Big River Grille Oktoberfest

Brewed by Big River Grille & Brewing Works Chattanooga (Gordon Biersch)
Style: Oktoberfest/Märzen
Chattanooga, Tennessee USA

Name: Festival
Date: August 24, 1996
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewpub
Appearance: deep red, thin head
Aroma: sweet malty aroma
Flavor: good malt taste balanced with good hops providing a slight bitter finish

Name: Festival
Date: October 20, 2001
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewpub
Appearance: clear amber
Aroma: dry malt aroma
Flavor: rich malt flavor, just a touch of sweetness, nutty character

Name: Festival
Date: October 20, 2006
Appearance: clear amber, fine thin beige head
Aroma: nice toasted and biscuit malt aroma
Flavor: rich malt flavor, good hop flavor but a bit too much for an octoberfest leaving it too dry, the sweetness does eventually show along with some nice yeasty bread character

Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 5/10; Overall: 13/20
Rating: 3.2/5.0
Drinkability: 8/10
Score: **+/4

Brewery: Big River
Date: November 08, 2008
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewpub
Appearance: clear copper, fine beige head, streaks of drippy lace
Aroma: light sweet malt aroma
Flavor: sweet bready malt flavor, light earthyness, caramel sweetness, light bitterness in the finish

Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 12/20
Rating: 3/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: *4

Big River Disney World Oktoberfest-on tap-pours a thin off white head and copper color. Aroma is medium malt/grain, some fruit. Taste is slightly sweet medium malt/grain, some fruit/floral continental hops. Nice balance between sweet and slight bitter. OK carbonation. Their best beer to date.

Draft at brewpub. Poured a brown color with an average frothy off-white head that diminished slowly. with fair lacing. Good roasted malt and sweet aroma. Medium body. Good well balanced flavor of malt and a bitter sweet finish. Good brew.

Draught in Chattanooga. Pours mahagony-copper with a medium frothy tan head and some decent lacing as well. Malt (grain, straw, hay) and yeast (sweat) aroma with light roasted caramel malt and corn notes. Malt adjucnt flavor with a bitter acidic yeast and nutty body. Medium bodied and dry palate, refreshing.

Had on tap at the brewpub. Has a nice copper colored appearance, off-white head with a little bit of lacing. The aroma has a twinge of caramel to it. Solid malty flavor with a bit of candy-like sweetness to it. Turns a tad bit artificial on the back end though. Decent brewpub fare.

Nice, nutty, lightly sweet aroma. Cherrywood orangey beer. Dry, nutty, very lightly sweet, medium hopping. Good with food. Fairly quick finish with mild astringency.

Orange/amber colour with a dense off-white head. Small maltiness, a bit of spice in the aroma. Medium-bodied; Malt character in the taste and not much else. Aftertate shows a bit of some spiceyness, but that too is fairly subtle. Not a good Marzen...below average for the style. I had this on draught at Big River (owned by Gordon Biercsh) in Chattanooga, Tennesse on 26-September-2003.

A dark almost mahogany pour this beer really looks good. I only picked up malt on the aroma, I expected spices but nothing was there. A sweet malty flavor. A clean bitter finish. It was a tad over carbonated or fizzy for my taste. A good beer but just not as spicy as I expected.