Shiner 96 Marzen

Formerly brewed at Spoetzl Brewery (Gambrinus Company)
Style: Oktoberfest/Märzen
Shiner, Texas USA

Bottle. Pours a promising amber, nice, dark, and thick; but alas; the density fizzles. Aroma is corn, sweet caramel, and a touch of apple. Flavor is malty and sweet, with a bitter/sour finish. Palate is, uh, okay. Expected more but didn’t get it.

For some reason I wanted to like this. Felt almost betrayed. And as much as I wanted to like it, I was also suspicious, but had been told it was okay. Guess it is okay, but thin to my tastes and with a weird finish that makes me wonder what combination of malts/hops were used. This is one style that I’m particularly judgmental about and am possibly being more forgiving than my description appears.

Sudsy, cream-white head that faded to a persistent film and brass-colored body with medium carbonation. Medium-light toast, some sweet caramel, and DMS in the aroma. Medium-low sweetness in the flavor with some mildly harsh graininess and notes of bitter black tea and cooked squash skin. Not something I would choose to drink again. Thanks for the winner Stan. ;)

Head is initially small, fizzy, off-white, fully diminishing. Body is clear light amber. Aroma is lightly malty (toasted grain), lightly hoppy (apricot). Flavor is moderately sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, lightly acidic, moderately bitter, slightly husky. Light to medium body, watery texture, fizzy carbonation. Wow, is this ever watery, fizzy, and dull. Smells/tastes artificial. Yikes. Drain pour...not in a repulsive way, just...this is like...imitation beer.

I really liked it. I’ve been a fan of anything Shiner for a while. Itt had a good aftertaste and the aroma I thought was nice. It definately isn’t my favorite beer but I would drink it again.

Pours a nice enough looking yellow-orange beer with a thin white head. Aroma of sweet malt or wildflower honey. Notes of pine and spruce. Way dry on the palate. Too bitter for style, but quite quaffable. A good effort.

Clear, pale amber appearance; slim, whitish head. Soft, malty aroma...actually, more vegetal than anything else. And all-in-all flat. Taste: a mess in the mouth, a convoluted collection of oddments, and none of them too pleasant. A hotness at the front, a glimmer of malt that fades off the palate, a faint flurry of hops that, too, dies in a quick. If they meant to make a marzen, the malt’s too lean, and the balance way out of wack. It’s nothing you could call complex, just a ...a trainwreck. Cooked veggies dominates the flavor, and that’s not good. Medium-ish body, long, yet unhappy finish. A struggles to get the entire contents down the throat. Eh...why bother, time to trade this in for a better brew.

Poured a clear golden color. Typical sweet caramel malty aroma. Flavor continued the aroma but was also a little tart. Light bitter finish.