James Page Oktoberfest Lager

Formerly brewed at Stevens Point Brewery
Style: Oktoberfest/Märzen
Stevens Point, Wisconsin USA

Finally found my ratings... Pours darker reddish brown with light head. Heavy malt aroma with some caramel malts. Flavor is slightly roasted caramel with malt.

(12 oz bottle: The Cellars in Roseville, MN) Rather hearty and flavorful Oktoberfest, malty, caramely, lightly toasty, with some sweetness and a mild bitterness in the finish. I appreciate that the sweetness is kept under control and isn’t the dominating feature of the flavor. The aroma is somewhat malty, but overall is pretty damn light. Medium body with a strong carbonation tingle on the palate. Dark amber color is pretty dark for the style, and there’s a slight haze that isn’t clearing up as the beer warms. Small off-white head retreats to a thin ring along the edge of the glass, and lacing is minimal. Pretty decent beer, definitely worth trying, but not in my upper echelon for the style.

2004 Autumn Brew Review: Brown Coloring. Small Head. Plenty of Malt on the Nose and Tongue. Some Caramel. Very Enjoyable Overall.

2004 ABR. Malty, roasted malt aroma. Chocolate and caramel notes. Dark amber, orangish brown. Totally diminishing off-white head. Flavor is not good. Served too warm firstly. All malt, no hops (which isn’t exactly a departure from style), but this brew is unbalanced.

Autumn Brew Review 2004. Brownish color with a quickly thinning head. Good malt start... and hot damn, there’s a nice malt taste also. A little sweet and sticky, but not overdone. Maybe some caramel. Not too much going on, just decent.

Nice dark amber color,small off white head that faded quickly leaving a slight lace behind.Nice malty hoppy aroma with a slight fruit presence and a nice sweet side coming through.The flavor was a nice maltiness with a little caramel and fruit with a decent hop presence,fairly sweet but not to verly so.Well worth having a few more IMO aqnd luckily i have more.

Light rubyish color, minimal head. Aroma is fresh and floral, soft, herbal,. Smooth palate, easy texture, still some decent body, but not much. Nice amount of sweetness, but not well-balanced by anything else. Little hops, hell, little of anything else. And now the sweetness is getting to be too much for me. Very ordinary, disappointly so. This will have to serve as a late night beer, until I get rid of it, my 4th or 5th of the night when it's too late to care and I'm almost asleep!

Indeed, as they promise, this is indeed a very good Oktoberfest. It pours with a nice vigorous cascade, though the head quickly goes to leave a vivacious amber body (yellow on the edges) and a decidedly oily appearance. The aroma promises much--it has a strong vein of alcohol to suggest something of a strong ale but it is deepest in its caramel malts, although I wouldn't argue if someone said they could find a hint of late autumn fruits as well. In the tasting it does reveal a bit of metal, and the alcohol is perhaps too pronounced, but what it lacks in balance it does at least provide in boldness. A lingering bitterness is good, but again more concerns about the metal. Perhaps it was just my bottle, which sat in my cellar just a little longer than the ideal. I was disappointed most by the palate, which faded as quickly as the carbonation burned off, leaving a sticky, rather too-sweet syrup with too little bounce. Still, if I were offered this beer, I would happily drink this during Oktoberfest--or any time of the year.