Thomas Hooker Octoberfest

Brewed by Thomas Hooker Brewing Company
Style: Oktoberfest/Märzen
Bloomfield, Connecticut USA

(bonus brew from goldtwins)clear orange body with a light brown head that does leave lacing.aroma is sweet malt and pumpkins.brown sugar sweet malts and a tiny hop bite make up the flavor.

Bottle. I don’t want to sound like a homer for the local brewery, but these guys at TH know what they’re doing. Aroma is a little light, but has some good complexity to it:sweet caramel, breadiness, nuttiness and a bit of vanilla. Sweeter than most of the style, but it’s also balanced out by an adequate, while not overpowering hop presence. Caramel, brown sugar and maple all play with the hops and combine with a slight tingle to make a great mouthfeel. Very fresh and smooth finish. It really blurs the edges between oktoberfest and bock.

Bottle. Attractive, though it appears heavily filtered. Deep orange-brown hue with a frothy, off-white head. Fairly strong aroma of sweet dark bread, toasted nuts, malt sweetness, grains, powerful floral hops and a bit of toffee. Not too far off from what I expect a Ofest to smell like. Flavor is much the same revealing a chewy, yet not cloying, medium malt sweetness throughout with a substantial hop bitterness in the finish, that feels more fresh than overhopped. Slight acidity for the style and perhaps a bit of a astringency, though not much. Medium body, velvety texture, lively carbonation. There are a couple of different reasons why I /think/ I should rate this lower, but I can’t. I had a good time drinking this beer. A 3.8 good time.

Malty sweetness balanced by a hoppy edginess, I can only describe this one as clean-cut. It’s tasty and refreshing, but its been my experience not to expect much greatness from the style, and this was no exception.

Bottle. Orangy ambery colored pour. Malty sweet and a tad bready aoma I think. More sweet caramel malty flavors, with some acididity coming through in a fairly balanced manner. Body seemed a little light. Decent enough beer.

Bottle: Dark caramel, fairly hazy, moderate to large off-white foamy head, fairly nice lacing.   Pale malt aroma, slightly bready, hoppier than other examples.   Fiddle Faddle sourness emerges as it warms.   Malty start, semi-sweet, with an ever so slight hop bitterness on the backside.   Fairly light overall, finishes even lighter.   Moderate body, mouthfeel teetering on the thin side.   Not bad, slightly different, but wished it were a bit more robust towards the finish.   Thanks John!

Poured a amber color with a slight reddish hue and light tan head that quickly disapates. Aroma is malty and lightly sweet with notes of white bread and super sugar smacks. Malty flavors with mildly spicey finish. Dry finish. Becomes sweeter as it warms. Nice Octoerfest.

2005 bottle consumed 9/6/2005. Copper-amber beer with light ruby highlights and a huge amount of well-retained, yellow-cream colored head. Filtered and force carbonated, but must be the freshness creating such a lasting head (little to no lacing though). Very spicy nose with a sponge-cake like note as well. Dry, some malt graininess. Floral hops with a light hint of vanilla. Light bread, some maple and toffee. Flavor is malty with a spicy hops background. Dry grains and a very soft, flowery mouthfeel. Still, a bit aerated and unsubstantial in texture. Retronasal spicy, fresh hops. Fairly quick finish. Sweet brown bread and fresh 2-row barley flavors. Grains and hops linger through the sweetness easily. Palate does get a bit annoying, as the big, spacious bubbles burst all over the mouth, though at least it is not prickly and sharp. You know what’s great about Hooker beers? Even these contract brewed money-makers are better than most other breweries specialty lines. I can definitely live with having these beers fund the masterful creations brewed in CT by Mr. Davis. 6/3/7/3/13
Cask pint at Hop Devil Grill on 9/22/06. Bright and well-tended seems the cask, by appearance. Everything the bottle shows potential for it to be. Add in the fantastic texture, fresh yeast and light, natural carbonatoin. Mossy/herbal hops are not too spicy, nor is the malt overly bready. Goes down very easily and is quite the sessionable octoberfest, as it should be. Not overly high in melanoidins, but certainly bits and pieces of piquant fruits are present. A slight chewy toffee note adds a bit more sweetness. Could stand to be a bit more assertive in its yeastiness, as it seems very clean. But the fresh, flavorful hops, without any real bitterness works very well. Fantastic stuff. 7/5/8/5/16. Rating is an average of the two scores.