Coney Island Freaktoberfest

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

Bottle. Now here’s a brewer with a sense of humor, or at least a sense of what the audience should expect at the time of the release. Pours a nice, BLOOD RED with a head of cherry red. Very appropriate for the season, doncha think? Aroma is malted leaf with a hint of dull cotton candy. Flavor is malty sour, with some hints of sweetness that, unfortunately, aren’t allowed to shine. Because of this shortcoming, the beer is nothing more than a typical amber. Average mouthfeel. Could be soooo much more...

Poured a blood-red color with limited head. It didn’t really taste like an Oktoberfest to me... more like a crisp Sam Adams that was red. The palatel was alright, but the problem was the lack of body. More hoppy than Octobery.

Bottle from Johns Market Place in Portland, OR--Poured a bright cranberry juice blood red with a thick pink head that quickly dissipated to a small swirly one. Sharp bitter hoppiness and candied sugars. Nothing much like a marzen Oktoberfest.Not bad, but far from spectacular.

Courtesy of Sea-Bastian. Pours an un-expected clear cherry red with hues of garnet and topped off by a red to pink foam head. The aroma is sweet sugary red cotton candy, sweet malts and faint caramelization. The taste is thick and sweet with malts, some vague noble hoppiness and more sweetness from sugary sweet malts. I do get some roastiness in there too keeping it somewhat interesting. It ends dry with lingering tingle of hoppiness. Overall a little too sweet for my tastes. Could use just a little more of that mild roastiness for added balance.

bottle - This beer pours reddish-orange with a one finger pink head. Seriously. It’s pink. It smells malty with maybe some mild fruity hops in there. The flavor is mostly sweet caramel with just a touch of fruit and a somewhat odd grainy flavor. There’s a little hops and a medium body. It’s okay, but not worth seeking out unless you just really like the bottle.

Eh, the color of this is scary enough, but the taste doesnt do much either. Very bland and tasteless, except for a wet cardboard thing going on. Pass on this

22oz bottle courtesy Ian. This beer definitely wins on appearance for the name, pours a blood red with a thin white head. Starts to go downhill after that. Aroma is almost non existent, just some bread dough and hint of fruit. Taste is malty and fruit tart. Didn’t really know us out.

22 oz bottle. I don’t care if the beer has an artificial color to it. For a Halloween beer - it suits the mood perfectly. Closing your eyes, this beer is practically no different than any other lager-type micro-beverage out there. Not bad in the least, but not horrid and certainly the flavor did not seem to be affected by the coloring.