Coney Island Freaktoberfest

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

650 ml. Sangria color with a persistent eight-inch of creamy pink foam. Delicate frosty lace left behind. Typical aromas of sweet molasses, grain, and corn are accompanied by citrus-resin. Flavor is caramel, grain and a citrus-resin finish that becomes more dominant after a few sips. Light-medium body is sometimes smooth, sometimes fizzy, and dry on the finish. I enjoyed the hoppiness and blood-color of this one more than most standard offerings of the style.

Pours a candy cherry red with a pink foamy pillow head. Aroma is very malty and sugary sweet. Tiny hoppresence but a bit candy-like. Flavor is extremely malty and syrupy sweet. Not a lot of presence here but a slight attempt at getting the octoberfest style right. Kind of a swing and a miss though as the finish is too bitter and there is a strange aftertaste that lingers. I’m not really for gimmick beers so it just seems strange, nothing else.

Pours a red color that looks like it’ll stain your hands with a pink head. Smells of plastic. Taste of cough syrup, corn syrup, super bitter... whats the point here?

I guess the "freak" came out of the bottle with the first pour. I really wasn’t expecting to see this color to come out. Pours light blood/reddish, almost like grenadine. Pink head. Probably with the Halloween spirit in mind. Aroma, is of light hops with somehting of a cough sirup. Taste, hoppy and malty close to a soda or candy licorice. Not a bad brew, I appreciate their idea of the Freakbeer spirit for Halloween.

Bottle courtesy of sebletitje. Pours a clear cranberry red with a one finger pink head that leaves good lacing. Aroma is sweet and fruity with hints of sweet malt. Taste is like malty cough syrup. Medium thin mouthfeel with a mild amount of bitterness. Not very good.

[Bottle] Pours a blood red with a small pink head. Aroma is lots of malt, tin, and a little hop. Thin, sweet front. Extremely metallic. Fail.

Bomber. Glowing red with a pink head. Weird. Odd nose, too - sweet grapefruit and sweet malt, a bit herbal. Sweet malt and grapefruit flavors, some grass. Looks strange, tastes good.

Bottle pours Blood Red with thin pink head. Aroma is sweet bread malt. First taste is sweet with bitter hops in the middle. Finish is slightly bitter hops. Not very good oktoberfest.