Weihenstephaner Festbier

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

Medium golden yellow with lacy white head. Notes of citrus, flavor of malt with a hint of grapefruit and banana. More bitter than the wheat. Typically less adventurous festival style beer.

Pours a clear pale golden color with a small white head. Somewhat sweet aroma, bready, hint of malts. Flavor was pretty bland. Not at all like a typical Oktoberfest. Watery mouthfeel. Disappointing.

Pours a cloudy golden amber color with clear light orange hues when held to a light source and a foamy one finger white head. Visible carbonation bubbling up the glass. Aroma is similar to a wheat beer with lots of bready yeast, banana, citrus fruit and some clove spice. Slightly watered down medium body with a lot of clove spice, ripe banana, citrus fruit and bready yeast. Slightly dry finish.

12 oz bottle. Pours a clear pale gold with a large white head. Aroma is somewhat sweet pale malts with perhaps a touch of lemon. Flavor is stale biscuit with some sweetness. Some bitterness comes out as well. For the most part this is like drinking a weak pilsner.

Very pale yellow pour with a tall, short lived, loose white head. The aroma is grassy with slight light citrus, a little biscuit malt, and some noble hop spice. Liglty sweet and bready malt backbone with some lemon zest and a mildly spicy and peppery noble hop finish. Light body with moderate carbonation. I suppose I might not be fully versed in proper German styles, but this does not seem like an Oktoberfest at all. It’s a nice, light drinking beer, more like a Kolsh to me, but doesn’t have the hearty malty flavor that I look forward to drinking in Fall.

Maß auf dem Freisinger Volksfest. Golden white head. Light grassy hop aroma. Bready sweet malt base, wellbalanced by a good portion grassy and earthy bittering hops. Dry finish with a long grassy aftertaste. Chewy sparkly mouthfeel.

Poured from 12 oz. bottle. Light gold with white foamy head. Nose of lemon, grass, sweet malt. A bit on the bitter side but smooth and well balanced with a nice hop flavor.

12oz bottle. Lighter gold with a big lasting white head. Noble hops and sweet bready malt in the aroma, with a rich, almost caramel touch. The flavor has a rich, sweeter malt profile with lots of rich pils malt, balanced by a biting hoppiness that is just overshadowed by the malt in the finish despite it’s ample spicy flavor in the middle. Medium bodied with smooth carbonation. Definitely as pale as the festbiers come. Reminds me of a hoppier version of Augustiner Oktoberfest (the one at the tent). Sort of a Dortmunder I guess. Definitely has a big helles’ malt profile, but with the hops of a pils. Almost too malty for its own good, but nice stuff that I’m glad to have been able to pick up as soon as it hit the states. I can see this going downhill in a couple months.