These Pretzels Are Making Me Thirsty!
Matchless Brewing

This current version is brewed with a Czech theme, with Kazbek hops (plus Hallertau) and Czech Francin barley grown in the Skagit Valley and malted by SV Malting.

Pours a handsome copper color, all clear, with adequate foam in the Hopleaf goblet. Warm and malty but not insipid, this is a nice balance of beer sensations. There is a burr of astrincency rather than bitterness, which offsets the bit of sweetness. Some flavors of good pasta, roasted grain, and a hint of pine. Aromatics are complex, bready, and flowery. From the 16 oz can purchased at Elizabeth Station. Dated 9/27/2021.

Clear deep amber gold color with good cap and lacing.

Aroma of rich caramel malt with a touch of roastiness and spicy hops.

Taste is an even deeper sweet malt flavor with more than a hint of roast malt elements. Slightly nuttym somewhat earthy (could be the hops) that comes across as more complex than average. Malt prevails with hops showing a bit of firmness in the aftertaste.

Medium texture with balancing carbonation.

A quality food matching Oktoberfest with a catchy name.

This one pours a dark orange-ish color, with a small head, and a good bit of lacing.

This smells like spicy hops, rye bread, biscuits, and some light sweetness.

I feel like I've had a million versions of this style this year, and this is definitely one of the top ones. The rye is a nice touch, and gives the beer a nice clean spice character, along with the breadiness and crustiness you want. There's a touch of floral and spicy hops, too, and it all melds well together.

This is light bodied, and very crisp, with a very high level of drinkability. I could imagine taking down a few mugs of this.

I definitely want to try more of their lagers, it seems like the specialize in them somewhat.

A nice dark amber color, light haze, quickly fading light head. Smells like German beer, lots of malt and bready yeast. Youwill get an close-to-authentic taste, just lacks a bit of depth. Hops are muted and show up mostly after the malt base has its way. A good lager, just not quite up there yet.

 

Poured from 16oz can into a tulip.

Appearance: dark golden hue with a moderate haze and a light apparent effervescence. Head is a thick finger of compact ivory foam; a pretty solid-looking Oktoberfest.

Smell: very bready malt character with a little bit of sweetness underneath; I don't feel like I explicitly smell the rye, but I'm sure it is adding to the subtle complexity here. I like it.

Taste: nicely bready malt with a definite dash of rye character; it shows up better in the flavor than in the aroma. There's a lot less biscuity character in this beer than in many other Oktoberfests, which pleases me greatly. I think this is a darn good beer.

Mouthfeel: medium-rich body with a moderate carbonation and a good texture. It's not super creamy, per se, but it is very smooth.

Overall: I'm not always a huge fan of the Oktoberfest style, but this beer is really good.

 

 

16oz can poured into 14oz teku. Poured a hazy dark amber color with an inch and a half of light khaki colored head that had great retention and lacing.

The aroma was mostly sweet malts and gentle hops. The same on the tongue, with a slight bit of hop tang at the back end.

The body was medium, smooth, even, and had a semi-sweet finish. Drinkability was very good. Overall, a very nice take on the style, stock up before you start on your pretzels!!!!!

 

16oz can pkgd 09/10/18, tasted on 09/17/18. Pours a cloudy light amber, with fluffy head that recedes and leaves a cap and good lacing. Smells of grain, lightly toasty, a hint of spicy hops and rye, very pleasant. Taste follows the nose, with a creamy mouthfeel. Overall very tasty, makes me wish I had a bowl of pretzels and a few more cans of this.