Karl Strauss Oktoberfest Beer | Karl Strauss Brewing Company

3.08/5  rDev -12.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Appearance - pours a deep amber, garnet hue with brilliant clarity albeit a quickly receding head that leaves faint lacing on the glass.

Smell - malty, bready, some caramel. Crystal malt showing its character in the aroma, very little to no hop presence.

Taste - sweet malt, some toastiness, less caramel than the aroma. Don't really detect any specialty malts in the flavor. Some mild hop bite at the end with a bready aftertaste.

Mouthful - well carbonated and lively, light bodied and goes down smooth.

Overall - very light and uninteresting for an oktoberfest beer. The use of crystal malt lends character with the aroma and appearance, but I found the taste to be somewhat lackluster. Abv is only 5% which seems low for a more fortified festive style?

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4/5  rDev +13.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

SERVING TYPE: Bottel

A: Clear, light amber color. Nice white head
S: A little sweet, caramel

T: Very mild, earthy, and crisp. Served too cold, but no flavor came out in the end. Very traditional common beer.

M: Medium bodied.

D: Had this years ago during Oktober fest. Went down okay.

O: Good summer brew.

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2.33/5  rDev -33.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

Poured a light amber, with foam that disapated in a very short time and no lace. The smell was really nothing but swill (just another word for nothing interesting.) The taste was of weak malts and hops and the flavor of dish water. What a dissapointment. I'm surprised that they bottled this ? Also very bitter with a dry finish.

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3.32/5  rDev -5.7%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Served from a growler into a shaker pint.

A: Clear, light amber with a continuous film of off-white foam head. No lacing remains on the glass.

S: Biscuit and weak caramel, with a distinct charcoal snap in the background.

T: Dry, husky pale malt begins with an acidic accent. Flavors sweeten as biscuit and caramel emerge in the middle. The finish is slightly soapy with weak, grassy hops emerging late and providing minimal bitterness.

M: Medium viscosity with light carbonation holds up well on the palate, lending a certain comfort.

D: This beer drinks easily and is very food-friendly, but it loses any allure quickly. In fact, it hardly differs from Karl Strauss amber lager at all. It is probably a very useful cooking beer.

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3.49/5  rDev -0.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 4

Good beer, honestly more impressed with how it looked than the overall taste. but still a good beer

From bottle to glass
the head was decently moist and held up well,
smell was faintly fuity with toasty malts
taste was there but not attention grabing, malts really came out fairly creamy and soft due to not overcarbonating, which makes this very easy to drink, probably could have sat and consumed a whole grip of theses but taste didnt exactly put me on my knees begging for more,

if you havent tried this beer yet and are tempted to do so, i would have to recomend.

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3.87/5  rDev +9.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

12oz brown bottle.

Bubbly brassy brew, decent sized crown of head. Bready caramel aroma with some grassy hops. Crispness pops under the moderate sized body to bring on a refreshing smoothness. Grassy, biscuity, bready, animal feed, faint caramel ... Dry maltiness. Hopping is there with a slightly sharp edge and herbal flavor. Clean malty finish.

A good run at the style, very drinkable.

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3.58/5  rDev +1.7%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

I tried this at the brewpub in downtown San Diego.

Pours a translucent amber with a 1-finger light yellow head. Minimal lacing.

The smell is very subtle--just toasty malts and caramel. The taste is bready with caramel, roasted malts, yeast, and a slight sourness. Mouthfeel is smooth, medium-bodied.

This is a drinkable Oktoberfest--malty and bread-like.

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4.75/5  rDev +34.9%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5

Appearance: amber/orange hue, clear with a nice head
Smell: toasty, dried fruit
Taste: bready, malty, caramel
Mouthfeel: medium and nicely carbonated
Drinkability: Awesome. This was a great beer. I will be having more. Very nice representation.

Serving type: 12 oz bottle

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3.73/5  rDev +6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Figured this would be a good beer to review being that it's the 200th anniversary.

Appearance: Beer has a nice golden amber hue with decent moderate head retention an moderate lacing

Smell: pretty standard. Nice toasted malt taste, subtle hints of spice, little to no hop aroma

Taste: toasted malt flavors with spicy notes

Drink ability: very drinkable. Moderate abv and smooth taste make for a great session beer

Overall: a solid mock up of a truly traditional style. I'd much rather drink this than spaten out of a green bottle.

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4.23/5  rDev +20.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Appearance: I tasted this from a 12oz bottle - bright in appearance and really nice carbonation.

Smell: I got some toasted malts in the aroma.

Taste: I initially got a good amount of malts on my first sip, but then got a fair share of crispness in the finish. Exactly what I'd expect from an Oktoberfest beer.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied, nothing out of the norm here.

Drinkability: A very drinkable, clean Oktoberfest beer. I love that this is a locally brewed Oktoberfest that tastes really true to the actual style, not like a dated import from Germany. I'm a fan of this and would totally recommend it to a friend.

Odds and Ends: Cool bottle label. Not your father's Oktoberfest design.

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3.44/5  rDev -2.3%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

A - Pours a clear medium orange color with a 1 inch head that fades to nothing. No lacing.

S - Smells of sweet malts and dark fruits.

T - Tastes of sweet and slightly sour roasted grains and dark fruits. Very slight bitterness towards the end.

M - A little bit flat but pretty smooth drinking.

D - This is a pretty good beer. I got this one in a Fall sampler pack that I got on clearance. One of the best ones out of the pack so far. I would look for this one again in the Oktoberfest season.

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3.62/5  rDev +2.8%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

12 oz. bottle served into a pint glass. Karl's Oktoberfest pours clear and somewhat light in color, a deep straw with a bit of an orange/caramel hue. A thin head dissipates quickly and not much is offered as for carbonation.

Smell is bready and slightly toasted with a bit of over roasted malts. Malt notes are light and biscuity. Hop notes are thin as well. Notably dry for the style.

Taste follows the nose with a light bready texture and a moderate sweetness. Light caramel in nature along with a return of the roasted biscuit flavor. Not bad but a bit too one dimensional in nature.

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3.47/5  rDev -1.4%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

I've always wanted to like these guys and think they are one of the pioneers in the business, but the beer never really does it for me. Big caramel malty notes on this beer add to it's smooth finish. This is very drinhkabe, and a well-crafted beer, like most of there's, but they just seem run of the mill, nothing stands out, almost entry level, maybe that's why they are at every Ralphs for soccer mom's to pickup for the old man.

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3.3/5  rDev -6.3%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Fairly standard festbier.

A- poured out a golden amber with very little head and no lacing.

S- not a lot of aroma, what I did catch was, as I said, pretty standard.

T- taste was good, all the notes were hit, just nothing exceptional.

M- average, perhaps lacking a bit but good enough to rate a 3.

D- the beer's low carbonation and easy-going flavour did make it quite drinkable. The bottle didn't last long. On the flip side, I did not want another, and opted for a SN instead.

Overall, not a bad beer but it didn't impress me.

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3.82/5  rDev +8.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.5

This is a simple but good oktoberfest.

Amber, bubly it has a medium, off-white head soon thinning to a foamy ring and wisps, with only a tiny bit of weak lace.

The aroma is toasty, fruity grain, dry bread crust, light mineral wisp of caramel.

Taste is light, crisp, mineral and toasty, faintly caramelly grain, light lemon, grass, hint of spiciness. The finish briefly leans faintly to the bitter side, with spiciness, and is mostly crips before a light toasty-caramelly aftertaste heavily dominated by the taste of cooked barley.

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3.72/5  rDev +5.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Appearance: Poured a crystal clear, deep amber. Two fingers of thick, faintly tan head developed and dissipated slowly to a thin lacing and a thick ring around the edge.

Smell: Chocolate and toffee up front. Very surprising for a märzen, but also very pleasing. There's also a deep, rich caramel aroma. It's like fresh baked chocolate bread let to cool in a kitchen where a pot of coffee is brewing.

Taste: Not so much chocolate, but the sweet caramel dominates. The toffee comes through, too. There is also a fig-like presence, though it's not prominent. It's malty all the way through, without a hint of hop bitterness at the end.

Drinkability: Superb. It's not true to style, at least the traditional style, but it'll do. Oktoberfest is a very tasty brew, and a good variation of the märzen style.

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2.91/5  rDev -17.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

From Gordon to Karl, we start off the third leg of this, the American Oktoberfest Invitational, which will determine the king of four of the more well-known monikors of Americanized marzen. On to the beer:

Surprise! It's amber orange in color, lots of sparkling carboonation in the body. The head is on the fuzzier side in look and small in size. It has a rough smell. Husky chocolate malt, more husky malt, a light twang of "liquid bread". This is how I would expect an import to smell like.

The ABV lists this beer at 5%, but I would have guessed a little higher given the heavier malty feel. There's a snap of apple to the beer's taste, and there's a dry cocoa powder note coming from those malts. Otherwise, it's a straightforward mild malt beer that tastes like....well, liquid bread...crust. Fizzy carbonation initially doesn't help the cause either.

It sure has a lot in common with it's sister amber lager, but the amber lager is smoother overall. Not a bad beer overall, just one that's off the target. This will end the third leg of the American Oktoberfest Invitational, with the final segment tomorrow night.

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3.62/5  rDev +2.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 4

Clear copper colored beer with a small white head that doesn't last.

Smells bready and malty with a strong floral hop scent. Little bit of tea and fig in the smell also. Very slight bread dough smell too.

Starts out malty with a strong tea soaked in toast flavor. Slight lemon flavor here, but mostly this is neural in flavor.

Mouthfeel is light.

Super easy to drink beer. Just like an Oktoberfest should be, easy to drink first then flavorful.

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3.72/5  rDev +5.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Pours a medium Amber, with little effervescence and small amount of head retention and lacing. lacing very spotty.

Caramel and malt permeate the nasal presence.

Tastes a little like it smells but the aftertaste isn't very lasting, and actually has a little bit of an aftertaste of soap suds!!!

Medium bodied, minimal effervescence, but it's not all bad. Drinks fine, but very much a medium effort

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4.04/5  rDev +14.8%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Cheers to my buddy Eric for hauling this from Cali to here!

Pours an effervescent amber with 2 fingers of cream colored head. Average head retention & lacing

S: Caramel, leafy hops & breadyness

T: Breadyness, some crackery notes, & a bit of toffee up front. More of the same, plus dryness as this warms. Finishes dry with some caramel & crackery notes, almost pulled a 4.5

MF: Medium bodied with low carbonation & good balance

Drinks very easy, pretty nice take on the style

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2.82/5  rDev -19.9%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 3

On tap downtown. Pours clear amber with a smallish white head. Crisp malt and oat aroma is promising. Sweet maltiness in the front, but very thin. Metallic as well, but the bread and spice take over. Taste doesn't follow through. Watery and plain. I'm beginning to dislike Oktoberfest as they rarely come through

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2.58/5  rDev -26.7%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

On tap inside Disneyland.

Poured a medium to deeper amber color with a small sized off white head. Aromas of caramel and some toasted malts. Tastes of the same caramel and toasty. Both flavors and aromas on the subtle side and you really had to try to get anything outside of a 'generi' sense.

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2.33/5  rDev -33.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 3 | overall: 1.5

12 oz. bottle poured into a mug.

Appearance: Pours a clear amber color with a bit of visible carbonation. Thin, off-white, film-like head with decent retention.

Smell: Minimal aroma... a bit of malts, maybe slightly toasted?

Taste: It really tastes like something got burned while they were brewing this: not smoky, but burned caramel and malts. It doesn't obliterate the taste, but makes it less than enjoyable.

Mouthfeel: Light- to medium-bodied. A lot of carbonation feel, but not too intense.

Drinkability: Burned flavor = not so great to drink.

I'm hoping that I just got a bad batch of this, but no beer should have that in the flavor. Otherwise, this had the right elements to make it a decent (but my no means great) Oktoberfest beer.

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2.92/5  rDev -17%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 2.5

12 oz. bottle,

A: Pours amber with a nice off-white head, good retention, clarity is not good.

S: Solid brewpub fest, Munich malt, a bit of strawberry.

T: Light malt flavour mixed with an interesting berry note. Not as full-flavoured as I like in this style, but not bad.

M: Solid mouthfeel, carbonation is pretty much spot on. Light/medium bodied.

D: An OK fest from the local San Diego producer. Worth a try, but not something I plan on buying next October.

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3.55/5  rDev +0.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Now listening to: Calexico - Victor Jara's Hands

A- dark gold/copper color, white head
S- nice malty nose, but not much beyond that
T- Solid as a common US Oktoberfest beer. Toasty malt, some light toffee.
M- Very nice mouthfeel I am sure that this will vary by location and/or serving type, but carbonation and medium/light body were perfect in the glass that I had.
D- Easy drinking. A good brewpub pour.

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