Newport Storm Regenschauer Oktoberfest

Brewed by Coastal Extreme Brewing Company
Style: Oktoberfest/Märzen
Middletown, Rhode Island USA

Draught. Amber pour with thin cream colored head. Aroma of hops, malt and brown sugar. Taste of nuts with a hoppy finish. A little too sweet, but not bad.

12oz bottle. Looks like I’m the 1st to rate this year’s batch (the store I bough it from just got it in). Bottle notched best before Feb. Poured a lighter amber color with a smaller sized off white head. Aromas of grains, caramel, toasted malts, and somewhat bready. Tastes of caramel, toasted malts, trace of citrus, and lighter breadiness. Thinner body.

Bottle... Clear amber lager with a small, creamy, off-white head. The aroma is of caramel malts with a trace of milk chocolate and spent grain. The flavor is malty, but thin. Light caramel and toffee. Sweet, but not cloying. Medium-bodied and creamy with medium carbonation. Finishes lightly bitter, then dry. Thanks goes out to growler for bringing this one back from his trip to New England!

Bottle, acquired from Hogtown Harry. Nice medium orange, small white head. Medium malt and hops in aroma. Decent malt taste, watery and thin. Metallic hops present. Sweet. Decent bitterness to finish. Not bad at all, but fairly standard.

Bottle (12oz). Clear bubbly deep gold with a large lasting fizzy/foamy straw-coloured head. Aroma of sweet malt with sour grain and almost vinous sour overtones; sourdough yeasty. Taste is like a mild belgian ale with plenty of yeasty bitterness and some sour grain - I got definite oaky vanilla on warming. Pretty average mouth and palate - somewhat bitter finish, astringent - pretty decent overall.

(12 oz bottle: Obtained 06-Apr-06 in trade with 46er3498, thanks Tom!) Caramely, moderately sweet, and lightly bitter. Pretty much sounds like your typical American Oktoberfest beer, and in general it is, but this one exhibits a bit more toastiness than most, plus finishes with a hint of light roast. Unfortunately, the beer gets a little too floral and perfumy for me, so this still doesn’t rise above mediocrity. Also a hint of corn husks far in the background and a slight hop bite in the finish. While the nose is still somewhat caramely, I like the way the beer’s aroma more than the flavor. It smells only lightly sweet, but also more toast and malt dominated and much less floral hops, so it’s more like what I expect a classic Oktoberfest to smell like. Medium bodied with typical carbonation. Clear, copper body is topped by a small, white head that shows poor retention (settles to thin ring) and no lacing. Just slightly on the "plus" side of average for the style, and by that I mean the American version of the style. Cap: "I think she needs beer."

Gold body, somewhat darker than the usual lager. Light white head. Spice and pine for the aroma with malts and hops evident. Citrus and hops dominate the taste leaving you with a sharp ending.

This beer is a very timid version of marzen, with very little malt character, body, or flavor. In fact, this beer tastes much like Hurricane Amber Ale, except it is lagered. Newport Storm Regenschauer Oktoberfest pours to a bright amber color with a white head and a moderate amount of carbonation. Nothing really going on in nose, slight sweet/stewed malt aroma, that is not pleasing, and maybe a trace of grassy hop character can be detected. The palate is very thin and watery, with hints of sweet malt, and hints of "husky" grain flavor. This beer finishes with a touch of malt sweetness and grainy flavors up front, then ends with a quick, slighty grassy hop bitterness. This beer is not what I would expect in a good marzen, or amber lager for that matter. I’m sure this beer is brewed with quality malts and hops, but this beer was just off to my tastes, and I struggled though a pint of this one at the bar. Safe to say I didn’t order another one. This beer was and still is a huge let down for me, and was a very boring, not very good tasting beer. I suspect the bottled version of this beer isn’t much better, but I won’t be finding out.