Ayinger Oktober Fest-Märzen

Brewed by Brauerei Aying
Style: Oktoberfest/Märzen
Aying, Germany

Draught Pours a amber colour with a medium off white head. Aroma is weak but some bready malts are apparent. Initial taste is toasty with mild malts. Hints of spices phase in for only a short duration. Finishing with crisp hops.

Tap at Ayinger resturant in Munich on 9-29-07. Didn’t drink a whole maß of this oktoberfestbeir, but I wish that I had! Absolutely unique and superior to all the Munich oktoberfestbiers; what I imagine a märzen was originally like when they started serving them at the festival. Cloudy orange amber color with a big off-white head. Sweet malty aroma with lots of fruity mellon and yeast. Sweet, thick and fruity with a suprising bitter finish to round it off. I want more of this.

500 ml. bottle. Nice bready aroma accompanied by floral hop. Amber color with a frothy off-white head. Medium bodied with fine, creamy carbonation. Flavors of caramel, bread and flowers/herbs. Very smooth. Slightly caramel sweet. This carries into the finish, but there are floral hop notes to help balance that. Something of floral, herbal tastes at the end of the finish. It is really very tasty.

Bottle @ House of Brews, NYC. Pours a deep orange color with a frothy white head. Aroma is grain with a nice malt characteristic as well. Taste is grain and bread notes in the fore with malt flavors coming out in the end. Not as sweet as the Hacker-Pschorr, but definitely representative of the crisp refreshing Oktoberfest style.

2007 Botle from sam’s. Pours a clear orange with a little white head. Nose is heavy on the malts--you can really smell the grains. Flavor is bready with some caramel and more malts. A lot less sweet than most american marzens. I guess this on par for the style but I dont really like it.

Draft @ BSP, /5L. Pours a nice amber gold with thick, residual head. Nose of bread, caramel, floral hops, full bodied yet quite quaffable, tasty malt sweetness backed by well balanced bitter finish. A standard for the style.

Pours a sparkling clear amber with a frothy beige head. Nice lacing. Clean bready malt on the nose with faint earthy hops hiding in the background. Light to medium bodied and slick (almost creamy) with a crisp, clean finish. There is just a whisper of metal at the finish. Solid toasted bready malt sliding to a lightly sweet note before toggling back to the breadiness and a crisp, light hop finish. IMO it’s lightly better than Paulaner (more complex) and is my favorite Märzen to date.

On tap at the Sharp Edge Bistro. Slight haze to this otherwise ubiquitous pale yellow looking beer. Big foamy creamy head that hangs for a while after settling. Not much aroma but it does have a very slight wet rag mustiness to it. Taste impact is one of the better fest beers I’ve tasted. It lacks the strong bitterness that is associated with the higher rated fest biers. Barely any carbonation. Well mannered and friendly, very civilized. Finish has just a tad of mild well controlled malt bitterness and even hesitate to describe it as bitter. Its just simply present. Although very good, as I recall, it’s not up to snuff when compared to Hacker O’fest.