Hop Harvest Oktoberfest
Peak Organic Brewing Company

 

 

 

Can from Hannaford, just shy of out of date.
Somewhat hazy light golden color with a huge frothy bubbly beige head that persists. Huge hop on the nose, citrus floral earthy spicy with a fair amount of sweet bready malt underneath. Spicy earthy resinous hop flavor almost drowns out what malt there is here.Light bready toasty malt. Moderate level of bitterness. This is a fairly tasty beer, but doesn't remind me much of an Oktoberfest. Call it a hop harvest ale and leave off the ofest and I would have rated it much higher.

 

Into a Sam Adams perfect pint glass, slightly hazy orange color with a small amount of precipitating carbonation. Thick, one-finger white head fades slowly leaving a good ring and clumpy lace. Nose of sweet citrus hops and orange Jolly Ranchers. In the mouth moderately bitter hops balanced well against a subtle malt backbone. Mouth is crisp, mid-to-thin bodied with adequate carbonation to accentuate the hoppy bitterness. Clean finish. Overall enjoyable though perhaps more of an American style IPA than a marzen/Oktoberfest. Would try again.

Truly one of the most drinkable Marzens I have had. There's a bit more spice and clean hoppy bitterness in this one when compared to others, and though well balanced, not overly sweet. This was really my favorite of teh season, hands down.

 

A group of local imbibers held the #PumpkinChallenge2016 recently, wrapping up on M, 03 Oktober 2016. I then proposed the #OktoberfestChallenge2016 & while I do not know how many participants there are, I am hitting it full bore. Today will be my New OktoBierFest Sunday (Week TBD) with an opportunity to do a horizontal tasting.

From the bottle: "Pure ingredients, delicious beer".

No tasting begins without the Pop! of the cap & so I did exactly that. A heavy-handed pour produced three-plus fingers of dense, puffy, rocky, eggshell-white head with great retention. Color was Deep Amber/Light Copper to Copper (SRM = > 13, < 17) with NE-quality clarity. Nose had an interesting spiciness, perhaps the hops, along with an inherent biscuity-toastiness. It was almost like a cross between an Oktoberfest & a Pumpkin Beer, at least on the nose. Mouthfeel was medium. The taste had a solid bite, but it was more like grassy or hay-like Noble hops alongside earthy, biscuity malt(s). It seemed a little amped-up on the taste, but I hate to make that complaint since I often feel that many beers in the style are too sweet. The finish was very dry, lingering with a hops bite, but I would have liked the malt(s) to have been a little more assertive. The Cubs are in the World Series & I am Goldilocks. searching for Baby Bear's Oktoberfest - one that is not too sweet or too dry, but just right. This was pretty close, but I like to keep my options open.

 

 

As people have mentioned, this is sort of a hybrid of an IPA and a Oktoberfest. This is a fun beer, just don't expect it to be to-style or you might cry.

 

Pours a hazy light copper with a finger of fluffy head. The nose is hoppy with little notes of malt present. The flavor pretty much follows the nose and the body is thin for the style.

I am generally not a stickler for style but this offering is far outside the boundaries of Oktoberfest beers, be they German-styled or American-styled.

 

 

 

12 oz. can dated 08/26/16

Pours slightly foggy dark orange amber with a creamy frothy white foam head. Smells like kiwi, gooseberry, grapes, orange, grapefruit, toasted brown bready malts, with molasses, brown sugar, and earthy herbal grassy pine. Tastes like kiwi, gooseberry, grapes, orange, grapefruity citrus, toasted brown bready malt, molasses, brown sugar, with earthy herbal grassy pine. Feels medium-light bodied, creamy and slick with moderate low carbonation. Overall a nice hoppy Oktoberfestbier.

 

Pours hazy with a khaki creamy head that lasts. Yellow orange a 9,10 on the srm chart. Earthy grapefruit peel exudes on the nose. there is fresh orange and ticklish herbal. None of those fruit flavors or scents apply to the oktoberfest style of beer but they do apply to the idea of wet or frsh hop beers like IPA's.

Drinks with pleny of malt but with dominant hops. Floral gives a bountiful softness to the middle and the peppery herbal and grapefruit meet the malt head on. A firm balnaced for an IPA bitterness lasts to show you some twigs and a little pine sap with nutty toastiness just underneath that. malt is in a supporting role in this beer. Carbonation is brisk. That little extra carbonation gives vibrance to both hops and malt. For the malt the bubbles seem to stir it up from the bottom and bring it more to the forefront for the finish. There is a little residual sweetness and on the palate it tastes like dry light brown sugar. It's also very hoppy. The bubbles also show off all kidns of fruity flavor from hops. The nose of this beer is brought down onto the palate expertly and deftly. It's a good beer and it is enjoyably hoppy. However it is not traditional. Finishes with the taste of fresh orange.

The brown sugar is the begining of caramel and so that is out of style, the dominant hop flavors and finish are out of style, the bitterness is too strong for the style and the carbonation is too strong for the style. There is also a sticky mouthfeel and all of this means that this beer is more IPAish than Oktoebrfesty. The bitterness increases as you drink and there is less and less flavor as your drink these one after the other. That is the hallmark of an IPA even a good one. The brewer says it's their "unique spin on a classic style" using fresh or wet hops.