Oktommegang
Brewery Ommegang

Clear copper color with nice carb and head. Good biscuity malt aroma and flavor. More robust than most Oktoberfests. Nice balance; definitely malty but not sweet. Medium to light bodied with a crisp clean finish.

 

This one pours a medium amber/brownish color, with a small head, and lots of lacing.

This smells vaguely caramelly, with some light breadiness.

I was excited to see Ommegang had done of those. It’s not the worst thing, but it’s definitely not in their wheelhouse, and definitely not really something I need to have again. It’s a bit sweeter than I want out of the style, with hops playing a very mild influence on everything.

This is light bodied, a bit thin, but pretty drinkable.

There’s not much to recommend here, but I guess it was cool having a marzen from such a Belgian-influenced brewery.

Poured into a narrow imperial pint glass: color is gold/copper, head is off white with fine bubbles, head presents one finger thick, dissipating to thin top, no lacing.

Smell is light caramel, toast, limited hops and munich style malt depth.

Taste is caramel and toast, a little sweet, light earthy hops.

Mouthfeel is low carbonation, moderate sweetness, low bitterness.

Overall a sweeter and less bitter Marzen.

Pours a rich amber, 0.5" off-white head, not too much retention or lacing. Nose is toasted caramel, dark honey, toasted rye bread, melba toast; not overwhelmingly sweet, but a good balance of grainy, spiced bread character with honey sweetness. Taste is balanced as well - spicy hop, apple pie spice; baked apples, sweet brown bread; not too much toasted in here at all, more of a stewed red apple sweetness mixed with some herbal, earthy hop. Reminds me most of the Jack's Abby Märzen. Feel is on the softer side, very light carbonation.

Light gold/amber appearance with a thin but lasting head.
Aroma is caramel, malty doughy bread,with some mild earthy hops
Taste is definitely caramel and malty doughy bread with some sweet almost molasses like candy.
Overall its a very decent attempt at the style

Clear amber color. Average sized head but it fades to rim bubbles and leaves only a single minor streak.

Strong semi-dry caramel aroma. Subsequent whiffs brings some metallic smells.

Clean and a little less caramelly than the smell. Full bodied for the style with a mildly elevated carbonation. I noticed a touch of cream. There's a decent amount of bitterness, especially for the style. Perhaps I'm imagining this given Ommegang's reputation, but I think there's a touch of Belgian yeast present in the swallow. Moderate afteraste.

 

Best By: 3-26-25

A - Light Medium caramel colored pour with thin lacing and light carbonation.

S - Light toasted bready caramel aroma.

T - Light toasted caramel malt that's a little bready and ends on the sweeter side (as it should). Bitterness is very delicate and very light.

M - Light medium body with gentle carbonation.

O - Pretty mild on the Marzen malt personality but still enjoyable.

german lager from a belgian brewer? why not! always good to see something new from these guys, rare as it has become out west, and especially cool to find it on tap. light for the style, nice and carbonated, drier than a lot of these are, brassy to light copper, almost perfectly clear, low glow but not shining, average white head. the nose is a little understated but some slightly generic german grain here, toasted but light still, seemingly only a little sweet, faint honey, toffee, and breakfast bread, light golden raisin fruitiness too, not as much from the yeast as expected, especially from these guys who specialize so effectively in yeast forward beers. the flavor is about the same, starts a little pedestrian but warms up nicely, some floral old world hop character gives it some depth, the body is very light but the lagering seems patient and complete, this is pretty dry to close and has a good mineral palate as well. a little thin in the middle maybe, but a tasty hint of almond nuttiness too, this all comes together pretty well at the end and is made exciting by popping carbonation. good not great, but autumnal and tasty, and uniquely outside the norm for ommegang, although their identity has surely been changing in recent years. this even does taste faintly belgian to me, but maybe i am just willing it to be that way...

 

Nice malty, caramelly, raisiny sweet brew.