Oktoberfest
Mother Earth Brew Co.

 

 

 

after brewing small batches of festbier and marzen lager in recent autumns, these guys have seemingly combined the styles for an easy drinking canned offering this year that leans a little more marzen, but is light and crushable too, i think a nice best of both worlds sort of thing, the execution is decent, it drinks decidedly german and seems right for whenever fall shows up, i hate the seasonal creep, but these guys certainly arent to blame for that. a mid copper to light amber color on this, frothed up just off white head from the pint can, not quite perfect clarity but it looks pretty nice in the glass really, bubbly the whole way, a tad lighter maybe than the classic marzens, but some color here beyond the festbier range for sure. the nose and the taste of this are parallel, toasted malty most of the way, not real sweet or rich, and lighter than it looks really both in terms of body and in flavor, off dry overall, but this really doesnt have a ton of the sweetness a lot of these do. its therefore a little nutty, mineral forward, and lager yeasty, elements that kind of rise in the absence of caramel malt sweetness. hops are light but appreciable, and this is pretty repeatable. subtle soft pretzel breadiness, or maybe my subconscious just wants a pretzel with it. one of the first beers in this style of the season for me this year, still weird when its 100 degrees outside, but it has me excited for all things fall that are surely just around the corner. well crafted lighter version of the style, pretty well done.