Decemberfest
Valiant Brewing Co.

 

 

 

 

I guess that serving a marzen in October is too mainstream. Here is an "imperial marzen" brewed as a substitute for the usual winter warmer. On-tap at the source itself, on to the beer:

There's a dark amber brown color with orange hues sitting in the tulip. The head retention is at an adequate level. Forget the looks, smell it. Very sweet as expected, pleasantly malty with lots of caramel and a mineral touch to it. The beer hits 7.5% ABV, however it's a smooth liquid with a flavor that's easy to digest for its size. Bring on the caramel, vanilla, some earthiness, and vague fruitiness to the scene. A standard marzen is expected to be sweet and malty, so there was a lingering concern of how much more the bill could be pushed with an imperial version. Valiant pulled it off though, and it's a great alternative to winter warmers and imperial stouts which are common this time of year.

On tap at Valiant Brewing Company in Orange, CA.

Pours a murky honey brown with a foamy khaki head that settles to wisps of film on top of the beer. Small dots of lace form around the glass on the drink down. Smell is of malt, caramel, and toast aromas. Taste is much the same with toast and fruit flavors on the finish. There is a mild amount of toasty bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a lower level of carbonation with a slightly crisp and medium bodied mouthfeel. Overall, this is a pretty good beer with some tasty toast-like flavors.