MacTarnahans Uncle Ottos Oktoberfest

Formerly brewed at Portland Brewing Company (Pyramid)
Style: Oktoberfest/Märzen
Portland, Oregon USA

Strong and clean malty aroma. Lightly caramelly with only a hint of toffee or cookies. Dark amber color, large head with OK retention and light lacing. Quite sweet but with sufficient hopping - almost too bitter in the finish. Also a hint of smokiness in the finish. Probably a bit too much caramel malt flavor and not enough Munich malt.

This was a nice beer, but a little to sweet for me. It went down well. Being the hop head that I am I would have liked a hoppier beer, but almost every beer that I drink I think that. The malts were a little too much for me, not to say that this beer is extremely malty, but I am not a huge fan of malty flavors, unless it is more balanced with hops.

Not a bad American remake of a European standard, although I still find it impossible to really capture whatever it is European brews seem to have. This beer has an initial hoppiness to it that is dinstinctly Northwest U.S. but that is followed by a very nice balanced grain flavor inherent is marzens. I didn’t catch too many undercurents of any discreet flavors, mainly just hops, straight malt, and grains. Very well balanced though.

Sweet, caramel malt aroma, tempered by a bit of Saaz spice. Twice now I’ve also gotten an extremely faint bit of banana/bubblegum. Rich, clear amber color, effervescent and with an average head, neither impressive nor inexistent. Flavor is bready, sweet, and caramelized, then moves through some faint fruitiness on the way to the lightly hoppy, spicy finish. Aftertaste is all malt. This is reminiscent of some form of sweet baked good. Body is light to medium. Decent beer, and it’d be hard for me to imagine a fan of the style not enjoying it at least a little.

Clear copper body with medium light tan head. Aroma is sweet caramel nicely balanced by healthy spiciness. Interesting flavor -- very sweet malty, but also quite spicy and with decent hops.

Medium copper color, small head. A medium bodied Marzen style ale. Rich slightly sweet malt flavor, with a nice spicy hoppyness. Smooth taste. Full flavor. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is malty and slightly sweet.

Pretty copper-amber hue with healthy cream-colored head--sticky lace...Aroma shows light maltiness with tangy traces...Flavor displays some roastiness in the malts, and the hops are pleasantly mild, as one would expect from the Mt. Hood variety, but in concert ends up being a little tame. Carbonation (unlike some other Portland/MacTarnahan products) is kept under control here, and the balance of ingredients is pretty good...But the body is just a little bit light, and generally there aren’t quite enough "goodies" in here...still a plesant "starter" for a session.

Not a lot of aroma, a mere trace of hops and malt......nice dark amber color with a white head, that started thick, but faded fairly quickly.........very drinkable, smooth, but not the body of a great Marzen......slightly thin palate......still, all in all , not bad.