Crosstoberfest
Crosstown Brewing Co.

 

Had on tap at the brewery.

On arrival, a not-even one finger head that quickly dissipates to a thin ring around the glass. The body is a clear gold with fine carbonation.

Aroma is a delicately sweet pale malt with light pear notes coming from a smooth lager yeast. Clean and better than a lot of craft festbiers that end up coming off as a craft malt liquor.

Taste is honey sweet with a nice crackery pale malt. A light to medium noble hop bitterness is present as well as that slight hint of pear.

Feel is actually pretty big. The sweetness makes this come off as even bigger. Despite that, this isn't a dark, warming, armchair beer either. There is a definite crispness and drinkability is high with some nice attenuation.

Overall this is a pretty good festbier. Not the most memorable drink in the world but this style isn't my absolute favorite lager ever. Its clean sweet and malty with a decent hop balance.

 

Had Crosstoberfest poured from 12-oz. can, bottom stamped (apparently) canned on "08.25.21," into Seidel.

Pours bright light-gold with huge near-white head, with good retention, leaving some chunky splotches of lace down the glass. Aroma of hop spice and mild malt off pour, then big grassy hops join the malt. Begins with mild carbonation delivering nice, smooth, somewhat sweet malt up front, then a little bittering hops clean up the malt and carry into a slightly fruity (sweet and sharp stone fruits?) but primarily crisp finish.

Very lagery but apparently on-style Festbier, with the expected huge head, light color, malt presence and crisp finish, which goes down easy and often, as in Munich.

 

 

Clear light yellow color with good cap and lacing.

Moderate aroma of rich grain and floral hops.

Taste is malt forward with a smooth graininess. Hop influence is more bitter than the scent implies but it's actually more of a firmness rather than bitterness. Sweetness is present but in a restrained way that diminishes toward the finish where it's offset by the hops with the whole resolving into dryness.

Medium texture with balancing carbonation.

Overall it's refreshing and balanced, very suitable for a festbier and I wouldn't mind if they offered it year round.

 

A: Pours a crystal clear pale to medium golden yellow in color with moderate amounts of fine active visible carbonation rising quickly from the bottom of the glass and faint amber colored highlights. The beer has a two finger tall fizzy foamy white head that reduces to a large patch of slightly mottled thin film covering the entire surface of the beer and a thin ring at the edges of the glass. Light amounts of lacing are observed.

S: Moderate aromas of bready + pale + toasted + grainy malts with a light to moderate amount of grainy sweetness. Light aromas of floral + grassy hops. Light aromas of lager yeast.

T: Upfront there are slightly stronger than moderate flavors of bready + pale + toasted + grainy malts with a light to moderate amount of grainy sweetness. That is followed by light to moderate flavors of lager yeast. Finally there is a light flavor of floral + grassy hop which impart a light amount of lingering bitterness.

M: Medium bodied with moderate amounts of carbonation. Smooth with a relatively clean finish.

O: Easy to drink with well hidden alcohol and pretty well balanced between the sweetness of the malts and the bitterness from the hops. Enjoyable.