Shiner Märzen-Style Oktoberfest
Spoetzl Brewery

This is surprisingly sweet, definitely not traditional. Drinks well and tastes like a seasonal twist on a dark lager, similar to but better than the Sam Adams version.

Look, taste, & smell was ok, but the taste was too hoppy for the style. Additionally, the alcohol taste didn’t blend well upon the first & second swallow.

Clear amber brown body with a white head for the appearance. This one is a simpler marzen: macro sweet caramel malt in a halfhearted intensity, toast and that's about it, maybe a tiny hint of earthy hops on the very last iota of the finish. Feels watered down, yeast is not a factor, malt dominates but is watery. But hey it looks nice in a mug!

 

 

 

 

Crystal clear, color looks alright, but I have difficulty with this sort of color (color blind). Head is anemic, dissipating quickly, and leaving no cap.

Aroma is initially fruity lager esters (i.e., "generic beer" aroma). Toasty, bread crusty, and caramel. The caramel starts to take over on subsequent nosing, trending toward toffee, though the crustiness is still present. Mild herbal hop character is apparent in the background as well. Not particularly deep or complex, but not unpleasant, though caramel and esters are not appropriate for the style.

On the palate, the arrival is sweet malt, with fruity esters running through out. The mid palate comes strongly into a pleasant bread crust flavor, followed by good hop bitterness. The finish is dry and pleasant, with a lingering mild bitterness. The caramel and toffee are in the palate as well, but the crusty flavor is stronger. Again, not really appropriate for the style.

Mouthfeel is a bit on the light side, close, but not quite creamy. Moderately carbonated, and a pleasantly dry finish.

Just as a beer: it's decent. I would drink this again (hence the overall of 3.5). As a Märzen: it's not a good representation of the style.

I was not expecting a lot out of this beer, but I was pleasantly surprised. Slight toasted malt smell with burnt caramel, same with taste, so it seems pretty average on the American Octoberfest take. What stood out was the mouthfeel. I don’t think I’ve ever quite had an Octoberfest, or beer in general, that was this velvety smooth going down, it was quite enjoyable.

 

 

 

 

Today is a new beer to me.

Shiner – Oktoberfest

5.8% ABV

The beer is listed as a marzen style beer on the label – and listed as “lager – marzen” on BA.

The beer was removed from a 40ish degree temp fridge after having been refrigerated for approximately 4 weeks. Beer poured into classic dimpled HB stein.

First Impression: Going to sound weird, but kind of what I expect. Perhaps a bit thin, good carb, nice color. Nothing standoutish, but nothing standoffish either. 4.0

Appearance: About the same as first impression. Nice color, decent and small amount of head for a short period. Color is a little light for the style, but not offensive. It’s probably right in line for what a non-affluent American might expect. 3.75

Smell: As is usually my take on beers of this style, I get the non-descript ‘bier’ smell. If I search hard I may get some yeasty bread and some paleness from hops with just a kiss of malt. -But…it’s faint. 3.5

Taste: Much like the smell, I am not much help here. I get a lot of malt, tad bit of carmal, bit of overdone bread (the crust). No hop presence. No discernable cracker that I can tell. 3.5

Mouthfeel: Thin, as to be expected. A bit closer to water than anything traditional. But, as is the motto for this ber…not offensive. 3.5

Overall: I want to be clear that this isn’t a good beer. There’s a difference between enjoyable, quaffable, and good. This isn’t offensive, and it’s pleasant, and certainly something I’d order depending on what is available. Does that mean I think it is a good beer? Nope. This isn’t offensive, and it’s pretty much what I expected from Shiner. It’s probably the most quaffable of any of the American versions I tried. 3.75

BA Review Score: 3.57

Picked up a sixer on special from the Harris Tweeter market in Hendersonville on 8-31-21 for $6.99. No bottling date; consumed for review 10-24-21.

Beer lured orange with a nice white head with the original pour.

Nose has hints of toasted malts and noble hops.

Taste follows the style with a nice toasted malt base hopped nicely with noble hops to balance things out.

Mouthfeel is light to medium bodied and fairly smooth and refreshing.

Overall i am surprised at how good this beer is in terms of taste and following the style compared to the historical rating. Glad i gave it a shot!

From the bottle, it pours a clear light amber color with a nice white head that slowly reduces. The nose gets some sweet malt with caramel notes. In the mouth, it is burnt caramel and malt.

12 oz. bottle poured into Imperial pint glass
LOOK: Medium amber color, 2-finger head that fell quickly, well-carbonated, no lacing
Smell: Extremely malt-forward, hint of sweetness
Taste: Like a dark bread, medium bitterness, harsh aftertaste
Feel: Like water, no carbonation, while the flavor lingers there is no excitement
Overall: I really wanted to like this and while I don't like to compare one brand against another, based on other Oktobefest beers I have had this one is kinda meh
Pair with dark bread, mustard and sausage. A sharp chedder would be a nice companion.

 

 

 

 

Manages to be mildly sweet and sticky while, at the same time, having a dry bitter edge.
Not an enjoyable beer.

Not as copper looking as I would have expected but more light amber in color with a thin white head. More ‘saz’ type hops on the nose with less of the sweet malt I’m used too with these brews. Not sweet and much more hop leaning compared with most Oktoberfest brews I’ve sampled. Thinner, not bad.

I suppose it is time I drank Shiner's O-Fest. But, it is average.

The more amber I get, the more I like the marzen. And the opening Looks of Shiner's O-fest is a pretty amber. But past that, it is average: with mildly sweet Smells, a balanced but uninspiring Tastes, and a Feel that is cleansing but not developing quite cleanly. I enjoyed Shiner's contribution to the annual ritual, but it will be many years before I return.

Despite Spoetzl's marketing/distribution success, I have not paid much attention to them because I only dabble in lagers and I much prefer Belgian ales. But Spoetzl is proof that if you focus on what you do (in their case lagers) and do it better than the average, you can be from not anywhere in this country and still go somewhere good. That is as close to high praise as I can muster, at this point in history, for a Texas company.

 

 

 

All around not a good brew - I dislike the taste, the smell and the color on this beer. Shiner makes a great bock but this is a poor attempt at an oktoberfest brew. I won't buy this again.

 

 

 

Unknown vintage (presumably summer 2021); drank 8/31/21 @ the Yarchives.

See-through golden appearance.

An even pour yielded a big off-white head; nice lace.

Acorn & mild wheat notes in the nose.

Medium thin mouthfeel.

Caramel, acorn & dry wheat flavors.

Slight and a bit too dry; this is OK but not one to track down.

 

Clear light copper appearance with a medium size off white head that left good lacing. Doughy aroma with a modest touch of caramel. Early signs of floral hops faded as it warmed. The residual sweetness was evident but not cloying while the bready malts remained focused. Medium bodied, moderately carbonated mouthfeel.

 

Pours from the bottle a slighty hazy amber; solid coaster ring of head throughout. Nose is sweeter malts, fruit esters, mild stone fruits, prunes, and plum. Taste is slight toffee and malt; grain with a lingering sweetness, finishing off with raisin. Feel is medium, full carbonation. Found things on the sweeter side of balanced, but still exceeded expectations.

Looks great and smells promising but...

...that's the of it leaves you wishing it weren't what it was. Mind you, not an awful beer, just something that should have tasted more along the style rather the metallic twang that crossed my mouth. I'm sure there are folks that will swear by this, but I've had enough marzen's to know what I like and in this case, do not.

This is a 12oz. bottle poured into a 20oz, weizen glass. The color is a medium amber, slightly hazy, medium carbonation, with about a finger of light tan foam that settled to a thick cap with a bit of lacing. The cap of foam does not leave.
The nose is bready malts, slightly sweet.
The taste is sweet, a little spicy hop, with a crisp, and slightly bitter finish, cutting the sweetness perfectly.
The feel is a creamy smooth texture.
I think this is a good marzen, very easy to drink. It looks very nice with the foam cap right to the end, leaving plenty of lacing. Just a classic look.

12 ounce bottle poured into a tumbler style pint glass.

L: Almost clear, amber/orange, rising bubbles, small off-white head with poor retention.
S: Bread, spicy hops, roasted malts.
T: Caramel, roasted malts and spicy hops.
F: Medium-light body, creamy and slightly crisp.
O: Not a bad beer but too much roasty and caramel flavor for the style.