Bürgerbräu Wolnzacher Festbier

Brewed by Bürgerbräu Wolnzach
Style: Vienna
Wolnzach, Germany

Head is initially large, frothy, off-white, mostly lasting. Body is hazy light amber, dense tiny/small particles, bottle conditioned. Aroma is moderately malty (toasted light bread, caramel, cookie), heavily hoppy (flowers, herbs), with strong notes of orange, apricot, honey, and peach. Flavor is moderately sweet, moderately bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, moderately bitter, lightly acidic. Medium body, watery (almost creamy) texture, lively carbonation. I’ve had this a number of times since I first rated it over two months ago, and there is just no pussy-footing around about the aroma. It is absolutely stunning...even in a wide mouthed mug, it still blows my nose away with honeysuckle and toasted bread and all sorts of fruits. And then of course there’s the flavor balance...and the amazing appearance. There is virtually no hope of finding anything better in this style. The definition of ’luscious’. I just hope I bought enough to last until next October.

First of all, let me thank PsychProf for suggesting this beer to me while at the beer store. What a nice ’Fest beer! The aroma is that of malt and is sugar sweet (a good sweet). Taste is a malt explosion. Banana, citrus, spices and who knows all what is in the taste of this beer. Delicious. The finish begs you to take another drink. I’ll be buying this again. Soon.

Unusually hoppy for this style. This reminds me of what Victory Lager would be like if it were an Octoberfest beer. The nose is strong Hallertauer. The malt contains, I believe, less of the roasted character that you find with most Maerzens. Instead, this one relies upon hops for structure, which join up with the malt very nicely toward the end. The finish is extremely long and dry. A great beer.

Beautifully adorned bottle gets an extra appearance point. Dense, creamy, and rocky foam atop a crystal-clear amber liquid. Extremely ripe and soft aroma of white grape, honey, hay, candied malt, and a touch of wintergreen. Wonderful palate is just begging you to take another sip. Classy flavors offer a hint of barnyard, honey, including a long malty and satisfyingly spicy hop finish. More Hallertauers on the nose would have made this aroma perfect. Overall, this is a super-clean, elegant lager. Easily the best Marzen I have had. Note: I enjoyed the draft better, as expected, but the bottle was a delight as well. Thanks for the bottle, good buddy, ecrvich!

(re-rate) Golden colored, dense 1/2 inch head and decent lace. Nose of caramel, toast, perfume, sugary malt and others. Medium bodied, smooth with loads of flavor. Toasted caramel, honey, nuts, elegant malt up the wazoo with a nice load of hallertau’s to balance. Fairly crisp, a bit dry in finish with mineral notes poking through here and there. An absolutley delicious oktoberfest. The best I ever had.

Rerate: I underestimated this one. I had a second sample and am very very impressed. Hoppy, only slightly sweet...not as delicate as originall thought. In fact, I have to add some palate points. Delicious! Original: 11/27/2002: Man! Deliciously light and airy. The most beautiful Hallertau earthy softness aroma (I want to dunk my pillowcase in the aroma and sleep on it!). Not exactly toasty or caramelly in the same way I’ve had, or even that ’out in the country’ maltiness -- just a bit sweet. Nicely made, and quite subtle. A hair too sweet for my taste...but just a hair! The first in a delightfully varied package from urbnhaut!

Slightly hazy oarnge with a frothy,rocky,white,head. Aroma is boisterous Hallertauer hops,and juciy,enticing,malts. Body is luscious with some thickness. Very clean tasting.Bready,sweet malt flavors linger and lead to a wonderful dry/semi-sweet finish.Excellent all around,balance and the flavors lasted.The best thing about it was,it came in a pint.

The pour is one of the most interesting I've ever had. A heavy dark golden/near amber color liquid, in which the bubbles stay in suspension for a long time and then float about and meander to the top to form a smaller cream colored head. Aroma is slightly malty, with herbal hops and undertones of honey, lemon zest, and apricots. Pure heavy malt starts in the front of the tongue. Leading to a light floral hops that linger and float around, somewhat like the bubbles in the pour. Smooth, near oily in feel. Later, as the brew warms the honey and clover flavors come out and the hops linger longer in the finish. The finish is superb! A terrific balance of malt and hops. This is the third of four bottles I purchased, and each time I have had one I like it a little bit more. A few more and this may be on the top of my list.