Karbachtoberfest
Karbach Brewing Co.

 

 

 

This brew is a clear amber color with a white fizzy head. Poured from an aluminum can. The head doesn’t have much of a retention time, unfortunately. The aroma has a pleasant malty, bready quality. Full body with a moderate sweetness. Not a bad beer, but not an exceptional marten either.

LOOK: Pours a clear light amber with a fluffy light hair that disappears in a mini second. Very little lacing.
AROMA: Sweet malts, floral and aromatic hops present
TASTE: Semi sweet breads and hints of caramel.

Expected better but from the get go the appearance told me it would be at best average.

Appearance: Pours a clear, medium and bright orange color with a strong white head. SRM of 11. (4.00)

Aroma: Strong aromas of bread malts, caramel bread malt, a light toasted note. Strong, malty, bready.

Flavor: Moderate flavors of bread malt, brown bread crumbs, brown toast and cbread crust. Some hints of brown sugar and sweetness. Ultimately relatively dry.

Feel: Lighter bodied, strong carbonation, and finishes clean.

Compared to Shiner Bock 10/2022: Pours a lighter color, stronger aromas. More caramel malt. Less brown sugar sweetness. Lighter and dryer.

Overall: A surprisingly drinkable Oktoberfest here. And by drinkable I mean it has the Marzen flavors without being too sweet. Nice caramel bread malt

 

From Beer Drop. Enjoy by November 18th 2022.

Pours a clear dark amber with a short lived head of foam, close to no lacing.

Smells of sweet and bready malt, hint of fruitiness, no discernable bitterness.

Taste is very bready, malty on the sweet side, little to no bitterness.

Mouthfeel is okay until the finish where it gets very thin.

Average example of the style, if that.

 

From Texas is Karbach Brewing Company's Karbachtoberfest. It's a märzen that pours a transparent light amber with a whitish head. It smells like malt and tastes just like it should. There's no awards for complexity here, but some beers should just be a clean example of the style. This märzen has plenty of crisp sweetness and a smooth mouthfeel. It's delicious.

12oz stamped ENJOY BY 111822 poured into a mug at fridge temp 5.5% ABV 25 IBU. The beer pours mostly bright light copper in color with minimal off white head. The head recedes to a thin ring and island. The aroma is mild with bready malt. The taste is semisweet bready malt with mild nuttiness and pronounced, perfumy floral and herbal hop flavor. Mild bitterness. The mouthfeel is thin to medium bodied with average carbonation and a mostly dry finish. Cleanly lagered. Overall, good. The hop flavors are somewhat pronounced compared to an authentic marzen, but the malt notes are right, if a bit watered down.

Slightly beyond gold is the color of Karbachtoberfest. There was a nice head to begin, but it did not stay for a visit. Flavor was light for a Marzen.

 

 

Appearance:
Amber, crystal clear. Medium rising bubbles. Foamy head, moderate head retention. Leaves some lacing behind.

Aroma:
Very mild, clean yeast, some toasted malts, a little grass.

Taste/Finish/Body:
Malt forward, toasted, bready. Clean yeast. Hop bitterness is low, mostly spicy hops. Finish is dry. Medium-light body, soft, crisp, a little carbonation bite, easy drinking.

Overall:
It's very good American made Marzen/Oktoberfest style.

Appearance:
Bright copper color, moderate head and lacing.

Aroma:
Toasted bread and spicy/grassy hops

Flavor:
Crisp, clean, toasted malt...and balanced with soft noble hop bitterness and flavor.

Mouthfeel:
Medium to light body, generous CO2 for style. No astringency or roughness


Overall:
Karbachtoberfest is much improved over the last batch I tried several years ago. For a U.S. Märzen / Oktoberfest beer it is well above average and almost too "slick". Definitely worthy of a second round.

 

Poured from a can into a pint glass
Appearance – The beer pours a deep amber color with a billowy head of off white foam. The head has a great level of retention, slowly fading over time to leave a good sum of foamy lace on the sides of the glass.
Smell – The aroma of the brew is rather strong of a nice caramel smell mixed with other aromas of citrus and lots of spice. The spice is mainly of coriander and clove with a touch of a nutmeg. Along with these smells comes notes of herb and a touch of hay.
Taste – The taste begins with a caramel and bready flavor mixed with a bit of graininess and some tastes of earth. As the taste advances some more toasted malt tastes come to the tongue and are joined by a little bit of herb. This mix of flavors takes the taste profile to its end, leaving one with a toasted and moderately grainy bready taste to linger on the tongue.
Mouthfeel – The body of the brew is of medium thickness and creaminess with a carbonation level that is rather average. For the style the feel is pretty good and makes for an easy drinker.
Overall – An alright Oktoberfest brew overall. Bready, toasted, caramel and just a touch of earth and herb. Rather easy drinking overall.

 

 

 

 

This is for a can of the 2019 version. Popping the top I get nice malty molasses smell. Pours into a dimpled mug with a nice Oktoberfest Autumn orange and a light tan head. Taste is sweet raw unrefined sugar up front and a slight hop bite in the middle. The finish isn't really memorable or clean as the body just fades in a watery finish. Very basic brew, tasty and on style but far from a good example of the style.

12oz can, tulip, enjoy by 120319 on the can. Just use a packaged on date!

The color is a fall inspired clear copper. The head hangs around well for a lager, a couple minutes.

Whole grain crackers, melanoidin, not sweet, deeply malty, slight grassy hop.

Again, not sweet, but intensely malty. Medium-low bitterness and no hop flavor. Toasted dark bread and very small dose of herbal hop.

Medium smooth body and active carbonation. The finish is a little slick and buttery.

It’s almost there, but lacks the crispness of the greats. There is tons of malt character, but not a lot to balance it.

Look; medium amber with an enormous white head that dissipates moderately fast.
Smell; sweet followed by toasted brown bread crust and some spice.
Taste Is toasted malt, spicy/floral noble hops, and a slight sweetness. I would assume this is more like a festbier but I really like it. It’s light enough to drink all day and not fill you up or make you pass out. I’ve been buying it for $7.77 lately and it’s become a favorite. The only knock is the IBU’s are on the high side and the malts are too sweet. I guess that’s why they had to add the extra hops. Overall, it’s still good, just not outstanding.

 

Appearance: Pouring presents a massive, coarse cloudtop head, surmounting a slightly hazy amber-brown body. Large, scattered patches of foam adorn the glass walls. The carbonation is slight, and slow-rising.

Aroma: Abundant toasted malt predominates, with hints of caramel.

Taste: Opens with a slightly bready note. Immediately following is toasted bread smeared with caramel, in a most pleasing way. Biscuit notes are present, as well. Late in the taste, there are subtle hints of alcohol, and a pleasing grassy hop presence.

Mouth feel: Very gracious on the palate, quite pleasing.

Drinkability/notes: A spot-on example of the style, just as it should be. This is the 2018 bottling, properly cellared since that time. It is the last day of June, and I am more than ready for autumn!

Presentation: Packaged in a standard twelve-ounce aluminum can, served in a South American-style Pilsener glass.

 

 

 

Pours an effervescent gold with 3 fingers of cream colored head. Zero head retention & grassyness

S: Grassyness, pears, some bready notes

T: Sweet breadynotes, dryness, a little bit of grassyness & pear up front. a lot of grassyness & dryness, some green apple skin, plus a a little bready sweetness as this this warms. Finishes dry & grassy, with more green apple peel, just a little grainy sweetness

MF: Medium body, fairly vigirous carbonation, smooths out as it warms

Decent, not great O'fest. Drinkable enough

12oz can poured into Duvel tulip. Most F.U.N. By 111518 stamped on bottom of can.

Appearance - Pours large offwhite pancake batter head with moderate-low retention and slight lacing. Clear deep gold body and slight carbonation. 4

Smell - Pleasantly spicy corn and even some mild alcohol peeking through. 4

Taste - Spice and corn and a hint of cardboard. Thankfully the spice covers up or balances out any of the otherwise off characters. 4

Mouthfeel - Spicy, effervecent up front but turns thin and astringent in the finish. Actually a bit more astringent than what you'd expect in style. 3.25

Overall - Not the easiest to drink Marzen beer, but the bit of spice it has keeps it interesting. 3.5

 

 

 

 

 

 

If I tasted this blind, I would have guessed it was from Germany. Many of the US based Marzens seem to have too much bitter caramel to them. This has a good balance. My favorite thus far this October.

Dark anber witb a decent, fading head. Lightly fruity smell, which pairs well with tbe brew's nedium bodied, floral malt flavor. It has a touch of the roasted, biscuit flavor I expect from an Oktoberfest beer, but really it reminds me of a toasted Kolsch. A surprising flavor that pushes to the front, is a fragrant vanilla note. Interesting brew. As a Marzen, hmmm, but as a beer, quite interesting.