Flying Dog Dogtoberfest

Brewed by Flying Dog Brewery
Style: Oktoberfest/Märzen
Frederick, Maryland USA

Poured from bottle into tall glass. Copper-amber with bubbly head that recedes without hardly any lacing. Aroma of dark fruit, metal, slight caramel, and only a touch of toast or biscuit. Somewhat different smell for a Marzen. Caramel and dark fruit malts, with just a little toast in the background. Slight spicy hop counterbalance at the end. Little bit of a funny aftertaste. Moderate carbonation, medium body, just barely dry (I prefer drier for the style). Nice, flavorful, and easy to drink. It is certainly a German lager, but I am not sure it is a Marzen, almost more like a lower bitterness Vienna or a lower abv Bock. I am not too much of a stickler for style, so I like it.

Clear dark amber body with a thin lasting off-white head. Overall sweet, nutty aroma with caramel and a touch of grass. Smooth and creamy with average carbonation. Interesting but quite nice flavor. Caramel sweetness along with some tea fades to a mildly bitter finish. Very tasty.

Bottle from the Coop in Davis, CA. Pours clear copper with a four-finger off-white head. Interesting aromas of caramel and something lightly spicey or grassy. About medium in body with mild, near creamy, carbonation. Flavor is almost like tea, but then caramel and fruit. Finish is sweet, but lightly so. The somewhat bitter tea aspect balances. Overall, though, it’s malty. Quite good.

Bottle. Nice looking. Smells a bit like a pale ale. Taste is malty and sour, then bitter. Little bland, little thin. But if I were pounding beers I wouldn’t mind this one.

Bottle - Rich amber with off white head that fades to lacing fairly quickly, woodsy aroma with caramel and muskmelon flavours and a rich mouthfeel.

Enjoyed from a 12oz bottle in a pub glass. The beer pours a deep amber color with a just off-white head that is moderate in size and duration. The nose carries strong and complex malt characters, with special nods seeming to go to Munich and perhaps Vienna. The palate is also malty, giving a depth not seen in many other examples of the style, even from such benchmarks as Spaten. There is also a crisp and somewhat floral hop presence toward the finish, but not enough to call the beer balanced. Overall, very nicely done and highly underrated.

Bottled, 355ml from Bellingers Garage, Grove, Oxon. Red brown with slight white head. A syrupy caramel is the first flavour through, which tends to dominate the rest of the beer, there is a richness to the malts with a toffee biscuit type flavour. The overall effect is of a thickish sweet beer, not fully maturated.

On tap- Flying Saucer Cordova Pours a nice caramel amber. Malty of course, flavor not as rich as expected. Good sweet finish.