Oktoberfest - Festbier
Kinslahger Brewing Company

16oz can dated best by 2/24/23 poured into a willi becher shows a clear yellow-gold body and briefly floats a 1/2" cap of white bubbles that quickly falls to an edge ring sans lacing.

Aroma is a clean bready malt that hints at honey and the full flavor matches adding a slight peppery bite, with an even medium feel.

Overall a solid Festbier.

Bright brassy gold, a fingers width of creamy foam, bright clarity, a crown of drippy lacing in the glass.

Aroma is crisp and clean at first, then devolves into multivitamin and wet hay. White bread crusts and lager yeast on the surface.

Flavors are traditional, apple, crackers, grain husks. Light astringency, finishes dry, mild herbal bitterness. Tingly carb, well water feel.

Overall it’s pretty good, though I prefer a few other local and import options over this.

Kinslahger beer #10

16oz can, best before 02.24.2023, poured into a 16oz tumbler glass.

The beer pours a bright golden color, honey hues with a nice clear complexion, plenty of bubbles rising to the top of the glass where a soft finger of white head rests, moderate retention, spots of lacing and a nice circumference of white film lingers along the glass. The aroma is nice, lots of pale doughy bread, cracker grains, mineral water, earthy and grassy noble hop, lightly floral. The flavors are good, hearty pale grain, soft and doughy with nice earthiness and modest bitterness from the hops, green and raw with a bit of floral qualities and a lingering mineral water quality. The mouthfeel is great, coating and creamy medium body with an easy and lively finish.

Verdict: A really pleasant beer from Kinslahger. Bright but substantive, earthy and bready, balanced well, very approachable and full of flavor.

Brewery: Kinslahger

Beer: Oktoberfest Festbier (and not to be confused with their Oktoberfest Marzen)

ABV: 6.0

Can Description: Freshly milled Pilsner malt is the leading flavor. Classic noble hop flavors follow close behind to create a balanced yet malt forward drinking experience.

Poured into a dimpled pug after being removed from a fridge kept at ~ 40F for approximately 2 weeks.

First Impressions: When I opened this beer and poured it in, the smell that rose was one of "bier." More below.

Appearance: Pours a beautiful yellow-gold, with the correct amount of carbonation. If anything, it might be ever so slightly undercarbbed. But if so, not by much. 4.5

Smell: Smell's like bier. I know, how cliche, but it's true. So rare is it, given how many styles that exist today, to get a beer that harkens back to what we remember, as a child, always thinking "beer" smelled like. Well, this is it, and it smells wonderful. Surprising, too. I chose this beer tonight because I'm only up for another hour, I have their Marzen on deck for this weekend, and if I end up not enjoying this enough and do not finish it, then no harm no foul. I'll be in bed 'soon' anyway. Turns out, this smells great. You get a lot of that pale taste on the nose to the point that it almost smells like the bitter back-palate taste of an IPA. 4.5

Taste: I'll be the first to admit that festbier's are not my chosen style. There's something that I do not like about the ones I have sampled. That said, I'm doing my best to rate this to style, as there are elements of this that are not in my wheelhouse.

The brewery's tasting notes were right on point. You get the pilsner malt, and it's nice and crisp. Almost lemony. This is what hits your palate first. Following that you get the not-so-subtle paleness that a festbier is (apparently traditionally) supposed to have. If you gave this to someone that wasn't familiar with beer (like at all), I can see them identifying this as some type of IPA, or also some type of hoppy wheat beer or hoppy lager. After swallowed, that taste that lingers is all hops (at least, for me). The paleness (bitterness) is absolutely a star. It's not really something I look for (or necessarily enjoy), but it is ever-present and shining. I'm giving this a 4.0 Why? I've had world-class offerings from other styles, and even when it's not in your wheelhouse, you can identify that it is on that level. This is not. Call it gestalt; I can't describe it well, but I know it to be true. There's something that's not rounded off enough, that's not quite as clear, that doesn't quite meld the way it's supposed to for it to get a better rating. It's definitely good, though, and seems true to style. 4.0

Mouthfeel: Going perhaps a little low on this one. Compared to other beers I have had of this style (and certainly from this region), the mouthfeel doesn't quite live up to what it should. As noted in my intro, I think the beer is actually slightly undercarbbed. It's not as light as it should be. In fact - and call me crazy - it almost feels like the bubbles are having to work to escape. It comes off a tad heavy for what should be so crisp and refreshing. (Not to say that it's not, but it isn't in the way it should be.) 4.0

Overall: I'm going to give this a 4.25 overall. I think that my opinion of the style is probably affecting my desire to rate this a little low. I'm also a bit of a harsh critic, and perhaps if this was a stout - which is more in my wheel house, or say, a bock - I'd probably rate this even lower for a comparable beer. For me personally, I don't like that "taste" that lingers that I can only really describe as a drying bitterness. It doesn't have any flavor to me other than "bitter." All this said, though, I think it's a solid offering, and if I had access, and this was my jam, I have no doubt that I'd buy several 4 packs (assuming reasonably priced)..4.0

Review Score: 4.25

Pours a crystal clear brilliant golden straw color. Two finger white sudsy foam head dissipates until just a thin layer of velvety white foam remains on the top of the beer.

Aroma has notes of sweet malts, white bread, with just a touch of grassy hops on the back end.

Taste follows the nose with gentle white bready malts giving way to a spicy, grassy hop finish. Moderate sweetness comes from the malts. Its surprisingly hoppy for a festbier - but it works.

Feel is medium bodied, chewy, but still quite drinkable. Bright but gentle carbonation.

Overall. really nice festbier - I will be looking forward to this one each year.