Abita Fall Fest

Brewed by Abita Brewing Company
Style: Oktoberfest/Märzen
Covington, Louisiana USA

Clear copper pour with a small fizzy head. Sweet roasted malt and nuts in the aroma. Flavor is similar, with roasted malt and nuts. A bit thin on the palate, but not a bad brew.

Clear copper in color with a thick tan head. Aroma is sweet and roasty. Cloves, apple, and caramel in both the aroma and the taste. Light and slightly bitter flavor with nutty and malty hints. Overall not a bad beer.

On draught in NOLA. Pours an orangish copper with moderate white crown. Aroma is completely replete with malt, caramel malt, biscuit, and a slight hint of roasted malt. The flavour is full of sweet malt that is carried through to the finish with mild hop bitterness. This beer finishes very cleanly with a moderate carbonation and medium-bodied mouthfeel. Very easy drinking and amazingly balanced. One of the best American-brewed Märzens I’ve had. I’d love to try this in the bottle some time soon.

Pours copper with a thin tan head. Smells of caramel, some light citrus, earthy. Tastes of sweet caramel with a vegetal finish.

Pours a dark gold with a small white head. Aroma of malt and hops. Flavor is malt, spices, caramel, toasted nuts with a very subdued hop bitterness. Easy to drink, and no glaring flaws. Fairly decent octoberfest.

12 oz. bottle from Plaza Liquors - Pours a clear amber color with a one and a half finger thick off white head. Nice lacing. Aroma is toasted malt, herbal hops, and a touch of biscuit malt. Flavor is a lightly sweetened toasted malt with light esters. Light to medium body. This beer isn’t half bad.

Poured a dark golden color with decent white head. Didnt really look like a Marzen to me. The aroma was a bit sweet and malty. The flavor was not terribly impressive. It was grainy with a bit of caramel. Hops came through a bit. Mouthfeel was okay. This is not a Marzen I would buy again.

I began reviewing beers here just as the last of last year’s Fall Fests had disappeared from the shelves and the taps. Abita Fall Fest has been a seasonal favorite of mine for years, and I wanted to review it after a fresh taste, not from memory. The 2008 Fall Fests hit the shelves today, so here’s that review: Pours a slightly tarnished copper color with a medium sized and rapidly dissipating head. Nice lacy lacing is left on the glass. Nose, IMHO, is that of the quintessential Octoberfest beer. Bready and rich of sweet, caramel malt. Taste is very smooth and well balanced and also understated. There are lots of subtle little notes in the taste, yet none jumps out. The first obvious note in the taste is that of caramel malt, with just a hint of chocolate. Then, somewhat more subtle notes of nuts, biscuits, and hints of hops. Mouthfeel is smooth, wet, yet just a little bit creamy. Finish is short and consists of understated hop bitterness with just a slightly astringent component. This simply IS THE Octoberfest beer to me.