Festbier
Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan

The time of the year where you drag out your lederhosen, 1 liter masskrug and slap your knee in time to bad Bavarian folk music is indeed upon us: Oktoberfest! And in the spirit of said fest I will be drinking litres of the finest German brews beginning with my old favourite: Weihenstephaner. Coincidentally the oldest established brewer still in production (seit 1040 AD), Weihenstephaner Weissbier's have the combination of banana/clove characters that make wheat beer a fascinating taste diversion from other varieties.

Poured from a 500ml bottle into a 500ml stein.

A: Pours a clear golden body, typical of a Marzen, with a 1cm cappuccino white head.

S: Front of the nose is bread-like yeast, wheat grains and sweet malt base. There is little to no hop presence (also a Marzen characteristic). Expecting a heavy-bodied, yeast and grain based flavour with a long dry finish. One last thing noted - this Marzen smells very clean and fresh, almost like it was racked a month ago (when in actual fact it was March, which is where the name of the style is derived).

T: Sweet upfront... quite sweet actually. With a full bread and grain body thanks to the yeast and wheat, finishing with a touch of bitterness and that expected long dry taste. There's something very cake-like about this brew; the sugar flavour, the heavy use of yeast and the reasonably thick body for what looks like a Lager is what makes the Marzen style interesting - put a glass of this and a glass of Lager next to it and most people would be hard-pressed to tell the difference until they take that first sip.

M: Mid to heavy body and light but dense carbonation gives this brew a heady feel to it. Then you take a measured gulp and find that it's also quite slick too.

D: Quite a good beer, not Weihenstephaner's best (still think their Hefe is the best), but it definitely works better than other Marzen's I've tried, and I definitely want another (but dammit I only bought one!). Wait until Oktoberfest has long gone and you can usually get left over Marzen's real cheap at the local bottle shop's (trying to sell off the out of date stock), case in point: I now have 5 Paulaner masskrugs (starting to run out of room for the bloody things!).

Food match: Again "Deutsches bier geht mit Deutsche küche", but aside from the norm I can see this brew complementing dainty desserts, such as; praline pear Danish, Dutch Moorkoppen, petit four, and pain au chocolat would all go well (although it could appear odd having a masskrug of Marzen along with a tiny dessert).

 

 

 

 

 

Got a 6 pack of bottles on discount as it is out of season.

Not as thick & malty as I would prefer but I am a big fan of this brewery, generally.

Probably a good session beer and I have sipped some good scotch and some good mezcal with this and it's a good pairing for that situation...

Just barely foggy burnt straw yellow with a gently wavy white foam head of moderate height that retains well.

Surprisingly crisp, light toasted wheat meets a little corny grass, plus, I'm not sure if it's just their signature intention, but also a faint hint of hefe pear/banana & zucchini bread I love hear. Medium body has a satisfying feel & semi-dry swallow.

The more I sip it, the better it gets.

 

 

500mL bottle. BBE 07/2026.

Appearance: 4. Clear, light golden yellow with a white head.

Smell: 4. Toast, light malts, grassy hops.

Taste: 3.75. Light biscuity malts, mild hop bitterness.

Feel: 3.5. Light, with low-moderate carbonation.

Overall: 3.5. A good light beer for Oktoberfest. Good, but nothing stands out.

great quality German beer.

not at all what I expected from this brewery for the style. not what I expect in a winter seasonal, more a summer drinker.

 

Pouring into a pint glass and wow...yeasty and HUGE head. Is this is an Oktoberfestbier really?

Nose is Some golden malt, more yeast...this isn't right.

Taste - shockingly thin and light in flavor. You get hints of a classic fest but it's so light in flavor. I gotta say...while I know I'm a heathen for this, Great Lakes is my standard, but even among the German offerings this is lacking in the fest malt profile while offering really nothing else. I think that yeasty element is the result of missing more flavor.

Overall, I won't buy this again. Shockingly bad from perhaps German's best brewery and one of the world's best. Weigenstephaner had high standards, this isn't live up to a local micro's standards.

Look - 3 but for the style it should be lower
Smell - 2 it's fine but where's the malt?
Taste - 1.5 not even joking this sucks
Feel - 4 though I"m scoring it more as a summer beer than to style to give credit. I feel bad
Overall - I don't think we need to adjust it so we'll just do a solid 3.

Bottled in 500ml of dark brown glass and purchased from independent off licence Portland wine on the Nook in Sale
Pours a crystal clear golden body with frothy white head
Aroma is liebfraumilch
Flavour is peppered ham and dry white bread

 

Not badd