Coney Island Freaktoberfest

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

Bringing forth the brillance of a hallows eve with a freatoberfest seemed fit, so I endulged at the old forge, lanesborough, MA with delight with bro Pat. It was a great way to finalize the end of October, the best month ever.

Bottle. Pours red not unlike a kriek or framboise. Short, dense pink head. Aroma is toasted malt, spicy hops, caramel, and light citrus. Taste is citrus, caramel, light toffee, toasted and sweet malts and spicy hops. Body is medium with a prickly carbonation. Ends with more caramel, sweet malts, spicy hops and citrus fruit. Not bad beer but more a novelty.

Pour ruby red with a med pink head. Aroma of lite malt and fruit, Apperance is mis-leading, teast more like malt or a marzen. Over all good beer how ever not the best

Pour ruby red with a med pink head. Aroma of lite malt and fruit, Apperance is mis-leading, teast more like malt or a marzen. Over all good beer how ever not the best

22 oz bomber courtesy of Slipstream. Pours a Hawaiin Punch red with a medium sized pink head. Aroma of slight skank, old malt and light hops. Taste is skunky with a touch of honey and light malt. Interesting to say the least.

Bomber bottle. Poured warm, but dammit, I’m finally getting off the flu and I want at least one Oktoberfest while the month is still in. Yikes! Definitely blood red pour, even a spongy pink head. Some sweet malts in the nose, a bit of bitter balance. Taste has a load of malt that I’d expect from an Okto style. Don’t think you can really get this color from a malt, but my nose is too stuffy to get a hint of what the real source might be. Still, there’s a peppery and earthy hop to it, and it’s not stinted (being warm probably helps the hops come through). Alcohol is well hidden. If I were hosting a party, I’d be serving some of this.

Clear ruby red color. Aroma is of malts, chalk, and either tomato or beet juice. Taste is a little complex. I can pick up malts, earthy, some chalky flavors, grain, and some slight hops. Has an unpleasant bitter aftertaste. I’ve had better from Coney Island. Much better.

Pours a dark yet bright cherry blood red color with a two finger frothy dark pinkish red head that slowly fades into a lasting ring. Slightly earthy roasted aroma with hints of fall spices. Slightly toasty with notes of cinnamon spice and very subtle brown sugar. Earthy floral hops. Based on the appearance I was expecting it to smell like cherry juice but it has some subtle Marzen characteristics in the aroma. Pretty sweet but not as much or as watered down as I expected with a nice earthy floral hop presence that lingers throughout. Slightly roasted malt body with a bit of nut and fall spice. ABV wel masked. Not really a good interpretation of the style, rather it’s just a goofy gimmick that isn’t terrible.