Coney Island Freaktoberfest

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

Just from the name, you know this is going to be a wierd one. It pours a crystal clear redish/orange color. I would suppose food coloring was used to get this color. I actually like it. The bottle labeling lets you know to expect something freaky, and it delivers with the color. Not much head on it and it is gone quickly. The smell is of a little hops, a little malt and just a little bit of skunk. The taste has a lot of malt in there and a nice kick of bitterness at the end. Just a little of the skunk in there. Not bad. I will try it again and I praise the Shmaltz guys for trying something new with the color.

22oz bottle. Pours bright red in color with pink head. Aroma sweet maly and citrus hops. Taste grapefruit and malt with bitter finish.

Keep your eyes closed and it is not a bad beer. Color is dark read with a pink head. Malty taste finishes with a well balanced hop bite.

22 oz. bottle shared by Tmoney99. Pours red with a small pink head the disappeared without a trace. The aroma was fairly weak. Some light malt with artificial berries and a hint of floral hops. The flavor was not much more than a macro lager with some not quite ripe fruit, slightly more roast, and more sweetness. This was a little dry and bitter in the finish. Pretty much a mess of a beer.

I was taken by surprise when this poured a blood red with pink tinged head from the 22 oz bottle. No lacing to speak of appeared. The nose was malty with some light floral hops. Medium mouthfeel. Flavor is somewhat sweet with some acidness. The finish was odd, with some medicinal flavors. I was turned off by the color, and found the beer barely drinkable.

Bottle. Head is initially small, frothy/fizzy, dark pink, mostly diminishing. Body is dark red. Aroma is lightly to moderately malty (toasted grain/bread), lightly hoppy (apricot, flowers), with a light note of artificial candy (like a generic candy store smell). Flavor is moderately sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, lightly acidic, moderately bitter. Medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation, lightly alcoholic. Unpleasant appearance (fitting with the sideshow freak aspect, I suppose, but only served to remind me of alcopop like Sparks), dull aroma, dull mouth experience, not much like a Maerzen. Drain pour.

Yikes. Crazy blood orange artificial color with weirdly pink off-white head. Wheaty and slight oxidation. Not too far from a grainy lager. A little marzen sweetness. Mostly gross... maybe the I could not get past the color. Why, why, why?

Bottle shared by durhambeer. Thanks Bob. Hot damn, this beer is blood red. I really wonder if this a gimmick and they put food coloring in this brew. Once you get past the ridiculous color, you have a pretty good run-of-the-mill marzen. Nothing too exciting but not a drain pour either.