Draft at Hopcat. Poured clear copper color with an average frothy off-white head that was mostly lasting with good lacing. Moderate toasted sweet malt aroma. Medium body with soft carbonation. Medium to heavy toasted flavor with a medium bittersweet finish of moderate duration. Good brew.

on tap at HopCat. pours hazy copper with white head. nose of toasted malt. flavor is toasted, floral hop, caramelly. nice brew.

On tap at Crunchy’s, East Lansing. Clearish red-brown body, medium buff head. Bready nose with dry caramels and herbal hops. Medium body with light bitterness, dominated by floral, herbal hops and bready malts. Not bad.

On tap at Ashley’s. Pours a somewhat transparent, dark ruddy cherrywood color with a thin, wispy layer of off-white head. Quite dark for an Oktoberfest, and the aroma shows it, too. Lots of caramel and light chocolate going on, along with notes of prune flesh and some nutty, woody bark. Smells a bit dark, heavy, and astringent, and the palate reveals this is no misconception. Medium bodied, lightly carbonated mouthfeel. A pleasant amount of chewy malt up front, and while not overly sweet, it has this dark, borderline roasty, woody astringency that makes this taste a bit more in the lines of a bock. Plenty of caramel and dark malt qualities, but not much Munich malt flavor. Finishes dry, with more of that woody astringency and a kiss of noble hops on the back end. Drinkable and somewhat enjoyable, but not to style.

On tap at Ashley’s - Ann Arbor, MI. Aroma is a muddling of grain sugars, earthy spice and nips of Munich. Pours a middle brown, clouded and with tinted head. Flavor is a mostly generic bread malt, with rather gummy hops, a bouquet of light estery fruits, and a earthy chocolate touches. A certain tint of more caramelized or dark Munich malt, which is interesting. Not your typical Munich flavor, this has been messed with (no way...). Finishes dry and clean, with a good tooth of the gummy hops. When i had this, I had no idea what style it was, and I regarded it as a rather generic middle malt beer. So, as a Marzen, that makes sense and it doesn’t do a terrible job, but it could have clarified the malt profile and lager output a little bit.