Coney Island Freaktoberfest

Shmaltz Brewing Company
Brewed at Olde Saratoga Brewing (Mendocino Brewing Co.)
Style: Oktoberfest/Märzen
San Francisco, California USA

Chalk and spice on the nose. Brilliant, clear, blood red with a super foamy pink head. Sweet soft honey and malt, some spice, big bitter bite. Big carbonation, medium body, fairly long mild hoppy finish with some alcohol warmth. Structure is solid, undecided on the red color factor…I guess it is fun and different, and since it is delivered in a pretty good beer—what the hell?!

Bottle at Magoos. Really interesting and certainly not a Marzen or Oktoberfest. Freaky red soda pop color, with a really big head. Slight hint of malt odor and maybe mostly like a hopped belgian. How about campari and soda, with a very dry hop tatste throughout.

22 oz. bottle from Whole Foods on Ponce De Leon. Oh shit, someone died in the fermenter! I don’t know why anyone would replace beer with blood, but that is a bit sadistic. Seriously, as others have said it looks like carbonated fruit juice. I think it is nice twist on the appearance, but it really doesn’t add anything to the beer. Has a very faint malt aroma. Not much of an aroma on this one. Oh look, the ABV is 6.66! What a very crafty beer! Blah, what the hell is up with this thing. Has a hop flavor, but beyond that there is just carbonated nothing. I am not a fan of pouring out beer no matter what the circumstance(s), but they shouldn’t test me on this one. Other than the slight malt flavor as well, this beer is what I call crap. Please don’t try and make a marzen lager interesting if it is going to suck badly.

Bottle sample. Blood red pour with a medium pink head. Malty caramel aroma with hints of yeast. Sweet malt flavor up front gives way to bitter hops all the way until the finish. Not bad for a beer you’re expecting to taste like kool-aid.

Oh. my. god. It pours cherry cough syrup red. It’s RED!!!! WIth a pink pink head. GROSS!!!! It looks like jungle juice. WARNING!!! Aroma is malty and vegetable hoppy. The color is throwing me off a bit and I swear I can smell red food coloring. Flavor is malty, hoppy, chemical bitter with a slight hint of vegetable (or cherry). IT’S RED!!! BEER IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE RED! As I keep sipping it, I’m hallucinating cherry cough syrup flavor. I just can’t do this red thing. Ew.

Food coloring red in color with a pink head. Aroma is grainy, lightly metallic with some earth and grass. taste is malty, with some metal, overall light bodied. Unimpressive.

guhhh, pink beer with a pink head. I already know this is not going to end well. The smell is i don’t even know, pink? i still cant believe its pink. The taste actually isn’t half bad and its quite refreshing as i can detect hops, some malt, maybe raspberries or blackberries, and some other fruits i cant put my finger on. finish tastes pretty boozey to me, definetly dont want to try it again to figure out what i really make of all this. a totally odd brew for sure.

Light, tangy aroma. I passed this brew by a couple of times, since the label looks like the cap and I thought that I’d had it. I was totally unprepared for the froot punch rose color with the pink head. Bitter, lemon pith flavor. Dry. Unpleasantly bitter finish on a medium body which really kills off the enjoyment of the beer. Wouldn’t take anotehr one for free. Market Square Liquors.