Festbier
Dovetail Brewery

 

 

 

 

Here it is -- the oft-lauded Dovetail Festbier. I finally felt compelled to answer my own questions and drop the $16 on a 4-pack (far over my usual beer budget).

Canned 08.23.22. Poured into my tall Becher.

L -- A careful pour yields a clear, deep gold to amber color with a shallow, sudsy, off-white head. A last pour from the final 1/4, or so, from the can dumps in heavy sediment and clouds up the beer.

S -- Herbal hops and light doughy malts and vegetal DMS with warming.

T -- Sweetish, light bready malts at first swallow, immediately followed by bitter, sharp herbal hops. Neither character lingers long into the finish, but the sharp bitterness holds into the aftertaste. Some of the breadiness tries for attention, but loses the battle. The bitterness is almost mint-like in its sharpness -- just not clean, as is expected in a German-style lager.

F -- Mouthfeel is soft to syrupy with a medium body.

O -- Dovetail cans just can't win me over. I've yet to have one I can say I enjoyed as much as other breweries' packaging, or even Dovetail's draft beer. The sediment in the can seems a little off for a German-style lager, too, and I think it's what is adding the bitter sharpness to what ought to be a very clean and balanced beer.

 

 

 

 

Received from @fbarber. Poured from 16 oz. can into a seidel. It pours a cloudy, honey color with a thick, creamy, milk-white head and significant lacing. A very attractive pour. The nose is great, as well with grainy, bready malt and hints of lemon, honey, and spice. The taste is spot-on; it opens with dry, toasted bread and lemon peel but as it warms a bit I'm tasting caramel and honey. It finishes with a nice dose of spice and slight hoppy bitterness. It's very well-balanced with just enough sweetness. It's medium-bodied with a pleasant level of carbonation, and the 6.7% ABV (per the can) gives it excellent substance. I don't know whether the alcohol level varies each year but it's higher than what's posted. Overall, Dovetail has brewed an excellent Festbier and I'm glad to have had the chance to try it.

Thanks to Ovaltine for sending this my way for BIF 14
Poured amber and honey with an impressive taupe head that really hangs on.
The aroma was faint for me, but that’s my nose, not the beer.
The taste was unexpected as a Festbier, and as it is labeled as such I ranked the taste down just a bit. So expectations aside, the malts definitely lead here with the bread and honey (or is that caramel?)
with the hops playing a support role. Definitely noticeable in the bite at the perimeter, but malts steal the show. Very nice.
The feel is crushable, but again, more marzen than Festbier.
OA, thoroughly enjoyed this beer, try it out if you get the chance.

Pours a beautiful orange/copper color, nearly clear, with a creamy white head. Beautiful beer. The nose is bready malt with a touch of honey and some caramel and a bit of grassy hops.

The honey and bread flavors are very forward and very prominent, with just a bit of the grassy hops, and the caramel strong on the back of the palate. Delicious stuff.

The mouthfeel is medium and edges toward crispy, with a creamy undertone. This is really well done, IMHO, a true pounder of a Festbier.

Canned on 7/20/21; consumed on 9/28/21

Pours a deep yet clear honeyed copper body topped with just over a finger of fluffy, off-white foam; decent head retention yields a spotty veil of cap, moderate, frothy collar, and strands of webby lacing holding to the walls of the glass.

Aroma features a vibrant, detailed honeyed brown bread meeting fresh, flaky grains upfront, supplemented with a delicate char to a deft malt profile and softened with an underpinning of floral hops; a pillowy minerality interspersed in interspersed across the bouquet, while hints of pumpernickel close.

Taste opens with brown toast lightened in roast by accents of mineral spritz, while burnt honey maintains a coy bittersweetness overarching toasted malts on the mid-palate; honeycomb on the back end sees a black bread crust undertone evolving to a nearly coffee-expressive roast on the finish.

Mouthfeel brings a light body, tautly textured with a clean crispness and a fluffy spritz of tight, moderate carbonation; a tingling grit disperses over the mid-palate, drying evenly on the back end for a robust sense of refreshment on the finish.

Resounding honeyed tones imbue natural sweetness to a deft roast inherent to the malt profile, leaving deceptively darker, breadier tones in harmony with the subtle richness at-play; at 6.7% ABV, this festbier sees all the benefits of an amplified profile come to fruition with nuance and easy expression.

Clear amber body with a plump finger of white foam and spotted lacing. Crusty bread and light sweet malt lead the nose with lager yeast, dough and grassy hops. The sweet almost caramel malt and lager yeast go in concert with each other so well, carrying the taste, with hints of crusty bread and honey, old world hops finish. Feel is medium bodied, malty more than yeasty but certainly both, kind of languid for the style.

Thanks to FBarber for this one.

This is clearly a 4.25 beer but I've marked it down a bit for Look and Taste because it's not a Festbier in that style as I know it to be. It's not hoppy enough and there is malt sweetness. To me it seems like a cross between a Festbier and a Marzen. However, it is a very tasty and refreshing beer.

Had this on draft 7/31/21 @ Dovetail.

This had a nice caramel backbone, but the hops & the yeast were just as prominent. Well-balanced & enjoyable. I'd have another!

 

Thanks to FBarber for this one, from a LIF in NBS BIF #12. 16oz can (dated 7/17/20. Who releases their Festbier in July?) poured into 14oz teku. Poured a moderately cloudy copper color with over an inch of light khaki head that had good retention and moderate lacing.

Slightly sweet malts at the front of the nose, with some grassy-floral hops in the background.

Similar on the tongue, with the hops being a bit crisper, and having a tinge of bitterness on the finish.

The body was fairly typical; light side of medium, smooth, and with a medium finish.

Drinkability was good, and easy drinker.

Overall, a nice brew, worth a shot if you see it.

 

16oz can
no apparent freshness date
L: slightly hazy amber bier; tall & frothy ivory head
S: caramelized grain, bread crust, doughy malt, spicy hops
T: spicy & herbal hops balance out malty caramel, bread crust, doughy grain, and toffee notes
F: medium body, creamy & smooth, moderate carbonation, balanced & dry finish
O: rock solid Märzen; I will need to get more of this before it’s gone for the season

*2nd place out of 48 in my Ultimate Oktoberfest 2020