Aufsesser Festbier

Brewed by Brauereigasthof Rothenbach (Aufsesser Brauerei)
Style: Oktoberfest/Märzen
Aufsess, Germany

Serve in Dimpled mug, Lager glass, Stein

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Bottle: Aroma is malty with roasted malt notes. Dark amber, light reddish color, off-white creamy head. Flavor is very malty, light sweet with notes of molasse, burnt sugar, some smoke and roasted malt. Roasted malt bitterness in the end. Very fascinating beer with interesting roasted malt notes.

50cl bottle, BBE 04/2012. Clear amber with a thin white head, low carbonation. Aroma is bready, roasted with some chocolate and weak metallic notes. Flavor is toasted, slightly bready, herbal notes as well as some cocoa in the slightly dry finish. Lean, smooth mouthfeel. Nice, enjoyable festbier.

My Bottom Line :
Earthy, toasted malts meet mild herbal hops in this lean and undercarbonated lager.

Further Personal Perceptions :
-A veil of foam covers the clear amber.
-This brew has the same characteristic toasted malt signature as their Zwickl and Dunkel. In fact, this Festbier is so similar to their Dunkel that I presume it is either a relabel, or a very slight tweak of the same recipe.
-The very low carbonation could be the victim of the flip-top bottle. This is not undercarbonated à la ungespundetes, but rather lacking carbonation as if the bottle process, or the bottle itself, was not properly controlled.
-The herbal hoppiness settles into a pleasant bitterness.
-Three beers from the same brewery with the same mould and a very similar original gravity... Lack of inspiration?

Bottle.

Bottle, 5.1% at the brewpub. OK malty aroma. Clear chestnut colour. Big stable off-white head. The flavour is malty and caramelly. Roasted hint, perhaps even bordering on smoked, actually more like horse blanket. Tastes a little of lactose, but it could not be in a German beer.

On cask at the Huber Haus. Dark amber red with a thin white head. Interesting combination of malt and roasted aroma. The flavor is thick and malty for a marzen. This is abeefy beer with a nice residual hop bitterness. By no means the top ten as that moron nickspies stated, but a really great beer nonetheless.

Draft. Crystal clear copper body, medium beige head. Aroma is moderately sweet, caramel, some lime, strawberry. Taste is moderately sweet, caramel, some earthy, grape, lime. Light-medium body, low carbonation. Not sure what was going on, but this tasted really strange.

0.5 liter mug from a cask (Huber Haus, Omaha) - This beer is not a typical fest beer as most people would consider it. Most fest beers I have had are either in the realm or a Märzen or a light, sweet beer. This baby is a complete caramel malt bomb, but I love it. This ranks in my top ten beers ever consumed.

bottle from Bierzwerg. Clear deep golden-brown colour with a nice off-white head. Malty nose with lots of caramel. Full-bodied, malty with hints of caramel and chocolate, also shy hints of oakwood sneaking in. An unusual but very enjoyable Festbier.

500ml bottle (Pikkulintu, Helsinki)
Slightly vegetal bocky aroma, straw too. Taste of charcoal biscuits, very grainy. Quite weird. Pleasant carbonation. Grainy taste is way more husky than most beers I can think of, and fortunately stops short of being drying. Alas some old green beans there too. In a word - biscuity - and the healthy kind, not the sweet kind.

Bottled@Pikkulintu, Helsinki. Deep amber colour, mediumsized white head. Aroma is caaramel malts, some mild grassy notes as well as biscuity. Flavour is biscuits, grassy, saltwatery and also some sweet malts. A bit grainy and alcoholic iin the finish.