Oktoberfest
Pigeon Hill Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

Single can from BigIronH

Canned on 7/28/21; consumed on 9/13/21

Pours a very slightly foggy pale orange-golden copper body topped with just over a finger of soapy, off-white foam; mediocre head retention leaves minimal paper-thin islands of cap along with no traces of collar or lacing holding to the walls of the glass.

Aroma upfront prompts a decided sweetness entrenched into the malt profile beautifully to phase toward more traditional brown bread crust tones before being largely undercut by a misplaced lemon verbena overtone over the middle and an awkward toffee-laced minerality on the back end of the bouquet.

Taste opens softly with a tinge of minerality and air of lager yeast into fresh bread dough sporting light toast and warm buckwheat honey accents; lemon verbena and ripe herbal qualities contrast and dismantle over the mid-palate, largely seeing musty grass and a faded malt roast prevail toward the close.

Mouthfeel offers a medium-light body with a spritzy, moderate carbonation dispersing an intermittent prickle across a crisp mid-palate; the back end is clean, though a touch of grit reemerges on the palate to finish.

Rife with promise courtesy of a deft harmony between sweetness and roast, this Oktoberfest is soon overcome by a tepid herbal character and off-putting, musty citrus accents; a tale of two Märzens, at times quaintly brilliant in its attenuation, and at others a messy display of watered-down malt.

 

 

Smell is lemon peel, caramel, and bread. Taste largely follows suit. Citrus, earth, grass, sweet malt. Not a typical Octoberfest but as we are all aware, this style is largely open for interpretation especially in America. Worth seeking out if you don’t mind trying untraditional versions of this beer.

 

Had a 2019 release in a 12 oz can. This beer has a strange lemon finish at the end that is off putting. Not a very good Marzen style beer.

 

 

This is one of the oddest Oktoberfests I have tasted. There is an lemony/sour milk note running through the flavor that I do not associate with Oktoberfest. In fact if you had given this to me without telling me what style it was supposed to be I wonder if I would have guessed Oktoberfest. I probably would have thought this was some kind of sour beer. It does not come close to standing up against the German Oktoberfests I've been drinking this fall. However it does not fail completely, as it is rather unique and interesting.

 

 

I picked up a can of Pigeon Hill's Oktoberfest last week for $2.09 at The Lager Mill. I was looking for some new Oktoberfest beers to try and this one caught my eye, so lets see how it goes. 2017 Vintage. Poured from a 12oz can into imperial pint glass.

A- The can looks nice, it's goes well with the name and it's just a little eye catching. It poured a golden amber color that took on more of a golden color when held to the light and it had just about two fingers worth of creamy off white head that died down to a thin ring that eventually faded away and it left some spotty lacing behind. This is a pretty nice looking Marzen, I have no complaints.

S_ The aroma starts off with a slightly higher amount of medium sweetness with the malts being the first to show up and they impart some caramel malt, grainy, pale malt, bready and sweet malt like aroma that goes into the hops which impart a unique grassy and herbal aroma with a little bit of some weird yeast aromas that I can't put my finger on. The aroma was decent, but the balance was a little off and it's not fully what I expect from the style.

T- The taste seems to be similar to the aroma and it starts off with a higher amount of medium sweetness with the malts still being the first to show up and they impart all the same aspects that they did in the aroma, but this time there's a little bit of an apple cider like aroma. Up next comes some of that yeast which is a little more doughy this time and it goes into the hops which impart that same unique herbal hop flavor that throws me off. On the finish there's a medium amount of bitterness with a herbal hop, slightly watery and malty aftertaste. This is just an ok tasting beer, it's not fully what I expect from the style and it could use some more work.

M- Fairly smooth, a little crisp, slightly creamy, on the lighter side of being medium bodied with a medium amount of carbonation. The mouthfeel is nice, but I wish it was a little less watery on the finish.

Overall I thought this beer was just ok and it's an average example of the style, it was bad, but it was weird and the flavors clashed a little and they didn't really deliver the Marzen aspects that I was expecting. This beer didn't have good drinkability, one is more than enough for me. What I like the most about this beer is the appearance, it's a pretty nice looking beer. What I like the least about this beer is the taste and drinkability, they both need a good amount of work. I wouldn't buy this beer again and I can't say I would recommend it. All in all I wasn't a fan of this beer and I wasn't what I look for in a Marzen. It's one of my least favorite Pigeon Hill beers and it's an average at best example of the style. Better luck next time guys, this one could use some work.

12 ounce can into dimpled mug; no can dating, but is a recent seasonal release. Pours fairly crystal clear deep golden amber/light orange color with a 1 finger fairly dense off white head with good retention, that reduces to a thin spotty lace cap that lingers. Light spotty lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Aromas of cracker, toasted biscuit, light nuttiness/caramel, light pepper, and herbal/grassy earthiness. Nice and pleasant aromas with good balance and complexity of bready malt and light-moderate earthy hop notes; with solid strength. Taste of big cracker, toasted biscuit, light nuttiness/caramel, light pepper, and herbal/grassy earthiness. Light herbal, grassy, spicy bitterness on the finish. Lingering notes of cracker, toasted biscuit, light nuttiness/caramel, light pepper, and herbal/grassy earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Very nice complexity, robustness, and balance of bready malt and light-moderate earthy hop flavors; with a great malt/bitterness balance, and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Perfectly clean on lager flavors, with zero yeast notes present. Slightly increasing dryness from bitterness. Fairly clean finishing. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth, moderately creamy/bready/grainy, and slightly sticky mouthfeel that is nice. Zero warming alcohol as expected of 6%. Overall this is a delicious Oktoberfest. All around nice complexity, robustness, and balance of bready malt and light-moderate earthy hop flavors; very smooth, clean, and pretty refreshing to drink with the mildly bitter/drying finish. This tastes like a step between Pale Festbier and Amber Marzen overall. Clean and flavorful Pils/Munich malts, just enough bitterness for balance, and solid noble hop flavor presence. A very enjoyable offering, and great style example.