Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest

Brewed by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company
Style: Oktoberfest/Märzen
Chico, California USA

This was a very good smooth beer but I was expecting more taste. It had virtually no aftertaste but it didn’t have that full taste to it. Not a bad beer but I was expecting more.

Tap @ Horseshoe Pub. Goos nose, sweet. Yeasty, gingerbread, toffee, Mealy, nutty. Clean orangy brown color, good heads that faded quickly. Malty flavors. Toffee, cardboard, caramel, some grapefruit, grass. Medium to thick body, Creamy oily mouthfeel, Bitter drier finish. Ok brew, familiar yeast, seemed unlike most othe marzens I’ve had. Great color though again unlike other marzens.

On tap in the Restaurant/Taproom in Chico. Dark orange pour, off-white head with excellent lacing. Aroma has some ripe vegetable notes with a hint of pumpkin and caramel. Flavor is surprisingly smoky with some ripening vegetable notes and a back end of chocolate. Very flavorful Octoberfest.

(Draft: Pizza Port in Solana Beach, CA) Another unexpected guest beer in SoCal, this follows up a pint of the extremely dry Sierra Nevada Pilsner, which I didn’t care for. Unfortunately, this beer shares some of the characteristics I didn’t like in their pilsener. It’s malty, moderately roasty, hoppy and bitter, but not sweet at all. To me, it’s too dry and too hoppy for an Oktoberfest, but this is a Sierra Nevada brew after all, so I’m not surprised by the dry, bitter flavor. Medium bodied, and of course very dry and crisp on the palate. Lightly malty and hoppy nose smells like a dry, dark lager, nothing too distinctive here. Medium brown color is one of the darkest Oktoberfests I’ve seen. Pours a good inch of light tan head, but it fades to a sheen fairly rapidly, leaving behind a dense curtain of lace however. Like their pilsener, it’s just too dry for my tastes.

Had this on draft at MacGregors in Rochester, NY. Very happy to see this one! Nice brown pour with an OK tan head. Malty notes. Sweet aroma. Taste was a bit off, as this keg is probably from last October. Would like to find this in October and see how the taste holds up.

On tap at MacGregors in Henrietta. A little darker than most Oktoberfests, deep amber, almost brown, with a white head that left sheets of lace. Sweet bready aroma. Similar flavor with hins of sweet malt and honey. Palate was a little off, maybe the keg has been on for too long, but it seemed thin and maybe oxodized. Otherwise, it was pretty tasty. I’d like to try again just to see if something was wrong with this or if this is how it was supposed to be.

Ocktoberfest! I was pleasently surprised at not only the great palate and the flavor but the great sensation the the oktoberfest fills you with, if you want a party then just get a twelve pack of Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest.

Pours a deep amber hue with a wonderful off-white head. Aromas of roasted malts, honey, and nuts. Flavors of the same. Probably the best marzen I have had yet.