Oktoberfest
Sawtooth Brewery

Draft at Sawtooth. Dark amber pour, clear, spotty off-white head. Toasty malt aroma, toffee. Taste is malty, caramel, sweet with some woody notes. Nice body.

this is not their best beer here at sawtooth. it felt thin and tasted a little astringent to me, like the fermentation didnt totally go their way, although i didnt hate the beer or anything, its just less dialed in than it should be, not as crisp and tidy as i want the style to be, and with so many good ones around here in idaho, i wont be in a hurry to go back to this one. its medium orange in color, more than reasonably clear, but without much head from the tap. it smells the part, toasted on the grain side, drier than some, with a bready element and a lot of minerals with the lager yeast, slight apple and even starchy sweet potato or something there too, the weirdness is mostly in the flavor, and in the finish at that, a bit sharp kind of out of the blue, and it stands alone at the end, leaving a weird, almost soapy taste on the tongue after each sip. if they could dial in the lagering, this would be a nice beer, as i think there is some uniqueness in the grain and the water chemistry that is favorable, but i want this to me smooth, not tangy, and it turns me off enough to make this a one and done pint. not their best work, but the potential is there for sure. these guys seem to keep getting better and better, so i expect this to improve next year or in later batches this season...

edit: definitely better beer three years later, the tang is gone, the ferment cleaner although still not perfect, and there is nice hop bitterness set against the richer malt now, i think more refined and balanced, but still sort of unconventional, less traditionally german overall to me, but it fits the season. increasing some scores slightly to sort of average out my two experiences with it. thankful for the improvement...