13.Five Ofest
Blue Mountain Brewery

 

Just bad all around.

 

 

 

Bland. Boring. Disappointing. Not an Oktoberfest. Lacks everything.

12 ounce bottle poured into a dimpled mug.

L: Clear and copper, thin khaki head with poor retention.
S: Weak aroma, spice, bread/toast.
T: Malt forward, medium sweet but dries to the finish, caramel, bread and spice.
F: Medium-light body, soft and slightly creamy, medium carbonation, enough to give it crisp edges.
O: OK, a bit on the malty side but a little better than average.

From the bottle, it pours a clear amber with a modest head, soon diminishing to a slight ring with some lacing. In the nose, it is slightly malty with notes of caramel. In the mouth, it is malty, with the caramel notes standing out.

 

 

Pour had a clear light amber wuth a compact white head and some carbonation evident in the glass. Scent is crisp and a bit floral with secondary toast and malty notes. Taste is a perfect blend of the fresher floral tastes and maltiness -- not as heavy as I would expect an octoberfest to be but still a great taste. Body is medium, as expected from the taste. Enjoyable and would drink again.

A revision for the 2020 batch: The feel is a bit strong, a touch sturdy and a touch maltier. Bumping up from 3.5 to 3.75. Would still recommend!

 

Clear dark amber color with a small tan head and minimal lacing. Taste is malty, but not overly sweet. Hops well balanced against the malts and yeast. Very balanced flavor with a nice clean finish. Pleasantly surprised, but I shouldn't have been. This brewer has many good offerings.

A: clear dark copper with a medium sized puffy white head.

S: bread, malt, sweet malt. No discernible hop aroma.

T: bready malt upfront that immediately gets slightly sweet. Not overwhelming with the sweetness. Tastes are balanced together.

F: medium bodied, lightly carbonated

O: pretty good brew here. First Oktoberfest of the 2019 season for me. Picked it up because I know they do some German styles well. A tasty Oktoberfest that leans a bit towards the darker side of the style (more marzen but not soley marzen if that makes sense) while remaining very quaffable.

Bottle:
Pours a reddened brown or maybe a really deep cedar color. A moderate fuzzy off-white head restrains itself from growing too large. That restraint in growth applies equally to fading, as there is a decent amount of surface coverage and medium collar for a while.

Nose isn't too heavy, but a mix of caramel and toasted malt which yields a mildly sweet nutty note. Not much hoppiness coming - maybe an ever so light spice note - combining with the rest for a little aspect of a barely spiced mulled cider.

Flavor starts as the nose predicted, with a brown ale toasted bread note leading the way with a little brown sugar/caramel malt sweetness. The flavor is a little more earthy than nutty, however. The beer has a bit of sweetness, but it is kept in check nicely by the earth/toast aspect. The veiled spice on the nose drops its disguise in the flavor. It's not a powerful spice, but noticeable as a light mix of earthy and holiday spice notes.

There isn't a lot of heft to this beer, but it's not light, either - I'd go with a moderate but clean body/feel. Almost smooth with a muted carbonation, but there is enough trapped gas to aid the spice and keep the beer from being flat. There's a very light numbness on my palate after about a third of the beer is consumed (I noted some indicated noticing the alcohol; I did not notice it specifically but could see the bite coming from or across as an alcohol bite).

A solid offering that to me lies just on the sweet side of malty and a subtle spiciness atop balancing earthy notes. Nothing extreme here, just a decently made Oktoberfest, IMO.

Best by 02/03/19
Pours chestnut brown with short light beige 1-finger head which is short-lived and leaves minimal lacing.
Nutty maltiness with light-medium caramel and spicy and floral hops. There is also some spicy alcohol in the nose.
Flavor is solid with medium caramel up front with more date and raisin through the mid-palate finishing with spicy, herbal hopping. The alcohol note is a little strong and adds bitterness and more spiciness.
Feel is slightly chalky in the finish but otherwise is smooth with even medium carbonation.
A pretty standard marzen that could use a lower ABV to be a more mellow beer.

Poured from a brown 12 oz. bottle. Has a bronze color with a 1 inch head. Smell is mild, just a touch of malts. Taste is malts, hints of fruit, light spices. Feels medium/light bodied in the mouth and overall is a mediocre beer, and not really to style.

 

 

My bottle says "13.Five Oktoberfest"
The left side of the label says: "PLEASE ENJOY BY 01-02-18 B-009"

Appearance: The head is short and off-white with poor retention but great lacing. The body of the beer is a striking orange color with dark hues of brown and sunburst gold. It has nice clarity and the beer overall looks very nice in the glass.

Aroma: There is this sickly acidic smell which is odd but it is paired with a nice toasted aroma.

Taste: It's an odd tasting beer. It has this odd souring fruit flavor up front mixed with a strong bitterness which is not characteristic of an Oktoberfest. That strong bitterness carries all the way through to the end.

Mouthfeel: The bitterness is too strong for this beer. It doesn't rest easily on the palate and drinkability is hampered.

Overall; It's just not a very enjoyable beer. I wouldn't drink it again or recommend it. The combination of soured fruit and the strong bitterness simply ruin the drinking experience.