Festbier
Brauerei Meister

very nice. toffee, caramel, cream, dark malts. Medium plus body, dry, slightly bitter end. More like amber/dunkel mix.

 

Pours a clear, dark, brown'ish amber coloration with a medium, creamy head and slightly visible carbonation. Smells of bready, slightly roasted and caramelly malt and not much hop aromatics coming through. Taste is an excellent balance of quite bready, slightly roasted and caramelly malt, with accents of dark fruit, nuts and chocolate, as well as hints of herbal, spicy hops. Finishes with a medium bitterness and some lightly roasted malt, nuts, chocolate and hints of spicy hops lingering in the aftertaste. Smooth mouthfeel with a medium body and carbonation.

This was certainly the most high-profile of the German Christmas Lagers I picked up and came highly recommended to me. So much that I was slightly worried if it would live up to the hype, but did it ever! There's an incredibly rich and varied malt profile to this, with the lightly roasted malts standing out particularly and giving a unique character to this, while the hops remain firmly in the background, providing just a little bitterness and spice. At the same time, there is very little caramel sweetness here, perhaps just a hint of brown sugar, with the focu being more on the bready, roasted malts. While this certainly has absolutely nothing in common with what's traditionally known as a Festbier, making the beer name somewhat unfortunate, it certainly makes for an excellent Christmas Beer that captures the spirit of the season very well.

L:
-pours a clear copper with a medium,foamy,beige head
-medium carbonation visible
S:
-nutty,plums,mushrooms,spicy,chocolate,coffee
T:
-Follows the nose + dates and raisins
F:
-medium to high carbonation
-light to medium body
O:
More of an old-style darker Oktoberfest going towards an Export Dunkel.
Very good.