Ayinger Oktober Fest-Märzen

(Bottle). Semi-sweet bready malt aroma. Golden color with medium head. Flavor is malty and pleasantly semi-sweet, with hops also evident. Mild but lasting finish. Nice quality brew, but perhaps just a bit over-rated.

My catagoration of this beer would be to mix a wheat beer with an octoberfest. This is one of the lighter color octoberfest beers and it has a flavor very consistent with a wheat beer. This is an exception beer.

Bomber from the bottle shelf for $1.49 Poured a nice copper color with a thick head. Aroma of sweet malts and a slight citrus note. Flavor was rather "crisp" and "spicy?" witha back bone of sweet malts. A rather dry mouthfeel, I dont know why but this Octoberfest didn’t move me the way Hacker-Pschorr did.

Keg (St. Urho’s, Helsinki)
Rich orange, tiny head. Woody aroma. Nutty edge to a dry woody taste. Rich, burnt corners too. Soft palate. Smooth grainy body. Very tasty.

Darnit, just missed being rater no 555! Bottle, should be fresh. Lovely nose, rich pale malt with caramel overtones and lots of lovely spice. Touch of grass and light, perky citrus. Clear golden with a rocky off-white head. Taste is tart and lightly acidic, spicy lightish bread with clear German hops and a soothing, soft body. Soft water. Touch of toast edging toward smoke. Light-medium body, but a rich malt base. Super, one of the best, and thankfully, relatively easy to find.

Bottle. Pours clear dark gold with a big, fluffy off-white head. Nose is grassy hops and a bit of nice, clean, sweet bready malt. Taste is crisp and clean, bready malt with a bit of caramel, hint of brown sugar, perfect amount of grassy hops on the finish to balance. Medium bodied and medium carbonation. Really nice - nothing in the least bit extreme, but still supremely satisfying on one of the first cool evenings of fall.

500ml bottle. Pours a bright pumpkin orange with a nice thick foamy white cap that leaves sudsy lacing. Aroma is very sweet, malty, some plastic, and a little bit of alcohol. I can’t describe exactly why but I don’t really like the aroma. The plastic or the alcohol is distracting. It smells a little like a light Barleywine. Flavor is smooth and does not have any of the negative effects of the aroma. Crisp, somewhat dry. A pretty quick finish with just a touch of residual sweetness. This is fine but does not stick out as a great Octoberfest to me

The aroma is caramel malts, with an earthy, hay/grass character. The color is true to the style, an ornage/gold, although slightly closer to gold. Malty/fruity flavor, medium mouthfeel. The finish is malty, with a slight amount of hops. Good Marzen overall, still not the best.