Altenmünster Festbier
Allgäuer Brauhaus AG

 

 

This is a nice golden/pale oktoberfest.

Dark gold with a very big off-white head steadily shrinking.

Aroma is strong herb, toasty bread, hay, hint of lemon.

Taste is sweetish apple cider and bread with bitter herbal balance and some mineral. making it well-rounded and characterful.

2 Liter flip top growler was poured into a standard house glass.

Appearance: A one finger head was poured that reduced to a thin ring. It is a pale orange with great clarity and vision of bubbles coming up through the glass. Spotty lacing down the glass as the beer was drank.

Smell: Toasted grains, caramel, grassy Noble hops, and lager yeast.

Taste: Traditional festbier flavor. Toasted, caramel, grassy hops, light bitterness, and lager yeast.

Mouthfeel: Smooth, chewy, light bodied, a little dry, a little bitterness, and medium to high carbonation.

Overall: A nice festbier from Germany. Simple and easy drinking. Saw this growler and had to get it for Thanksgiving.

 

 

 

 

From: Friar Tuck, Savoy, IL
Date: None on bottle, arrived in store in September 2013
Glass: Standard US pint glass

Allgauer produces an above-average Oktoberfest with its Altenmunster imprint's Festbier, moderately rich with bread, some toast, cracker, light caramel, brown sugar, and lightly herbal and bitter German hops. At around $3 per 12oz glass ($18 for the 64oz bottle), though it's a bit expensive for the averageness of what you get, and so while I'm not dissatisfied with the beer, I'd probably opt to get a six-pack of something else with a better scent/flavor palette for my tastes.

Pours a generous 2.5cm head of slightly off-white bubbles, small to medium in size, yielding a soft and fluffy appearance. Retention is good, the head lasting about two minutes, declining to a thick ring around the glass and a thin film atop the body of the beer. Lacing is very good, thick clumps and lines cling to the sides of the glass in a medium density. Beer is a fairly bright copper orange color, with light bringing out brighter orange hues. Carbonation is easily visible in the transparent body, numerous and quite active.

Aroma of light bread-like qualities (white bread with a hint of whole wheat), a touch of minerals, toast, and woodsy hops. Could be much more expressive, though what it does express is not unappetizing at all.

Flavor overall opens somewhat weakly, but develops richness and character as the sip moves across the palate, showing toasted bread, woodsy and herbal hops with moderate bitterness, light caramel and brown sugar, dried leaf-like flavors, crisp lager yeast influences. Front of palate finds lightly toasted bread with light mineral, slight caramel, a bit bland. Mid-palate of breadlike malt influences, mild caramel and brown sugar, each rendered clean and crisp by the lager yeast, along with some mineral qualities, very mild herbal and woodsy hops with equally mild bitterness. Back of palate finds crisp, dry bread and toasted bread qualities, mild woodsy hop characters with mild bitterness, all rendered crisp and clean by the lager yeast. Aftertaste of light caramel and brown sugar, toasted bread with some graininess, woodsy and herbal hop characters with light bitterness, all cleanly pulled together by the lager yeast.

Beer is medium to medium-light in body, with carbonation of medium-low intensity, resulting in a smooth, gently foamy mouthfeel that's more substantial than initially felt. Closes dry, with heavy stickiness on the lips and palate.

 

 

 

2L swingtop bottle, kicked off the big Oktoberfest extravaganza, then put on ice during the afternoon blackout (heavy storms and resulting power outage). The bottle is definitely a novelty, and the beer was decent.

Pours a dark amberish gold, lighter than most Märzens, this is more a "festival grounds" Festbier than traditional Märzen in style. Soapy white foam on top, some arcs of lace in the glass. Good retention. Clarity is high, rising carb trails visible.

Lager yeast aroma, slightly crackery, minimally toasty.

Taste is also yeast driven, some apple ester and crackery flatbread. Smooth and light bodied, ample carbonation. Simple but pleasant enough to drink, fairly quenching. Again, more of a lighter Festbier than Märzen.

 

 

 

2 Liter Bottle or Growler I guess.
No other freshness dating.

A= Pours a translucent deep yellow color with a thin half finger of head that falls fast into a layer on top of the glass. Spotty lacing is left on the side of the glass.

S= The smell is pretty typical German lager. Not the sweeter Oktoberfest. There is a slight grassy hop aroma and some buiscuty malt.

T= The taste is a sort of poopy malt flavor with some grassy hop flavors. Pretty tame and somewaht consistant with an AAL only a little more character. Most AALs you get no hop flavor but there is a little grassyness to this.

M= The mouth is highly carbonated.

O= This isn't a terrible beer. I figured the bottle was all gimmick and the beer inside would suck but it isn't bad. A big ass swingtop bottle is sweet to have and I'm gonna enjoy drinking this beer tonight and relaxing.

 

 

2 liter pre-filled swing-top growler served in a .5 liter glass beer mug.

L - clear golden yellow color with a fluffy white head that thinned to a layer leaving thin trails of lacing.

S - light, malty aroma.

T - pleasant tasting festbier in the true German style with mild malt sweetness and just a touch of grassy hop bitterness.

F - medium bodied, crisp and refreshing.

O - very good example of the style.