Coney Island Freaktoberfest

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

Had on Halloween ’09 @ Pony bar. Pours great dark brown w/ reddish hue, nontransparent. Taste is a bit off.. caramel, fig, sweet malts, some metal?

This is God-Awful!!! Cotton candy-like head with a raspberry colored body. Subtle aroma of malt...flavor is semi-sweet. Perhaps one could pull a bready-yeasty quality out of this but that is about it. AVOID!!!

pours a clear dark red, heavy carbonation, a medium size dark pink head, and a little lacing. smell is of grain, a few malts, hops, and some raspberry. taste is of grain, sour malt, dandelion, hops in the back, raspberry, and some caramel, ends dry. overall a very strange beer, not that bad just cant get past the color, also has a weird taste that i cant put my finger on.

good flavor as an amber astringent pale ale. bright red color with no other apparent alteration. bitter tang and hoppy citrus mid palate. sudsy foamy and not an octoberfest by a long shot....but hey not a bad beer!

Bottle purchased at North Coast. Pour certainly gets your attention, rich vibrant red with a thick pink foam. Sadly, the novelty wear off when you realize that this is not that tastey. The usual light sweet wheat notes of a marzen is replaced with a cheap lager flavor. Passable.

on tap at the Spuyten Duyvil. BRIGHT pinkish red/magenta colored body, like nothing else. Bright pink creamy head. BRIGHT! aroma is hoppy, sweaty, vegetal. flavor is hoppy, bitter leafy, & a bit medicinal, but also lots of caramel malt. finish gets more hoppy bitter. more on the hoppy side, but decent enough balance of caramel malt.

Pours a blood red with a pink head, this freakshow is using food coloring for sure. Aroma of malts, hops, caramel, fruit and spices. Flavor is caramel, hops, spices, malts, some earthiness and a bitter finish. That said this brew is a bit off balance, and it’s best feature is it’s freakish color. It’s best feature is it’s blood red color, but once the gimmick wears off this is just another average oktoberfest beer.

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.