Weihenstephaner Festbier

Brewed by Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan
Style: Oktoberfest/Märzen
Freising, Germany

Serve in Dimpled mug, Stein

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Bottled. Light golden coloured. Clear. Dense off white head. Crisp and fruity aroma. Light herbal. Flavour is full of fruitsweetness balanced by a subtle herbal touch. Is medium bodied. Dry mouthfeel. Very fresh and easy to drink. Has a light bitter end. Quite good oktoberfest in my book.

Bottle. Pours out a yellow color unlike any other marzen I have ever seen. Smell is grass, and some grain. Taste is much like just any normal corn, grain beer. I was expecting a much richer, much maltier beer, espeically considering the source. Their hefe is awesome, and they should stick to making that. This was rather disappointing.

Pours with a brilliantly clear, yellow gold color. It is topped by a frothy, initially three finger thick, pale off-white colored head that leaves a broken lacing pattern on the side of the glass as it falls back into the beer. The aroma has a clean grain character to it; a touch of sweet malt, a dry toasted biscuit like note and a bit of a grassy grain character. This has a nice hop touch as well; it is lightly spicy with a definite herbal edge and even some more complimentary grassy notes.

Has a light, sweet grain flavor up front, which is quickly followed by a spicy herbal hoppiness that ends with a light bitterness. Quite quaffable, while light it does have a certain heft to it that allows for the malt character to stick to the mouth. The finish has a lingeringly astringent bitter note to it that becomes more noticeable as my palate gets used to it. Definitely does not have the malt depth of a beer made with Munich, or even Vienna malt, but it is quite malty for the pale beer that it is. I like the balance between the malt and hops; this is more chewy and malty than your typical traditional Pils, though perhaps not as hoppy. Despite this beers bowing to the pale O’Fest trend, I find it quite tasty and drinkable.

Purchased at: 58 Degrees, Tucson AZ

Yellow and clear beer. White head. Easy to drink, easy to forget. Perhaps a little chalky feeling in the palate.

Bottle. Creamy white good mostly lasting head. Yellow colour. Week but ok hoppy aroma. Nice bitter flavor, average bitter finish. Watery palate. There are better festbier around.

Bottle. Clear golden colour with a small mostly diminshing white head. Aroma and taste of malts and hops. Pretty standard / boring märzen.

Bottle. Poured clear pale color with a large frothy white head that was mostly lasting with good lacing. Moderate sweet caramel malt and wheat aroma. Medium body with soft carbonation. Medium sweet flavor with a medium bittersweet finish of moderate duration. Solid refreshing drinkable beer.

Steve and his mates brew pretty great beer. Most of them are terrific beers that exhibit the quality and style garnered over a long period of time in brewing in a traditional manner. I expected a deeper colour than what presented in the glass, a biscuity hue rather than wheaty golden. Similary the nose let me down as the expectation of tim tam and caramel was high. Instead there is a lighter and almost wheaten ester in the nose. The mouthfeel is overpowered by the high effervescence and it makes for a harsh flavour because of it. Their strength is certainly in the traditionally brewed beers for all year consumption. Shame.

A favoured brewery of mine, makes up the most of my everyday session beers, yet this one was just plain questionable. Why have they sought to brew a Märzen? Was it brewed by the university students? Who designed that bloody awful Christmassy label?
From the bottle into a Weihenstephaner Weissbier glass. Clear, pale honey gold in body. Big bubbles, lots of them, lifting up only a thin, tight white pad that barely lasted the distance. Fresh baked wholemeal bread and moist, fresh pumpernickel in the aroma with an odd tickle of alcohol. It’s fizzy and light in the mouth cold. The fizz upsets the palate so most of the flavour is perceived through in the swallow. A few stern swirls and some pleasant, dry, grainy malts show, as does some assertively bitter, raspy and zingy hops in back. Finish is bitter with malts poking through all dusty and gritty. It remains crisp and clean even as it warms, so points for that. It is a pleasant quaffer no doubt, but it just failed to hold my attention. I hate beers that only make you think of the next different beer. That was this one. I expected more. I’ll stick with their ’Tradition’ and Dunkel weiss. so-so!!! (50cL, 11/07/07, The Beer Store Morley)

Pale but almost golden body with a poor white head. Light sweet malt aroma with some grass. Medium body, balanced, slight taste of lavender and other floral notes also some grain. Easily drinkable but outstanding.