or ‘clean lines’. Anyway …

Nose has some light grain but not much else to speak of, probably a little too cold to have much impact initially.

Tastes are lightly hoppy with some residual bitterness that lingers, and the aftertaste is quite late tot he party. The Noble bitterness is dry, and quite – for want of a better word – “harsh”. All well within parameters of course, with a heavy malt base that that that bitterness sits against. When I say ‘heavy’ that may be a bit of a misnomer since it suggests something less delicious than it actually is.

Sweetness comes through more as it warms, and the beer is insanely drinkable.

Original notes 10/28/10

This is an EXTREMELY odd beer IF you are expecting a typically copper-hued, sweet, American styled Octoberfest. I suppose you could say why would you be expecting that, but some German versions will take on that color.

12 oz single from Grassroots, Jacksonville, FL, USA.

Pour is a somewhat alarming, yellow color that has plenty of macro notes about it but perhaps more importantly does not have the slightly darker, more orangey amber color can be expected. This clear in the Festbier realm rather than the Märzen camp. Head and lace are minimal.

The surprises continue through the nose and the tastes where there is an odd combination of Heineken-like skunk, Pilsner malts and a Saaz/Noble bitter ending. VERY peculiar indeed. The beer does have a malty start but never gets very sweet and it has an odd drying, biting finish that reminds me of a cheap, Eastern European skunky lager.

This doesn’t feel classically O’fest-like at all, and the beer, although not exactly unpleasant does leave a slightly-funny aftertaste and a very odd sense of style.