Lancaster Oktoberfest

Brewed by Lancaster Brewing Co.
Style: Oktoberfest/Märzen
Lancaster, Pennsylvania USA

Serve in Dimpled mug, Lager glass, Stein

12oz bottle from Wegman’s in State College, PA. Man, they have some shit going down there right now. Anyways...this pours a crystal clear, copper-gold colored body with a finger-width, fairly dense and frothy, beige head that dissipates slowly and leaves a moderate lacing. Aroma is bready with a moderate caramel sweetness and a touch of toast, earthy hops, and fruit. Flavor is similar. Somewhat fruity with a light, bready caramel sweetness up front before some toast comes in. Finishes with a light earth and toast that dries with a touch of caramel sweetness before leaving a medium length aftertaste. Medium-light body and a moderate carbonation. Overall, a decent Oktoberfest. Somewhat sweet and bready with a light toast and earth. Nothing special, but not bad.

THOUGHTS: Nothing special. Typical märzen. Leaning on the sweet side. Easy to drink, though. Not bad for the style. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a clear, light amber with and average to large, off-white head that mostly diminished and left fair lacing. The aroma had moderate to heavy dark bread, caramel, sour malt and toasted malt; hints of chocolate; light to moderate hops; something slightly sour and a little fruit. The initial flavor was moderately sweet and slightly bitter; while the finish was moderate to heavily sweet, lightly bitter and slightly sour with an average duration. There was caramel, toast, lots of malts, dark bread, candy, some metallic and herbal hops, cookie and something a little fruity. The medium body was a bit syrupy with fizzy and very tingly carbonation and a slightly metallic finish.

Bottle. Pours amber with a half inch white head. Aroma is caramel. Flavor is slight straw and caramel. Standard solid marzen.

Overall, just ok. Copper color, malty aroma, but little off...taste is a little off too. Looked to have potential, but didn’t rise up. Would not recommend vs other choices.

Tap. Harrisburg. Pours a clear bright orange body with a minimal fizzy white head that faded to a thin film. The nose is is sweet munich malt with a bit too much graininess and a light butter note that really turns me off. The flavor is much the same, slightly sweet up front with some husky graininess. Finishes with a slight buttery off-note that is really distracting to me. Not sure whats going on there, but it just doesn’t have that clean, well-lagered finish I want. Lighter bodied with fizzy a bit of stickiness on the finish. This could be decent, were it not for that buttery note that I’m picking up. Wouldn’t order a second one of these.

Something seems to be missing in this beer. A light watery Oktoberfest brew. Clear copper color, little aroma, not balanced. Overall, it’s not a bad beer for Oktoberfest, just nothing worth seeking out. I would drink it again, there are just many better ones at there.

12oz bottle via trade. Typical appearance for the style, deep copper/amber in color, clear, with a one finger white head that fades to a thick ring. Nice caramel aroma with herbal notes and honey. Very malty without much hop contribution. Somewhat sweet flavor with Munich malt evident. Lots of caramel, black tea, and some Noble hops on the flavor. Decent, but something is slightly off-putting on the finish. Medium body for the style with average carbonation. A fine oktoberfest, but not the first I’d reach for if I had a choice.

Poured into a pint glass. 3.0 A: Agressive pour gave a small head. Little lacing. Orange amber in color. 3.0 S: Sweet caramel and some sourness much like a sour wine. A bit of floral hops to round it off. 2.5 T: Really sour for a beer. Tastes like a cheap sour red white with a bit of Japanese sake mixed in. Interesting but not good and terrible for the style. 4.0 M: Easily the best part about this beer. Creamy and smooth and largely chewy. If only it tastes better. 2.5 D: It’s hard to get through even one of these. Serving type: bottle Reviewed on: 10-11-2008 23:44:02