Coney Island Freaktoberfest

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

Bottle. Pours clear red with an average, pink, fizzy head, somewhat lasting with fair lacing. Aroma is average malt (grain, meal, cereal), average hop (herbs, grass), average yeast (dough) with notes of wet paper and dust. Medium bodied, gritty texture, average carbonation, and a bitter-dry finish. Long duration, light sweetness, moderate acidity and bitterness. Blah.

I’ve never seen a Märzen this red. Was there grenadine in there? Too sweet for me, but I forced it down anyway. Isn’t that the responsible thing to do?

The only part of this beer I enjoyed was the phenomenal bottle art, the detailed cap, and the stunningly rich red-velvet body. The rest was very simple and uninteresting. Light sweetness with an underlying doughy character. Chalky with dry grassy notes. Reminded me of when Heniz made purple ketchup for awhile in the early-mid 00’s - try as I might I could never get past the purple ketchup soaking into my hamburger bun. Shocked me enough to get me off my childish ketchup kick and onto a real man’s condiment; the family of Mustards.

Blood red with a slight fruity taste. Rather sweet. Very slight bitter finish but not too noticeable.

22oz bottle from Jans Wine and Boos#2 (Tampa, FL). Pours a creepy clear strawberry cola color with a massive pink/strawberry head that settles slowly. Aroma is slightly sweet and slightly grainy with notes of corn, spice, perm solution, some hints of honey. Flavor is slightly sweet and slightly malty with notes of honey and spice. Generally light body with a quick, uninteresting finish.

Pours slightly hazy blood orange flesh color with a 1-2 finger fluffy pink head that has decent retention and leaves some pink lacing. Aroma is weak, grainy, sweet malts, a little toast and some caramel. Flavor is sweet, too sweet, citrus flavors, maybe it’s the power of suggestion but I taste some cherry, slightly toasty, tinny bitter hop finish with another hint of berry. I wouldn’t say it tastes terribly off but it would probably taste better in season.

Pours like blood with a cm of pink strawberry mousse head. Aroma is sweet and caramunichy. Taste is grainy and astringent with sweet fruity notes chorded in with the roasty bitterness $4/22oz.

Bottle. Pours a hazy blood red with a small pink head. Sweet grainy aroma with caramel, light citrus and toasty malts. Flavor is toasted malts, caramel, grainy, earthy and has notes of some fruitness with a medium body and a lightly bitter finish. weird.