Oktoberfest
Harvest Moon Brewery & Cafe

 

 

 

Appearance: dark amber in color with a 2" head that lasts a while. Some spotty lace develops during the session.

Smell: caramel and some nutty bread tones rise from the glass and are pleasant but soft.

Taste: nice bready malt profile here as caramel, ripe dark fruit sweetness, some earthiness, and a nice bitterness makes up a very tasty oktoberfest.

Mouthfeel: medium bodied. Lightly crisp to start, a bit smoother towards the finish with a hint of dryness.

Drinkability: this is a beer that you can drink all session long. Nice and fresh, this one hits the spot this year.

I had this one on tap tonight for the second time of the season. Not a favorite from the Moon

A: Light amber color with a thin head and patchy lacing. The head held on through the entire beer.

S: Caramel. Something off putting for me in the malt bill- almost something there of corn with no discernable hops.

T: Bready and malty, not sweet. A burnt toast character off the malts, definitely one dimension to me. I feel like I am missing something and some hop texture would have done it wonders.

M: Very dry and more carbonated than most o-fests. I would call the aftertaste having a copper tinge, odd.

D: Didnt really like the beer so have to grade this low. Became even more lackluster as it warmed.

Gave it a second try wanting to like it but just didnt. Probably one of my least liked beers Ive had here. Im used to the brewery doing great things but to each their own.

The calimari made up for it. As did the wheat wine.

Had this on tap yesterday at the Harvest Moon Brewery in New Brunswick. I found the Harvest Moon Oktoberfest is not your typical O'Fest brew.

Pours a beautiful deep amber/red color with a small creamy beige head that dissipated rather quickly. Slight lacing remained around the standard pint glass.

Aroma of a nice caramel malty quality, some spice with toasted bread apparent.

The taste on this nice brew was dominated by a delicious strong toasted bread element. If you could imagine a great Italian bread biscuit (Tarali) that is well baked and dark especially on the bottom, or a great home made dark German pretzel then you could imagine the main flavor of this brew. This was balanced somewhat by a nice sweetish malt flavor, a minor alcohol note and slight hops note at the end. The bold toasted bread flavor is certainly the main event here. Comet to think of it, this would be of been great with a perfect dark homemade pretzel!

Mouth was nice but average finishing with an apparent dryness.

The Oktoberfest style is not usually my first pick but the Harvest Moon Oktoberfest stands out. Very nicely drinkable on a fall evening. With the low ABV I was able to enjoy three of these. Overall I really enjoyed this unusual contribution to the Oktoberfest style.

From growler tasted several hours after purchase:

Pours deep orange/amber with a slightly off-white creamy head that becomes a thin cover that leaves some broken rings of lacing.

The smell is grainy and caramelish. Some spicy hop notes lie in the back.

The taste is malty - grainy and caramelish. Malt accented, but with a fair amount of spicy hops. Slightly burnt edges detract somewhat. The yeast strain comes through a tad bit. Dry finish. Medium-bodied.

A decent O-fest overall, though can't say it stands out much over so many others.