Yum-O! Okay, so this is not your typical Marzen, but who cares! Some sweet malts in the nose. Pours a reddish amber with a nice fluffy head. Delightful hop presence in this tantalizing me for more. It mixes well with the sweet malts and is a nice addition to the beer world. Thanks again, Andre!

Bottle. Pours a deep amber color, very clear. Big, dense tan head forms and fades to a smaller, rocky head. Great lacing. Aroma is nicely malty, not overly done and sickly sweet like so many beers of this style. Earthy, funky hop nose also. Medium bodied. Nice balance in flavor. Probably overhopped per style but nice in my opinion. Slightly nutty, a bit of toast. Earthy hop presence balance and then goes a bit beyond. Not excellent per style but tastes nice to me.

Draft at the Barking Dog. Pours a deep mahogany-tinged amber. Thick moussy greyish head. Nice c-hop on the nose, sitting as the pudding in a cloud of nicely restrained malt. No caramel tsunami here, and more’s the pleasure. Maybe it’s not really an o-fest. Maybe it’s not something you should tell your friends from Bavaria about when they come over. But it IS really good as a food/session beer. Familiar caramel and toffee malt pleasures, but subdued the way they probably should be. There’s hop balance, too. It tastes like there are a full four ingredients in this beer, which is a problem too many o-fests don’t solve. Plus, it’s from Skagit River, and it’s well-balanced. And, bless ’em for their triumphs, that’s saying something. It’s a little shoddy to compliment a beer for what it isn’t, but navigating the potholes of a style successfully is part of the brewer’s art. This is a great little drink-any-month-of-the-year beer. No October ghetto here.

(22 oz bottle: Obtained in trade with Larry Pitonka, thanks André!) It’s odd how lately, I can’t seem to drink an American-made Oktoberfest that resembles the real deal from Germany. Instead, there seems to be a growing trend to craft Oktoberfest beers that elicit imagery of the Autumn season, in much the same way the Largo movement of Vivaldi’s "Autumn" Concerto evokes similar visions with me. Here we have yet another American Oktoberfest beer that’s as dry as the curled brown leaves falling from the trees. Hardly any sweetness at all, but lots of wood, twigs, earth, dust and chalk here. And this offering strays even further off style because it is also somewhat roasty, with a very noticeable hoppy flavor throughout and a mildly bitter bite toward the finish. The chalky flavor and mouthfeel is unusual, but seems to be a trait I always enjoy in beer for some reason. Medium body is perfect, as is the ample but gentle carbonation, and the beer’s obviously very dry and clean on the palate. The nose is earthy and woodsy, kind of mushroomy, very slightly roasty, and seems to have a lingering hint of maple syrup that’s obviously not present in the flavor. No hops aroma though, a little would have been nice. Deep ruddy amber color shows near-perfect clarity and a few steady streams of carbonation bubbles as they rise slowly toward the surface where the quarter inch of light tan, foamy head is waiting to welcome them. The head poured to an inch in height, but would have attained even greater stature had I not transferred the beer from bottle to glass with such care. Abundant patchy lacing resembles the delicate crystallized snow on a car windshield. Huntsman Oktoberfest may not be a classic example of the style, nor do I think it even comes close, but merely judging this beer on its own merits, I find it quite interesting and enjoyable. I think it’s the chalkiness that has really captured me. Along with the Skuller’s IPA, this is easily one of my favorite beers from a brewery that hasn’t often impressed me. And I have to give this beer a rare bonus point for so successfully conveying "autumn" to me, and for inspiring me to put The Four Seasons into my CD player.

Dark amber colour with light haze. The aroma hints at caramel and dark fruit. Toasty with hints of Munich malt, chewy earthiness and subtle dark fruits. Balanced and smooth.