Oktoberfest Lager
James Page Brewing Company

Bright orangey brown, transparent. Thin yellowish head that lingers for about 30 seconds. Malty aroma and vague spice. Not a bad flavor, nice sense of toast to the malt early and the hops pick up with some flourish. Finishes clean and more subdued, as appropriate to the style. One of the better Page brews, their beers are usually more than a step away from being strong.

 

pours out a deep and dark amber colour; copperish in hue with a festive frothy off white head. slight rings of lace as it's drank. floral aroma...quite pleasant with a pronounced toasted malt nose. so far so good. at first sip, the malty sweetness is abundant...bordering on cloying. there is an underlying spiciness that rides that wave of sweetness and makes this a somewhat interesting brew. the mouthfeel is a bit syrupy and strangely empty in body. finishes on the dry side. a bit uninspired and quite average in comparison to other o-fests in our area.

Light rubyish color, minimal head. Aroma is fresh and floral, soft, herbal,. Smooth palate, easy texture, still some decent body, but not much. Nice amount of sweetness, but not well-balanced by anything else. Little hops, hell, little of anything else. And now the sweetness is getting to be too much for me. Very ordinary, disappointly so.
This will have to serve as a late night beer, until I get rid of it, my 4th or 5th of the night when it's too late to care and I'm almost asleep!

Re-rate 1/13/03...Bought a full sixer and am dropping some scores...tends to be a bit oversweet and syrupy...flavor leans on the artificial side...pretty good overall but not as good as my initial rating..


I was shocked to find this in bottles as I thought it was only on draft, and even more shocked at the quality of this beer. James Page and Summit both hit the scene around the same time in the mid-to-late 80's....Since then I've thought Summit has been the clearly superior brewery, but this is a very good effort by page..

Clean, clear looking dark golden in color....toasted grains on the nose...very nice sweet maltiness on the taste....hops are minimal but do provide a subtle spiciness to the finish....

This beer glows amber-orange. Carbonation is evident. Airy, beige head is slight and diminishes to thin film in seconds. Pretty nice nose. Great toasted malt with a nice addition of spicy hops on the nose. The mouthfeel is not as carbonated as the appearance leads you to believe. It almost feels just a little viscous in the mouth, but seems to be more due to the fact that the body is big in this beer. Pretty smooth malt profile, if not complex. Almost more bockish than marzen-like. The tastes are grainy and bready. There is a noticeable hop bitterness lingering after the drink. Pretty good ofest.

Predominantly malty aroma with a roast quality, but not stong. Crystal clear, amber color with orange tints. Adequalte head, but dissappeared very quickly. Flavor has more of a stronger toasted malt quality that I note more with American marzen than those from Germany. Nice robust quality of malt throughout, but not too heavy or excessive. Good dry type of finish that doesn't linger too long. Quite a bit of carbonation that's noted upfront, which makes it feel heavy, yet still has some smoothness.