Oktoberfest
Chatham Brewing, LLC

 

Tall can, w/o freshness indication or a canning date.

Pours near clear, lighter almond amber. Minor cap and just a hint of some lace.

Maple malt infused sniff.

Pleasing Oktoberfest, with more maple, more malty goodness and an enjoyably long and smooth finish....better then decent take on the style. Go get some

Served from the can in a Lagunitas mason jar.

Pours a mostly clear sunset honey-amber topped by a finger of dirty off-white foam. The nose comprises grass, buttery biscuit, light flowers, and a touch of caramel. The taste generally brings in more of the same, the caramely biscuit dueling with some grassy orange zest. The body is a light medium, with a light moderate carbonation and a fluid feel. A pretty nice O-Fest, nothing special, but something rather easy to drink.

 

 

This one pours a light golden amber color, with a small head, and lots of lacing.

This smells like rye bread, spicy hops, and light sweetness.

It's not that I don't like Chatham, but I didn't really expect this to be above average. I'll try nearly every take on this style that I can find. But to my surprise - this is good stuff. The malt character is nice, almost rye-like, with a bit of sweetness, and a good spicy hop finish. There's a very nice balance here.

This is slightly creamy, and very crisp and smooth, with a good drinkability.

This was a wonderful surprise, and it was clearly well brewed and carefully thought out.

 

 

Canned on 08-10-20. AKA Fresh.
Appearance is to style - nice red-amber color with a low, off white head. Spatters of lace drape the glass and slow carbonation visible through the clear beer.
Glad to see this is a Lager and not an ale as so many US breweries cheat this style.
Aroma is nutty and malty but not Munich malty as a true Marzen would be. Not bad though just underachieving. The unique Marzen/ Munich aroma does show up as it warms a bit but subtle and in the shadows.
Flavor is German amber but again not Munich malt forward. This has tasty and interesting malty flavors and grain character but all subdued and in a light bodied lager. Some herbal hop notes come in mid way and mix neatly with the nutty grain flavors. This beer really releases some pent up flavor once it reaches 55 deg F.
This is a lite version of the Marzen style with good flavor profile that falls a bit short of the real thing.
Good example of the style if on the tame side and well worth a try though Munich breweries have nothing to fear here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Traded for this beer ages ago, as evidenced by the date of 8/16 written sideways on the side of the can. I know that it's closer to *this* year's Octoberfest than last years but this still came out sufficient enough to enjoy, and was typical in pretty much in every stylistic sense. Dark, lagered, and easy to drink, never did this feel weak and easily proved itself worthy to be quaffed during any time of the year!

This poured a lovely shade of almond with a spongy, slightly pink head on top that nicely settled into my pint glass. There was enough lacing left on the side of my pint glass but nothing thick or excessive. Mild bread, roasted notes, and nuts to boot with more of those in the taste. A bit sticky but not terribly thick, this went down relatively easily and came across as the prototypical Marzen / Oktoberfest in nearly every sense. A clean finish with hints of dark bread and spice rounded things out as the aftertaste was just a tad grainy but still pleasing to the palate.

Of course, I had no idea what the ABV was here but it would have been easy to crack another one of these open once I finished this off. Solid beers of this style should be able to be enjoyed year-round and this was proof of it. Would enjoy a chance to see what else these guys have done, just to get a better opinion of them. This was a nice first impression!