Oktoberfest
Celtic Bayou

Despite a bit of criticism, I liked this beer. It's so close to being a very good beer and perhaps will be in over time.

Appearance: The color itself is nice with a distinctively orange-ish appearance, cloudy, but not very alive; somewhat still looking. A one finger head diminished in about a minute to a ring and then nothing.

Smell: Though this cask-conditioned oktoberfest offering has been dry hopped to balance it's significant maltiness, it was lacking in much hop aroma. That's fine for an oktoberfest beer, but I expected a little more floral esters. The malts gave a carmelly impression upon smelling.

Taste: The rich carmelly malts are definitely the biggest feature of this beer. I had a hard time determining much of what makes up the hop profile because of the strength of the malt.

Mouthfeel: The mouthfeel was medium-light and somewhat flat. I expected a little more carbonation and that would have helped with the head retention.

Drinkability: I could have had another, but was not impressed enough to do so. I enjoyed this beer, and there was nothing blatantly wrong with it, but it failed to wow me as I would expect from this very good Redmond, WA based brewery.

Appearance – This one poured a brilliant brown in color with a light but unmistakably orangish tint and a thin white head.

Smell – This faint bouquet is made up of light malts and a wisp of molasses.

Taste – This one has fairly big malts at the taste. They are complex, which is something that I look for in the style. They go from deep, toasty grain to light molasses to finishing caramel.

Mouthfeel – This one is in between light and medium-bodied. It is somewhat hardy and has a light grainy bitterness at the very end.

Drinkability – This is a good, solid, on-style Oktoberfest that doesn’t really impress but certainly won’t disappoint.