Oktoberfest
Left Hand Brewing Company

 

 

Great looking pour, all tan brown liquid and a creamy head. Low aroma, with a big malty character and a spackle of green sticky noble hops. Decent enough.

 

 

 

 

L:. Pours a dark copper orange with very foamy white head that dissipates quickly and leaves some lacing on the glass

S:. Sweet cereal malt, toasted bread and a light noble hop.

T:. Toasted bread and cereal malt, and a very light Noble hop.

F:. Smooth, easy drinking.

O:. Pretty good Oktoberfest but there are better ones out there.

12 ounce can poured into a tumbler style pint glass.
Best by: 11/9/21

Clear copper body shows lots of tiny rising bubbles feeding the one finger of manila colored foam above. The head lasts a while and leaves a bit of lace. Nose is all malt, leading with toast and bread crust just after the pour but transitions to sweeter toffee and nutty aromas. Flavor is not far from the nose, malt forward and opening with spiced bread and bread crust as well as nutty flavors before toffee-like sweetness takes over. It dries a little to the finish with light earthy and spicy hop flavor just coming through. Aftertaste is nutty and woody. Mouthfeel is medium with medium carbonation and is neither crisp nor creamy but has a not quite soft feel with a semi-dry finish. Not cloying but definitely a sweet "American style" version though it does have some nice flavors and aromas.

 

 

Pours a nice reddish brown with an off white head. Aroma of fresh bread, caramel and spice. Nice carbonation. A well done Oktoberfest!

Best by 10/27/21. Poured into a shaker pint

L: 4. Very nice looking lager. Medium sized white head with a deep bronze body and ample carbonation.
S: 3.75. All the usual suspects are readily discernible. Bready malts. Spicy hops.
T: 3.75. Follows the nose. I did get a hint of booze, not a shocker given this is on the higher end of marzens at 6.6% abv.
F: 3.75. Medium mouthfeel. Definitely a slower going lager, but that's perfectly fine for an O-fest lager.
O: 4. Very consistent throughout. I feel obligated to bump up the overall score for that. Would recommend, just not in the traditional 2-pint Stein.

 

Pours an amber orange with off white head. Caramel, crusty bread, and nuttiness on the nose. It's very malt forward without being sweet. There's plenty of peppery hop character to pair with that maltiness. It's bread crust and caramel up front that gives way to that peppery finish with a lingering toffee flavor.

This is wicked malty and not in a good way for this style to me. I'll leave the rating unchanged but after trying this again it's firmly not at all a favorite. The reviews on this brew are positive but seem polarizing. It's 100% not bad I just don't think it's what I actually want in this style. I'm upping my rating a little because I can't stress enough it doesn't taste or feel bad it's just not doing what I want. Lots of malt no biscuit breadness, if you told me blind it was an American amber I probably would have bit

 

Pours a ruddy,copper color with an off white foamy head. Smell is roasted malt,burnt toast,caramel or toffee scent. Taste is initially smooth with a punch of spice and more ethanol heat than usual for a 6.6. A.B.V. Notes of caramel, spice , and raisin. Feels medium to thin bodied,with adequate carbonation. Finishes juicy. Overall this is a good Marzen in its own right. Not great or excellent , just good enough. Feels out of balance with the weird spice surge and noticeable ethanol. Especially for a medium ABV brew.

Two cans poured into a stein. Best by date of 10/27/21.

Look: A classic, light copper with great clarity. More closely resembles the imports than most American versions. Pours with a thick white rocky head that quickly dissipates and leaves behind small amounts of lacing.

Smell: A somewhat weak aroma overall. Noticeable caramel with a slight hint of hop earthiness. I caught a hint of dark breadiness but not much else.

Taste: A pretty bog standard American version. The dark breads are the first thing I noticed with a slight bit of caramel/sweetness to balance it out. Ends with some spices and earthy hops. Nothing spectacular to be sure but overall nice.

Feel: This is where the beer loses it for me. I'm not sure if I got a bad batch of cans but the feel/heft of this beer was almost non-existent. The body was slightly watery with not enough carbonation to support it. Very strange given that doesn't fit the bill for this beer through other reviews.

Overall: Just an ok Oktoberfest for me. There's some missing elements that don't quite track for my preference in the style but this is not a bad beer by any stretch of the imagination either.

 

 

12 oz can pours an orange-amber color, foamy white head. Soft roasted malt aroma, starts sweet, some flavors of toffee and caramel, malty medium bodied. I can feet the alcohol with this one. Nicely done!

12oz can
best by 11/03/2020
L: clear amber-brown body, tall foamy khaki head
S: malty with earthy, herbal hops
T: bread crust, caramel malt, toasted grain; herbal, earthy, and spicy hops
F: full body, ample carbonation, well balanced and semi-dry finish
O: always a good Märzen to come back to

 

 

 

Drinking this at The European Street Cafe in Jacksonville Florida.
Poured from a tap into a beer stein.
Appears amber, with tannish foamy head that lasted, very well carbonated.
Smells malty, bready, spicy, cinnamon.
Taste follows the nose.
Mouth feel is medium plus for the style.
Overall a very nice Octoberfest Marzen that I might order again.

Best by 11/3/20

Though I've had a few Oktoberfests before (Sam Adams and Night Shift) I have not reviewed any until this one. It is not my favorite style, but it is seasonally appropriate and I had to get this when I saw it from the can art alone!

Pours a clear red tinted copper with 2 fingers of off white head that quickly fades to a cap and leaves decent lacing

There's a heavy toasted presence in the aroma, which lends notes of dark breads, cinnamon spice, caramel malt, and subtle raisin. It's interesting how it walks the line between toasted spice and sweetness

Up front in the sip, there's a nice grassy hop presence that is not overwhelming, and balances out the spice well. After the swallow, the toasted malt comes out again with a more balanced, honey-like sweetness that feels very natural

A medium full body pairs nicely with light zippy carbonation to create a refreshingly sweet beer that finishes by coating the mouth

This is a solid beer, sweet and malty but kept interesting by spice an hops. A great balance, and something I'd get again

12 oz Can poured into a will becher glass on 9.19, prosit!

Two finger tan fizzy foam cap, good retention, settles to a. Pencil thick layer over a clear copper liquid. A couple carbonation streams . Scant lacings

Aroma is malty, toast

Malt first taste followed by some nice spice from the hops . Get more spice on subsequent sips

Medium sudsing , hop taste without a bite

Good beer

Poured into a tall clear pint glass. Appearance is a tarnished copper color, with about a finger of white creamy head, good lacing and retention.

Smell is malty and toasted/roasted. Notes of roasted malts, toasted nuts, toast, biscuit, caramel, toffee, dark cherries, and herbal hops.

Flavor: Caramel is upfront with bready and biscuity malts. Very subtly bitter but mostly has a sweet composition. Malty makeup from the notes mentioned in the aroma. Body is medium light.

12 oz can, best by 11/14/2020, into Dogfish Head Nonic.

Pours a nice tarnished copper color with a creamy butter colored head of 2 fingers, leaving lots of lace as it recedes to a finger.

Aroma is clean and malty, smells like good brewing, with hints of apricot and marigold. There's a bit of toastiness to it as well.

Flavor brings a bit of emptiness; some very lightly toasted caramel malt at the beginning, followed by pale malt and spicy rye malt, and then a strange, out of place herbal stab, some peppery hops. Some misplaced alcohol heat in there too. Just a hint of clove somewhere in there too. Toasted malt comes back for a glance on the finish.

Feel is decidedly medium bodied with a welcome heft that is absent in many Oktoberfest lagers. Carbonation is prickly and stabbing, with lots of starch and resins on the back end.

Overall, this one was just a bit unbalanced for me and had some strange attributes. It's not a terrible beer but it's nothing I'd rush out to get again. Would probably pass on this at a bar too.

Price paid : $1.69 / can
Would buy again : no

 

 

 

 

Pours clear and medium copper with nice head. Moderate lacing. Good bubbles.

Aromas are muted but straight. Biscuity bread-dough sweetness balanced with just-so grassiness.

The flavor follows the nose but, again, is somewhat muted and watery.

Well carbonated and quite drinkable.

Overall, another decent but "nothing special" American take on this classic style.

 

 

LOOK - nice clear copper color with a 1 finger head - lower carbonation than expected / poor head retention - some lacing is evident after head recedes
SMELL - nice toasted bread and caramel - sweet aroma
TASTE - slight bitter bite upfront but then sweet caramel and malt come in - gets really bready / biscuity - as it dries out, more toasted notes come in
FEEL - medium bodied - slight oily feel - feels a bit flat after a minute or two
OVERALL - a very flavorful Oktoberfest / Marzen - better than many I have had this year - nice nutty and toasted bread flavors - slightly earthy - very happy with this one

Pours amber with a 1/4 inch off-white head, which quickly dissipates. Moderate lacing.

Aroma is a bit spicy, grassy.

Tastes of caramel malt, spices. Slightly sweet. Moderate bitterness.

Medium bodied, dry mouthfeel. Very little carbonation.

An ok Oktoberfest. Nothing to write home about.