Oldstoberfest Marzen
Olds College Teaching Brewery

Looks as good as any other lager, in fact it looks correct for the style. The aroma is halfway there, some musty straw, earth, and cereal grain, maybe a bit of corn scent (not that there's corn in this, I don't know that either way). The taste more or less follows, with a seam of alcohol running through it, and finishing on the sweet side. The hops presence is very muted, and there is none of the liquid bread flavour characteristic of the German stuff, but aside from that and the slightly suspect hint of corn malt, it's okay.

 

 

16oz glass at Beer Revolution during their Alberta Beer Week provincial tap takeover. It's back to school time, and so student-brewed suds just make sense to me right now!

This beer appears a clear, bright medium bronzed amber colour, with one finger of weakly puffy, somewhat foamy, and bubbly ecru head, which leaves some disintegrating iceberg profile lace around the glass as things quickly move south.

It smells of semi-sweet, grainy caramel malt, honeyed crackers, a bit of apple and poached pear fruitiness, ethereal ashy notes, and tame weedy, leafy, and earthy hops. The taste is gritty, crackery pale and caramel malt, muddled pome fruit, more edgy honey sweetness, a wet ash character that just seems to be hanging on, and more subtle earthy and leafy noble hop bitterness.

The carbonation is decently supportive in its well-wrought, sturdy frothiness, the body a solid middleweight, and generally smooth, nothing abnormal existing here that might cause any trouble on campus. It finishes well off-dry, the softly biscuity caramel malt duly resident.

Overall, a pleasantly rendered version of the style, with lots of old-school Teutonic charm (can that really be a thing?). Easy to drink, and maybe a bit sweeter than it needs to be, but s'alright - next semester should provide an equally or more interesting offering, I imagine.