John Harvards Oktoberfest

Brewed by John Harvards Brewhouse (Corporate Office)
Style: Oktoberfest/Märzen
Cambridge, Massachusetts USA

On tap at brew house. Pours a hazy amber color with a small off white head. Aroma is nutty, with spice and some sweet caramel. Initial taste of caramel malts with slight fruits that moves to a nuttiness and light bitter hop finish. Crisp and smooth, medium body.

On tap at the Cambridge location, September 2009. Clear amber colour. Quite malty aroma. Sweetish malty flavour. Typically bready notes. Fairly full mouthfeel. Decent enough but a bit sweet for my palate.

Growler Thanks to emerica56 & drink4satan. Pours a hazy amber colour with a small off white head. Aroma is nutty (almond), with metallic overlay, and some caramel. Initial taste of caramel malts with slight fruits. Moving into a nutty almond and minor bitter hop finish.

Pours out a cloudy amber with a decent tan head that fades a small cap. The aroma is slightly metallic and dusty, as it has that characteristic "old penny" smell, signifying oxidation. The rest of the aroma is of earthy caramel and muted nuts. The flavour has notes of butterscotch and caramel with a very long toasted nutty finish, mostly almond and praline. There is some bitterness from whatever hops were used (noble?) but the acidity is very low, which is expected. Its pretty drinkable, but what okt isn’t.

This beer pours a cloudy amber with a head that fades rather quickly. It has an aroma of nuts, yeast, and caramlr hops. As you drink it there is a nice bitter initial taste and it has a good caramel coating in your mouth. The palate is very smooth and has a nutty finish to it. You can really taste the flavor of the nuts for quite some time after you drink it.

On tap at the monroeville brewhouse. Mild actoberfest smell, slightly sweet in its own way. Darker than the ubiquitous pale yellow beer, just a little more orangy. Perhaps some ruby colors in there too. Mild carbonation greets the palate. Nearly flat. A rather lighter fest beer for a change. Lacks a lot of the bitterstuff I’ve been tasting lately that falls in this style. Many of the others come across rather oprressive, almost like a bitter ale. This one is well mannered and enjoyable to the palate. Overall a pretty decent example of the style that can be enjoyed even by lager lovers.

Sampled on draft at the Monroeville PA location this beer poured a ruby caramel color with a medium sized tan head. The aroma was tangy, sweet, and malty. The flavor was rich sweet malts with a light fruity hop undertone and a long malty finish. A nice robust Oktoberfest.

Name: Octoberfest
Date: November 07, 1996
Mode: Draft
Source: Roswell, GA
Vintage: 1996
Appearance: dark hazy amber, solid thin head
Aroma: sweet malty aroma with a touch of hops
Flavor: strong malt flavor with a touch of bittering hops
Aroma: 5/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 5/10; Palate: 5/10; Overall: 10/20
Rating: 2.6/5.0
Score: *4

The score was calculated based upon the notes and an old scoring system.