Adventure Fest
Fitger's Brewhouse

Originally reviewed on September 21, 2005. Organic. May or not be a new recipe, but since it’s the same percentage, I’ll keep it as is. Deep, super rich smokey malt aroma, with some esters. Glowing orange-tinted clear amber pour, with a silk diminished white head. Sweet malt flavor, with an almost Belgian dose of yeast flavor. Lemon, orange, bread crust, and yeast. Crisp and buttery. Complex and well toned, with nice traditional fruity notes. Finishes wih a fantastic hoppy flourish on the backend, running over the smack of chewy whole grains. Difficult to pick out all the nuances. Palate is also complex, with phases of both dry and sweet runs. Damn good.

An impressive auburn color..nice toasted malt aroma....a great toasted malt flavor...pretty malty but finishes slightly dry....this is damn near "spot on" for the style..

Very easy drinking...ABV is relatively low which is good with something this tasty....medium bodied...not too big to down a few...I have a growler of this and will drink it all during the game....

I REALLYenjoy the flavor of this beer....I love an o-fest with a nice toasted malt flavor and this one certainly has it...I think this is a pretty special beer..the best o-fest I have had this year for sure...definitely top 5 or better all-time on my list...I'd love a keg of this for a kegerator in the fall..

While Marzen isn't my favorite style, I think this one is a bit under par even with my bias accounted for. It had a strong malty base with a lot of rounded caramel notes. It looks nice in the class with the off white head, but doesn't live up to the adventure. The spicy hop character didn't seem to be able to balance the malt, and there was a slightly astringent off flavor in the back of the mouth. Still enjoyable to drink, and still good, but I moved on to others after one.

I agree with tavernjef that the cask might not have done this one justice. Just not enough punch to match the style.

On-Cask at the brewpub: Fuzzy copper color with a medium sized capping of firm, lightly tanned smooth foam. Low lying lace in globby curtains stick on the glass with effort along with some spotting.

Aroma is bare and fairly light of malt grain, having only a tiny bit of toasty sweetness of breads and a sliver of caramel to it.

Taste is a bit tame and understated. Not very O-fest-like in any such manner as its slow and empty with a slight breadyness, pale sweetness, and pale taostyness. A slight caramel center eeks its way around some areas. Other then that this just didn't have much flavor to it.

Body is bit watery and light, off the cask it tended to keep a creamier sweetness in a somewhat rounded bready, unfruity fashion but stays quite pale and underwhelming throughout the session.

Perhaps the cask pull didn't do this one justice as eveything seemed tame, pale and just plain off. This came across more like an English Brown and nothing like what I thought a good O-fest should be like. One of the more disappointing brews from Fitger's.

Fitger's Adventure Fest is their Octoberfest offering. It pours a slightly hazed orange-brown with a thin white head that, while thin lasts pretty well. The aroma is sweet and grainy or more appropriately caramelized grain. The taste has a quick bite of hops but is dominated by the malt. Mouthfeel is a little thin for the style, but still decent. Drinkability is good. A couple went down quite nicely. This one is worth a try if you get to the Brewhouse.