Across The Nation 191 Märzen
Central City Brewers + Distillers

 

Can: Poured a clear golden color beer with a medium size white foamy head with OK retention and minimal lacing. Aroma of cereal notes with light residual sugar notes also perceptible. Taste is a mix of cereal notes with some light residual sugar notes with a clean finish. Body is about average with good carbonation. Well brewed for style.

 

355 mL can from the LCBO, included in their Across the Nation collaboration (Back East) mixed pack. Dated Apr 9 2018 and served slightly chilled. I'm having this after a bottle of Hofbräu Oktoberfestbier for comparison's sake, because that's as good a standard as any.

Pours a crystal clear golden hue, with one cm of frothy white head situated atop. It fizzles off within 90 seconds; no cap to speak of, or lace really, merely a ghostly thin collar. Looks ok I guess, and the aroma is similarly non-descript - all I'm getting is some lightly caramelized malt sweetness, with touches of bready, biscuity malts and grassy hay. Nothing interesting, but appropriate for the style.

Not bad; a decent lager that clearly leans toward the sweet side. Caramelized malts and light sponge toffee sweetness start things off, with bready, lightly toasty malts following through to mid-sip. Faint suggestions of biscuit and bruised orchard fruit give way to an earthy, grassy back end; slightly bitter at first, but with a nutty-sweet aftertaste that soon dissipates. Light-medium in body, with low carbonation levels that gently prickle the palate and tongue; the mouthfeel is smooth and fairly soft, with excellent drinkability - a virtual requirement for this style.

Final Grade: 3.71, a B grade. Kichesippi's 191 Märzen is exactly what it needs to be: nothing more, nothing less. Definitely sweeter than the Hofbräu, which is what I'd expect from this märzen vs. that festbier - my tastes unfortunately fall more in line with the latter, so while I enjoyed my glass and wouldn't refuse another, I can't say this is the sort of thing I'd be picking up regularly if it were sold as a single. It's still a fine Canadian approximation of the style, and a worthy inclusion in this sampler.

 

Collaboration Kichesippi, canned: Bright golden color with no activity but some faint minerals. Slightly foamy 1 finger head, lasting around 5 minutes, weak legs and swirl reaction. Flavors of sweet barley, melon, apricot, caramel, and floral hops. Slick and smooth full body with sharp crispy carbonation. Light strength finish, mostly grainy with a gentle fruit sensation, ends with balanced flowery hops. Feels like a modern octoberfest Marzen, and as faint as one. Good freshness and balance, real nice texture. Overall good quality craft.

Clear light amber with a small head. Basic malt nose. Spicy malt body with good crispness. A pleasant, basic brew.

 

 

Can from the collaboration pack...pours a light golden-orange with a tall off white cap...aromas of bready grains and noble hops...Flavor follows aroma up front, nice chewy dose of chewy amber malt balanced well with spalter hopping, medium bodied and satisfying with a long dry finish...perhaps a tad too bitter in the finish for the style but very serviceable Marzen...one of my favorite brews...decent offering here.

 

 

Pours a pale clear amber body with minimal white head. On the aroma, rich, yet muted carmelized malt, with a slight cereal grain sweetness is coupled with the spicy pungency of noble hops. These noble hops stand up well on the palate, making for a fairly clean beer with subtle malt flavor and a cleansing hop overtone. Fairly nice beer.

 

Malt be king! It’s unusual to have a newly released Marzen in May, but this version is certainly compelling. Nice color and head, with a rich malt base that pulls in crackers and spice. Overall, a bit of an odd duck.

355ml can, part of the 2018 Across the Nation collaboration pack with 12 different Canadian breweries, one from each province and territory. This one involves Ontario's Kichesippi Brewing, and is a Marzen, solely named after the fact that both the brewmasters here are of the same height. Cute.

This beer pours a clear, bright pale golden yellow colour, with three zaftig fingers of puffy, rocky, and somewhat fizzy dirty white head, which leaves some decent striated and sudsy cloud-form lace around the glass as it quickly blows off.

It smells of gritty and grainy pale malt, some muddled pome and citrus fruitiness, a touch of wayward ashiness, mild yeasty notes, and some leafy, weedy, and grassy green hop bitters. The taste is grainy and crackery cereal malt, some semi-sweet apple and pear fruitiness, more weirdly perceptible char, a hint of earthy yeastiness, weak black pepper essences, and more understated leafy, earthy, and musky floral noble hoppiness.

The carbonation is average in its palate-coating frothiness, the body an adequate middleweight, and mostly smooth, but for that kind of subtle smoky thing going on here. It finishes off-dry, the lightly toasted malty thing totally a going concern.

Overall - this comes across as a perfectly agreeable version of the style, though one once again, due the packaging vector, released thoroughly out of seasonal consideration, FWIW. After my 'get the fuck off of my lawn' ramblings are over, I can duly admit that this is a sehr gut tippler.