Barrel House Oktoberfest

<b>9/26/2007</b>: Barrel House Oktoberfest Lager is extremely disappointing. Beyond the typcical Oktoberfest beer appearance the aroma is extremely buttery (lots of Diacetyl) and the flavor is acidic like sweet vinegar. I has a full body though that is creamy and smooth. Other than that, something definitely went wrong with this beer. It isn’t good at all and probably the worst of the Barrel House bottle offerings!

<i>Sample(s) from 22 fl. oz. bottles (Alcohol 6.2% by Volume) shared at the September 2007 Jundale Beerklub Tasting. Thanks! Rating #29 for this beer.</i>

Bomber. Pours a pretty, dark golden/amber color with a small but well retained white head. Smell is sweet, toasty, malty, normal vienna/marzen aroma. Pleasant aroma, almost Great Lakes-esque. Taste is light, smooth, clean, slightly - very slightly sweet, pretty dry for the style. Highly drinkable. Don’t understand the low scores on this one. Granted it’s not fantastic or anything but it’s certainly a decent if not good example of the style.

Pours dark amber with a nice cream colored head. Aroma is bready malt with a little caramel. Starts out somewhat sweet and bready, balanced well by the tartness from the hops. I think it’s a pretty good representation of an Oktoberfest, they must have addressed the sour/infection issue from last years batch as noted in previous ratings.

Pours a dark amber in color. Only a slight frothy head forms on the pour. It quickly recedes to nothing. Smell is all malts. There are a good amoun of hops in the taste. Also some good toffee and spice as well. Decent mouthfeel and very easy drinking.

I found this one quite enjoyable and am surprised by the recent negative reviews. I enjoy this style, and this one was a bit unique because it had a bit more hops, at least in some mouthfuls. The color was deep orange, aroma of molasses and cinammon. Apples in the palate along with graham crackers. Occasional hoppiness. This had wonderful complexity for an Okt.

Date: 02/24/2008
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting, Cellar Party

Appearance: clear dark amber, wispy beige head, drippy
Aroma: sweet bready malt aroma,
Flavor: tart malt flavor, lots of earthy bitterness,

Aroma: 5/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 4/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 7/20
Rating: 2.2/5.0
Drinkability: 4/10
Score: 4

Hazy amber body with a tiny white head. The nose is vienna, caramel, grapes and metal. The flavor is fairly dry, lightly tart and metallic with golden raisins and caramel. Medium/light body is a bit thin with light carbonation.

Pours a transparent copper amber with a thin, wispy-lacing off-white head. Aroma of lightly sweet toasty earthy caramel malts and with a touch of noble hops and light fruity tartness. Body starts lightly sweet with a lot of unexpected citric tartness before a drier grainy earthy acidity. This is a bad infection issues going on here.