Weihenstephaner Festbier

Brewed by Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan
Style: Oktoberfest/Märzen
Freising, Oberbayern, Germany

Eh... just a so so beer overall. Not much at all to the aroma - some fruity notes, but not much that was very noteworthy. Flavor was pretty bland. There are better Weihen brews out there.

500ml. pale golden color pours cleanly with a solid white head. fruity apricot nose. lots of grain and aromatic german hops. medium to thin body with good hop bitterness. tastes like saaz, kinda musty, but also like hallertau, with some punchy lemon. over all not balanced or very good.

Sampled at the Odds and Ends Tasting II on 10/19/07: This beer is a clear straw color with a thin white head that burns off quickly. Spotty lacing. Sweet malt and fruit in the nose, and a touch skunky. Light-bodied with a fruity character along with light grain and hops flavors. The finish is short and leaves a bready malt aftertaste. So-so overall.

In the bottle at the Hy Vee Oktoberfest beer tasting 2008. Pours pale yellow with a thin white head. This must be the lightest looking festbier that I’ve ever seen come out of Germany. At first, the aroma seems ever so slightly photosynsitized, but this fades fast so it is not to annoying. Otherwise, has that German grainy, straw-like aroma. Has a yeasty and sweet pils-like flavor. This is really quite delicious. I could blast these all day long at a festival. Thus, I suppose it serves its purpose well. UPDATE 10/2008: In the bottle from Cyclone Liquors. Surprisingly cloudy and unfiltered. Dense straw gold with a large off white head that has nutmeg-looking dark yeast colonies afloat. The flavor seems to lie somewhere between a hefe and a pils. Good, but I was expecting more. The long bitter aftertaste lingers on the tongue.

16.9 ounce bottle purchased at BevMo in Natomas, CA. Well, damn, I was expecting some sorta marzen! Sweet, fruity, berry-like phenolic aroma. Perhaps some apples or acetaldehyde, too. Grainy, fermented corn-like aroma. Rather aromatic with a light breadiness. I don’t know. this doesnt smell as bad as my first impression had it. Transparent yellow-golden color with a small-ish white head and adequate lacing. Sweet, fruity, flavors, giving way to some cereal-like maltiness with some lemon, citrus flavors later. Finishes with a pleasant, herbal, spicy, lightly bitter hop finish. Refreshing and flavorful. A good effort.

(12oz bottle) Clear straw body topped by medium white head that mostly diminishes and reveals nice lacing. Aroma is moderately sweet, bread/cereal, some grassy, honey. Taste is moderately sweet, bread, grassy, some honey, herbal. Light-medium body, light stickiness, acidity.

Pours a golden color with a white head. Aroma is of slight toasted malts, floral hops, and some grassiness. Flavor is mostly grass and floral hops with a dry finish. It’s alright but certainly nothing amazing.

33?!?!?! A rating of 33 ?!?!?@! What the fuck is wrong with you twits?!?! You could be handed practically anything european (and exceptional) and be unimpressed? (UNLESS IT WAS FROM COLORADO, CALIFORNIA, OR maybe, just maybe belgium...) Fuck you all. This is an exemlplary brew from an exemplary brewery. AND NO!!!! It’s not supposed to be a maerzen!!!!!!