The SN Oktoberfest collaboration has come to be one of the more anticipated beers of the season for me. They’ve been producing some really excellent beers in the series and this is no exception.

The color with its classic copper, bright clarity, suggests that we’re going to be erring on the side of a more American-based Märzen rather than anything more German Festbier-like. That’s fine with me since it looks so good. The head retention isn’t great, but I’m inclined to think that’s a function of canning – what I wouldn’t give for this in the old, SN, 500 mL bottles!

The nose also seems to skew on the maltier side of things, and this is largely consistent with what you would expect given the appearance.

The tastes are where things start to deviate a little. The malt structure is very much there among those first sips, but there’s no denying that dry-hopped back-end and finish. Much more bitter than one would expect given everything written above. That noble-like bitterness in the finish keeps us honest, and although the beer remains a malt-based Märzen for my money, the playful nature of those late hops make this a rather intriguing beer. EAsy drinking and satisfying, the beer checks the boxes. Carbonation drops of a little down the 12 oz, and I’m not entirely sure why that is.

There’s no denying it, SN have done a great job here again, and they seem to have nailed the German collaboration thing. Another super beer in the series, it really fires on all cylinders.