Great Lakes Oktoberfest

Brewed by Great Lakes Brewing Company
Style: Oktoberfest/Märzen
Cleveland, Ohio USA

Serve in Dimpled mug, Stein

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Among the cacophony of Johann Schrammel blaring in the background and the merry yells of the festival crowds, she crosses your sight. She’s a voluptuous beauty who’s had her share of brezen, weisswurts, and obatzda, but she perfectly fills out her dirndl in full. Among all these Marzens, what is it about this one that has you hiding the bulge in your lederhosen? Her dark copper color helps her stand out from the rest as she pours into your glass with the thickness you expected. As soon as you bring her to your lips, she surrounds you with a warm comfort, both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time; her aroma matches evenly with her sweet taste. She is ready for fun and her hearty laugh makes you smile with each sip. After unraveling the strings on her dirndl blouse and voraciously dropping to her knees, you are overwhelmed with her lascivious mouthfeel but also a looming sorrow: this tryst will last but a few days. Alas, Octoberfest wasn’t meant to last all year, so grab her by her thick curves and dive in head first. You might as well: she’s been patiently waiting for you all year with a tankard in one hand and a motel key in the other. As the bacchanalia comes to a close, she quietly slips away into the Munich night; the memories of the copious merriment she leaves behind can only find their match in grandeur in the moist spot she left behind on the bed you shared.

12oz bottle into a pint glass. Pours a clear medium copper with an extremely thick two finger head. Excellent lacing and head retention. Aroma is very malty with biscuit, bread, and lots of caramel. There is an overall sweetness about it. Flavor is tons of caramel along with dark bread and a little biscuit. Sweetness pervades throughout and it approaches syrupy at times. Some squash flavor although there are no spices detectable. Bitterness is mild with no hop flavor. Mouthfeel is full. Overall, I want to like this beer but it is just too sweet approaching cloying. It drinks stronger than its 6.5% and is more of a sipper. My idea of an oktoberfest is a flavorful beer than can be drunk in liters and this isn’t it.

Bottle. Pours orange with a white head that leaves thick lacing. Aroma is bready and sweet. Taste is a bit too sticky sweet. All that really stays on the tongue is that sweetness.

Aroma is a mix of bready and pilsner-style malts. The flavor is malts, mild fruit overtones and a smooth finish.

The beer is orange with a small white head. The aroma offers sweet malts, lager scents - smells appropriate for the style, albeit a bit sweet. The flavor is ok. A bit grainy and sweet, but also flavorful and enjoyable. Notes of gourds, squash. A tad syrupy on the palate with moderately low carbonation. Overall, a pretty good example of the style, although one was plenty. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

Orange is the most forward presence I get throughout this beer, between the aroma and palate, there’s a noticeable amount of orange. Under that is a very nice malty sweetness which carries through the finish and lingers on the palate.

Pours dark amber with thin off white head. Pretty typical octoberfest style beer, good earthy taste with slight malty taste. Would have it again but not my favorite ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

Draft at Eulogy. Clear copper pour with minimal head. Decent body and well blended but unexiciting. Mild red fruits. Oolong tea. Some herbal notes at the bottom. Toasted wheat at the top. Well constructed and difficult to dismiss offhand. Still wish these flavors were employed to a deeper style.

Light malt aroma. Clear orange amber. Tastes of sweetness and caramel. No hops worth mentioning. Delicious beer if not a perfect example of an oktoberfest.

12oz bottle. Pours a light, clear amber color with a almost white head. Aromas are very muted and dull - just some caramel is all I’m getting. Taste has a funky twang to it, kind of dirty, not entirely off putting but not great either. This beer is really middle of the road as far as oktoberfests go. Meh. Wouldn’t buy again. Stick to their other seasonals, they’re far better.