Festbier
Väsen Brewing Company

On tap at brewery:
Nice white head against a barely copper-hued golden, clear body. The nose has a slightly slinky note to it, which is odd. Ruins that is a lightly cereal malt and spicy hop aroma. It has a little bit of a mass-produced green-bottled import nose to it.

Taste has a nice bit of melanoidins, medium to medium light with decent carbonation, and a spicy bitter finish. There is a little grain and grad in the linger. Thankfully no skinniness in the taste.

Served on-tap in a shaker pint at Beer Run.

A: Medium-amber with 1/2 finger of off-white foamy head with decent retention and average lacing.

S: Light bread crust malty aroma with soft herbal hop notes. Light caramel.

T: Flavor is a little too sweet for the style, which is generally built on pale pils and Munich maltiness - this beer is slightly sweet light caramel and would fit Oktoberfest or marzen style better. That said it is reasonably noble hoppy and bitter, just not enough to offset the seeetness.

M: Medium-bodied with soft carbonation and full finish.

O: Seems misplaced in the festbier style with the sweetness which hurts drinkability somewhat.

From the pint can, it pours a light golden color with a modest white head that diminishes but leaves lacing. The nose gets an earthy, slightly bready scent. The mouth gets a decent malt flavor overall -not a bad festbier.

2025 update: yum!

16 ounce can poured into a mug.
Canned 8/9/23
5.4% ABV on my cans.

L: Gold colored lightly cloudy pour, 2 finger dirty white head, medium retention.
S: Nose is strong while head is up, bread malt and spicy/floral hops, malt aroma diminishes with the foam leaving a less strong hoppy nose.
T: Malty bready start, very lightly sweet, some honey flavor, finishing more dry and sharp with floral hop flavor.
F: Medium-weight body, soft and creamy with slight bite to close, high-ish carbonation.
O: Decent Festbier, maybe a bit Hoppy-American but with more restraint than a lot of American offerings.

 

 

Taster at Väsen. Darkish golden, filmy head, solid lacing. Big, full malty, bready aroma. Taste stays the course, fresh baked bread, full, mild sweetness. Mouthfeel is great, body also.

From the bottom, outer edge of the can: "08/22/22 10:35:34"

Appearance: The body is a medium gold color with a light bit of haze. It has a short white head that has a bit of a creamy texture but is also a bit fizzy. It has a short stature but the head stays up fairly well. No lacing.

Aroma: There is a light bit of a corn-like scent to the beer and just a very light hint of an herbal hop note but it is barely there. It is pretty unremarkable but what does come through doesn't seem to fit with what would be expected from a Festbier. After drinking the beer for a bit I wondered if it was just my imagination so I kept coming back to smell the beer and it kept giving off this sweet corn aroma.

Taste: Up front there is some bread crust. The middle has a strong herbal hop note that only intensifies towards the back of the palate. Notes of cedar and dried wood. It has flavor but in the wrong ways. At some points there is a somewhat pleasant biscuit aftertaste but it rarely appears. After drinking the beer for a while it improved slightly and a somewhat nutty flavor came through, but it was just barely there.

Mouthfeel: It feels overly bitter. The body floats at the lower edge of medium bodied. Lower drinkablity than what would be expected from a Festbier.

Overall: The beer as a whole feels out of place in all aspects. It only barely fits into a Festbier Style in some elements, like the flavor and appearance, and is greatly missing the mark in others like the aroma and mouthfeel. It isn't something I would recommend but the beer is drinkable. I would only revisit it in the future to see if the brewery has improved on the recipe.