Oktoberfest Festbier Lager
Ninkasi Brewing Company

Slight malt taste, good, not too hoppy, but with a bitter finish, not a fan of that. Overall, a good beer. Rated 9-24-2018 40 IBUs

 

12oz bottle

Pours three massive fingers of white head into my Kolsch glass. A little soapy at first from the agitated pour, but it settles into a nice frothy head. Retention is pretty decent so far, head holds up well for quite a while. Initial lacing looks promising. Body is just a shade darker than pale, crystal clear, with very few bubbles coming up. Looks pretty nice, but not like an Oktoberfest at all, more of this Festbier crap. I have even less patients for Festbiers when they are clearly marketed as Oktoberfests.

Nose is quite interesting. Actually pretty hop forward at first (I don’t know why I’m surprised, this is Ninkasi, but still), a very aromatic hop bouquet quickly greets me. Some sweet grain, bready notes, no caramel. Maybe just slightly mineral. Maybe a touch of that awkward Ninkasi house yeast. Definitely not a traditional Oktoberfest by any means, but it still seems to work for a malty lager - which is exactly what a Festbier should smell like, if only they marketed it as such. Pretty strait forward but it’s inviting and has a solid full nose.

Malts try to come through throughout the palate but never really get a foothold, some pop through in the finish, along with some very faint floral notes. Maybe a smidge of bread. Definitely not an Oktoberfest, flirts with being a hoppy Festbier? For being as “dull” as this is, it’s still quite enjoyable. It’s just a watered-down version of the nose, but that’s totally fine. Not bad at all.

Bitterness has its moments where it shines a little too hard, particularly in the finish, but overall it’s dormant enough to keep this palatable. Not sweet, but enough sugar to keep it from being dry, nice balance. Carbonation is medium. Body is on the lighter side. Not bad, works, certainly asserts itself as a northwest lager.

Drinkability is pretty good. Bitterness can get a little touchy at times, but for the most part this is just tasty.

Appearance wasn’t too bad either. Lacing was a little patchy, but decent. Head had a good run as well.

Overall this is lightyears away from anything I would expect when picking an Oktoberfest off the shelf, but what the hell, at least it isn’t a Pilsner disguised as a Festbier. Tasty and nothing too offensive here, nice.

 

this is a nice beer, but its very americanized to me, overly hoppy compared to what you would find in germany, traditional other than that, and the little bit of hop bitterness here makes this uniquely balanced, less of the sweet toasted and caramelized malt character pushing through the finish, so for someone who doesnt love sweeter beers, especially lagers, i liked the bite. i think those looking for a more traditional take on the style will be turned off by the hops. other than the added hop bitterness though, the beer is pretty light. maybe a little one dimensional on the malt side, but its never heavy, and the lager yeast does a nice job of drying it out. its mellow in body, moderate in carbonation, and hoppy at the end without being particularly flavorful, its more the alpha acid than any flavor or aromatic properties, and actually seems right in terms of flavor, grassy and minimal. some nuttiness to this, autumnal earthiness, and a versatile food beer, i had this with spicy gumbo and loved the pairing. they have done something a little different here which i like, especially after my fill of more conventional takes on the style this year. kind of like a northwestern pale meets a marzen, nice.

 

 

Drain Pour.

 

 

 

 

 

Clear copper colored beer with a small white colored head.

Smells malty with a caramel and soda cracker scent. Mild grass and hay noble hop scent.

Starts out mildly sweet with a fair amount of caramel. Mild bitterness. Mostly this is toasted grain and soda crackers.

Mouthfeel is good.

Overall a tasty easy to drink beer.

Poured into a glass mug.
The appearance had a golden bronzed yellow to orange color with a finger's worth of white foamy head gently sliding off. Mild lace touching the sides of the glass in speckled lace.
The aroma had some earthy sweet yeasty breadiness meshing with some nuts, caramel/toffee malty tones, some floral hops and mild hop spice.
The flavor has a fantastic earthy sweetness melding with the nuts, hop spice, floral hop components and clean caramel/toffee malts. Nice aftertaste of those malts, nuts and floral hops.
The mouthfeel was between light and medium bodied with a nice sessionability about it. Good carbonation and ABV. Super nice finish of nuts, earthy sweetness, floral hops and caramel malts.
Overall, really good to me but seemed a bit different than the norm for the style.

A beautiful blonde version of the style. Crystal clear golden color with a light foamy white head that unfortunately doesn't stick around or leave much evidence.

Smells mostly of white bread crusts, with a spicy and floral finish.

Flavor is once again light and bready with a clean honey graham cracker note before a very spicy hop bite.

This is kind of thin bodied and high carbonation, making it seem exceptionally dry. Almost prickly. The sweetness (which is the best part) quickly gives in to it's bitter counterpart.

As an "American Oktoberfest", it's pretty good. For the fans of the traditional, this might not be their jam though. It's a little hop heavy, and to me doesn't quite fit the mold. Still a good beer though. Prost.

Fine, delicate head. Lovely aroma (speaking after a long fast from beer). Expecting malty flavors, but this drinks more like a light IPA due to strong hops. Not bad, but not what I was looking for.

 

great seasonal, very drinkable as a good Oktoberfest should be. very low malt note drinkable from ice cold to room temperature.