Festbier
Castle Island Brewing Co.

 

 

 

light but not hoppy. Tasty.

 

 

 

Lighter color than expected--closest to light gold. A bit of haze. Small head and nearly no spots for lace.

The smell brings a bit of raw grain and a bit of lightly toasted malted barley.

Dry caramel start with a touch of graininess. The body leans thin and carbonation a bit high, but it seems to work with this one. There is faint hop in the mid-sip. The swallow is richly flavored but the aftertaste is relatively short.

 

Canned on 08/18/2016. This is a superb Marzen. And it's just a superb beer. Soooo smooth with an incredible malt profile and a slight hop presence. A wonderful nutty sweetness from the malt but not cloying or too malty like some beers of this style tend to be. This beer is how I expect the style to taste over in Europe but it also seems to have its own American character. Insanely drinkable. Castle Island hit it out of the park with this one. Wow.

Note: I can see that many rating/'tick' scores are marking this beer NOT by style, but as a beer in general, as happens often on this site. It's really frustrating that people continue to drink things that aren't IPAs but comparing them to an IPA. Sad, really. Top scores for non-hopped beers are much lower than top scores for hoppy beers.

Canned 8/18

Pours a light fizzy bubbly head that fades at a quick pace, no lacing, semi hazy tan slight golden brown hue on pilsner color base.

Nose not bad at all, light grainy malt, soft lager, touch of lager fruitiness, copper toasty malts, touch of floral grassy hops.

Taste brings mildly sweet copper malts, toasted almost doughy malts but not quite, a little sweet candy note, toasted grains, into grassy hop note, soft lager presence and a little fruity lager note. finish is dry, crisp, and a bit bitter, more grassy hops, mild lager notes.

Mouth is med bod but feels rich, decent carb, soft lagering.

Overall pretty nice, a lot more like a real German Marzen than most American versions, nice soft lagering, fairly complex but simple, nice hop level, good malts, no flaws, not sweet syrupy at all, very nice.

16 oz. canned on 08/18/16

Pours slightly hazy amber-gold with a frothy white foam head. Smells like toasted bread crust, nutty caramelized grain, honey malt, brown sugar, molasses, apple, pear, grape skin, with floral earthy herbal grassy pine. Tastes like rich toasted bread crust, nutty caramelized grain, honey malt, brown sugar, molasses, fresh apple, pear, grape skin, with floral earthy herbal grassy pine. Feels medium-light bodied, slick with moderate low carbonation. Overall a nice and interesting festbier.