Fest Märzen
The Grizzly Paw Brewing Company

5.8% bottle purchased from the Paw shop in Canmore.

Appearance - Pours a light copper with two fingers of frothy white head.

Smell - earthy, leafy, and floral hops, toffee, bready malts, raisin, plum, nutty aromas, and earthy yeast.

Taste - mild earthy, leafy, and floral hops upfront. The toffee, bready malts, raisin, and plum follow suit. The nutty aromas and earthy yeast round out the brew.

Mouthfeel - Medium bodied with moderate carbonation. Finishes smooth with a light bitterness and sweetness from the malts.

Overall - A pleasant offering from Grizzly Paw. Easy enough to put a few back if I was sitting at the Grizzly Paw with the Three Sisters in the background.

 

16oz glass at Beer Revolution YEG - just called Märzen, and coming in at 5.5% ABV.

This beer appears a clear, bright medium bronzed amber colour, with a thin cap of faintly bubbly and mostly wispy beige head, which leaves a pleasant array of spooky woodland lace around the glass as things quickly move along.

It smells of bready, almost pastry-like caramel malt, further biscuity toffee, a bit of apple and pear fruitiness, and soft earthy, leafy, and somewhat floral hops. The taste is more grainy, doughy, and sort of toasted caramel malt, watery toffee, a soft black and white pepper spiciness, subtle yeast, a hint of elevated metallic booziness, and some decently bitter earthy, leafy, and weedy noble hoppiness.

The carbonation is duly adequate for the job, via its playful frothiness, the body a solid middleweight, and generally smooth, with a wee nascent creaminess arising as things warm up a bit. It finishes off-dry, and still robustly malty - the hops continuing to play a subservient second fiddle.

Grizzly Paw's Märzen is what it should be, a cracker shot malt bomb, sure, but somehow not overly sweet, which engenders strong notions of ordering another and another. Too bad, however, that I am seated where I am - too many other interesting choices abound. But if I was in Canmore on a brisk autumn afternoon - a few rounds of this would really hit the spot.

Had on tap at the brewery in Canmore. Definitely of the tradition of bigger, darker, maltier, and sweet marzens, this one is actually pretty compelling--probably as good an Oktoberfest as any I've tried by a Canadian producer. Lots of sweet, malty, slightly toasty flavours, but not too sweet, and with a nice drinkable lager-y character.