Becktoberfest
Bay State Brewing Company

 

 

An average pour from a 16-oz. can yields a finger of creamy and rocky foam, off-white with a hint of orange. Long retention contributes to the irregular blotches and spots of lace.
Cloudy pale orange color, almost murky.

Wheat toast and cracker begin the smell with pale malt in the background and faint hops.

The taste is semi-sweet and mildly bitter at first. Prominent citrus and dry grape juice hide the malt. The faint malt is both toasted and grainy. A slight rise in bitterness at the finish as it drys to neutral. A mild bitter aftertaste lingers briefly.

Medium-low body, average carbonation, smooth and session-able. A new style is born!
The New England Style Festbier, not a Marzen, it's a juicy Festbier. Not true to either style.

L-The beer pours a light amber with just a touch of haze to it. The head is two and a half fingers of off white foam. The head recedes to a respectable film leaving spots of lace around the glass.
S-The nose displays a solid malt presence. No discernible hop presence is detectable.
T-On the palate the hops come more into play than they did in the nose. The malt still comes out on top in the long run, but it's still a fairly balanced finish.
F-Mouthfeel overall is medium. Carbonation is medium. Finish is wet.
O- This is a decent, Oktoberfest with a balanced finish. It's a little heavy in the mouthfeel which combined with the carbonation impedes it's drinkablility. Ok for a tick, but their are better easily available versions.

Remembered I have a dimpled mug and poured this beer into that.
The appearance was a ruddy burnt orange to copper color with a fairly quickly dissipating cap of a little off white foamy head. Just small remnants of wispy concave lace.
The aroma had a wonderful blend of sweet roasted nuts, buttery toast and an earthy caramel coated wafer quality.
The flavor leaned into the sweetness blending some clean biscuit malts with all of the prior mentioned aromas. Clean malty aftertaste composing of biscuits, wafers, roasted nuts and caramel malts; ever so slight earthy hops.
The mouthfeel was between light and medium bodied with a fabulous sessionability. I could pound this all afternoon if I wanted to. Really nice clean finish of roasted nuts, clean caramel malts, biscuits and earthy hops.
Overall, I want to say this is Bay State's version of the substyle "Festbier" and to me, yes, it's a pretty good version of that. On top of it, it's also best beer I've had by this brewery! Either they're turning around or this is what they know how to brew.