Coney Island Freaktoberfest

Shmaltz Brewing Company
Brewed at Olde Saratoga Brewing (Mendocino Brewing Co.)
Style: Oktoberfest/Märzen
San Francisco, California USA

Ha! Red lager! Freak out, baby! Though beyond the pink color, a fairly basic lager/marzen. Not bad, but nothing amazing.

garnet pour with a fizzy red head. Strangely similar in looks to the likes of cheerwine. Medium to thick bodied. Big caramel malt flavor. Very hoppy for a marzen.

Reddish beer, bottle in NYC. A rather malty Octoberfest beer, it is quite fruity for the style, and has full malty body. But I have probelems getting excited over what is, really, a straightforward lager as lagers should be.

14oct08. tap @ TacoMac, Johns Creek. Bright red, just like Hawaiian Punch, tall pink fizzy head. everyone at the bar asked what it was. A very big, sweet floral aroma of hops. cooling aroma. Smells definitly not what it looks like. After the initial sip, the appearance will still throw you off. it looks like you’d be enjoying a tart raspberry lambic, no sir, you were wrong. This thing is all Märzen. Well balanced, lots of caramel malt flavors, very nice hop character. It just looks F’n crizay. It just ain’t right, you know! Absolutely rememberable! 7,5,7,5,15

Ok that is a bit freaky. Light ruby color liquid flows forming a smallish, diminishing pink head. Looks a bit like fizzy pomegranate juice. Quite light in aromas. Small hints of grain, pale malts and a touch of fruit. A light lager scent and as it warms some malt liquor smells. Light malts in the front. Some alcohol and mild herbal hops in the back. Thicker in feel, but quite a bit of zip to keep it from getting too thick and cloying. Reminds me of an amber malt liquor in many ways. This serves some entertaining qualities. No, we are not children, but it is fun to have something incite your senses, whether it is audibly, odorously, physically, gustatory, or in this case visually. While not a great beer in many senses, I am going to have fun passing this around as a gimmick brew this fall.

Date: 10/04/2008
Mode: Bottle
Source: Green’s, Atlanta

Appearance: cloudy candy apple red, fine pink head, bits of drippy lace
Aroma: sweet malt aroma with a rich fruityness,
Flavor: sweet and fruity flavor, lots of balancing earthyness, long bitter finish,

Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 11/20
Rating: 3/5.0
Drinkability: 6/10
Score: *4

Draft at Redlight Redlight. Weird beer. This one pours a very lightly hazy blood red color, capped with a foamy, strawberry milkshake colored head. The foam settles quickly to a wispy film, leaving delicate sheet-like lacing in its wake. The aroma shows heavy, sweet notes of caramel malt and glazed biscuit, followed by dry grains, piney hops, and hints of citrus. The flavor is sugary sweet, showing way too heavy on caramel, along with astringent pine hops that burn the back of the throat. The medium-plus, sticky body starts out mildly annoying and ends up downright cloying. This is an odd one. Drinkable, but not very good.

I must say that drinking something this red and not tasting fruit was weird. Pure red pour with a reddish/purplish head. Aroma is very plain and malty. Some hints of hops can be found on the nose, but not a lot. Beer is a little better than some are rating it here. Malty flavor gives way to an odd bitterness at the end.