A Fistful of Steins
Noble Roots Brewing Company

 

as straight ahead as they come, a basic but drinkable oktoberfest with nice proportions, a little less than perfectly clean on the ferment and there is a faintly stressed element to the yeast to me on this, but the malt is nice, it feels authentic for the season, and has a lighter body and not a ton of residual sugar as these go, plus great carbonation, so it goes down easy and satisfying. deep rusty orange not quite amber color and decent clarity, a tall proper inch plus of frothing churned up off white head on top with nice lace as it drinks. the aroma on this is minimal, its a toasted grain thing, loosely european, a vienna type sweetness, a munich breadiness, some light noble hop spice too, more of that as it warms, mineral forward to almost a little copper metallic. the flavor is bigger than the nose, less earthy more toasted and warming, light caramel but not too sweet, dark bread crusts, plain bagels, some old world lager yeast but not quite as clean as it should be, and that aspect stands out more as this sits a little. an almost apple cider ester to it, not unpleasant but definitely not meant to be there. good carbonation, easy down, in need of a tad bit of refinement, but a serviceable seasonal pint at this cool little brewery.