McNeills Octoberfest

Brewed by McNeills Brewery
Style: Oktoberfest/Märzen
Brattleboro, Vermont USA

Pours a clear deep mahogany with a nicely-lacing white head. Malty sweet, authentic German aroma has some hints of noble hops. Starts with a nice, sweet malty palate, some grainy character and a touch of green, grassy hops. Finishes crisp. A good oktoberfest.

Jan 04: Bottled, 22 oz, unfiltered & bottled-conditioned. Very dark, cloudy-to-opaque, medium dying head. Powerful earthy-cedar-toffee nose, loads going on there. Flavor starts out a bit thin, but strong earthiness develops, with some nice hop hints at the end. Caramel, grass/hay, slight saltiness. Nice balanced fairly strong thick finish. Many of my friends thought the unfiltered overly-yeasty character worked against the style; I have mixed feelings about it, but I think this is worth a try. 7/3/7/4/14 3.5 Dec 05: This year’s model, or at least this bottle is pretty sour and lactic...the nose is still nice and earthy, bit smoky and nutty, but the body is vinous and disfigured by soured milk at the finish. Couldn’t finish it. Rating, for the moment, a combination of the two. 7/3/5/2 11 2.8

Earthy hops and large carmel malt aroma is appealing. Hazy amber-brown with thin, tan head that diminishes to ring. Earthiness and light spiciness in the flavour with some caramel sweetness and gentl bitterness in the finish. Body is medium but watery and a bit still and cloying. Bottle.

2005 bottle aged some 5 or 6 months and shared with OldGrowth on 3/14/06
A settled bomber yields a muddy caramel body, even from the top of the bottle, with a beige-almond head that slowly recedes to cover and then a light ring. Tiny, bottle conditioned bubbles burst vibrantly at the surface, creating a sparkling appearance.
Fruity (apples, pears, peaches) yeast notes combine with soft, authentic caramel notes, with a drying nuttiness and a touch of bread. Soft and surprisingly mild, but yet deep fruit flavors and a gentle sweetness from the caramel malt, really soothe the nostrils.
Flavor begins, again, fruity (cherries, apples, dates, raisins) though the malt really intertwines here to produce a caramelized, sugary-sweet fruitiness that slowly gives way (and not ever completely) to light earthy vienna-like malts. Kind of like an English dark mild, though far less roasty/toasty character. Extremely soft and round texure, one of the prime examples I have seen. Yet it does no lack for carbonation, though that is certainly low. Malty, overall, but bitter enough up front from the, now old, hops. Yeasty with some breadiness growing as it warms with dry, soily and crusty flavors emerging regularly. No alcohol apparency. Different than what was probably intended fresh, but interesting in its own right now, and further proof that McNeills beers are not infected bombs waiting to happen.

(22oz bottle) I had some guests visiting and they are a keen beer-exploration bunch so I cracked this out. It was supposed to be a marzen though I found the malt notes and nuttiness to be more becoming of a Brown Ale. It poured a beige creamy head and a amber-brown body. The nose carried notes of caramel malt and a honey sweetness. This was far better than I had expected... and a perfect follow-up to the Quelque Chose I previously fed them. Very impressed. Many thanks Muzzlehatch!

22 oz bottle. Another amber in what seems to be a never ending supply of Vermont ambers. Bitter malty aroma and thin resiliant 1/8" head. Taste is a funky yeasty barnyard thing going on. Light bodied with some pumpkin? going on also. Not a fan but not drainpour.

Bottle. Cloudy dark amber color, very thin head. Biscuity, grainy malt aroma. Intense biscuity and grainy malt flavor with hops and maybe bread. Full body, very soft carbonation. It’s surprising to taste a McNeill beer that is not strongly hopped, it’s very good too.

(22 oz bottle, obtained in trade with Eyedrinkale, thanks Mike!) Now this is a pretty damn good Oktoberfest, though I wonder if it’s straying outside the style a bit (toward a brown?) with the dominant roastiness. Not that the roastiness is all the strong, but it has sufficient presence to make this Oktoberfest stand apart from most others in the field. Apart from the roastiness that jumps out at me, it’s also fairly caramely. It has nice balance, with the mild roastiness lending some bitterness, and hops kicking in some bitterness as well. This also isn’t an overly sweet Oktoberfest. It surely has a moderate sweetness, but it seems in step with the roasty maltiness and the hops, and so this really is a fine, flavorful, enjoyable and well balanced Oktoberfest. Lightly roasty nose with some mildly sweet aromas. Amber brown in color, slightly cloudy in appearance. Medium body. The bottle opened with barely a "pfft", and carbonation levels are a bit low, but adequate. The head is very small, though, when the beer is poured. And it soon fades to nothing, not even a small rim around the glass, and so there’s not even a hint of lace on the glass.