Weidfrau
Black Fleet Brewing

this is a crazy little style fusion here, a cross between an oktoberfest and a northwest ipa, an ale not a lager, but done with german grains that you would find in the classic oktoberfest, and then hopped up liberally with bitter and piney hops, a really curious combination of recipes, but it works. probably closer to an english ipa than an american one, but i listed it as american as this cross is distinctly american, even if the tradition it borrows from is german. the beer has a deep rust to amber color, a frothy white head from the tap, and a nose where the hops come in front of the grain, fresh pine boughs, bitter citrus, resinous weed, and with an herbal component too. the malt smells toasted to me, lightly nutty, not sweet at all, not caramelized despite its richer color. the flavor is more balanced than the nose, and i actually think there is real cohesion between the hops and the grain, bitter enough on the hop side to mimic noble types late, and enough german character coming through from the grain for this to seem at least loosely related to an actual oktoberfest. its the yeast that is a little weird, and i cant help but think this would have been better as a lager. the ferment isnt clean here, its slightly astringent and underdone to me, and thats where this falls short a little bit, seems amateur even, which is a shame, because aside from this part, its both creative and well done. they should reconsider this aspect next fall, there is real synergy between the hops and the german malts, who would have thought an oktoberfest ipa would make sense, but it works! clean up the yeast side and they have a winner here. very distinctive.