Oktoberfest
Heavy Seas Beer

From the bottle, it pours a clear amber color with a nice thick modest white head that slowly diminishes and leaves lacing. The nose gets a slight bitter scent with notes of caramel and pilsner malts. The mouth gets a malty brew with notes of caramel.

2025 update: modest, soon diminishing head.

Brilliant amber with decent head retention. Toasted malt aroma with touch of caramel. This is definitely a marzen not a festbier. Satisfying amount of maltiness without leaning too big into the caramel. Finishes pleasingly dry and clean. One of the better easy-drinking (5.4% ABV) o'fests, though without any distinctive characteristics.

 

12 ounces, bottled on July 31, 2025. Poured into a large Sam Adams Octoberfest mug.

Rich amber brown colored brew with a 1F solid lasting white cap with a touch of vanilla tinge. Minimal lacing. Good look.

The aroma is caramelized toasted malt with the Marzen vibe.

Flavor follows suit with a bit of light fruit hops.

Medium bodied with dry malt and some caramel. Hops balance the caramel nicely.

Very easy drinking and definitely fits the Octoberfest category. I’m pleased with the 5.4% abv.

It looks gorgeous to pour from a bottle into a glass. The amber color looks entirely inviting. The fragrance is a bit neutral and doesn’t match its exceptionally sweet flavor. That said, taste is paramount and this one hits the mark. If you can find it it’s definitely worth a try.

 

Poured from a brown 12 oz. bottle. Has a bronze color with a 1/2 inch head. Smell is of mild malts. Taste is sweet, malty, just a hint of hops. Feels medium bodied in the mouth and overall is a refreshing and decent beer.

The pour is bronze colored with a fair amount of carbonation. The taste is sweet roasted malts, caramel, & a mild hop presence. Cheers! B

A: slight haze; bronze in color; 1 finger finely pored very light tan head that receded to a wispy cap with a moderate, tight collar; no lacing;

S: sweet malt; doughy;

T: sweet malt and apple; mild bitterness at the end;

M: medium bodied; moderate carbonation; moderately dry finish;

O: OK, but there are much better options in this style;

 

 

Poured from the bottle into a Libbey style pilsner glass.

A real nice clear bodied and caramel brown and orange color. Almost a dark gold brown, with light amounts of linear carbonation. Head is creamy and fluffed up real nicely, with touches of a thick cap and three solid fingers of good staying power. Very nice looking lager.

Subtle aroma, a light caramel note followed with a touch of slight off heat and booze. Mild sweetness as well but fairly straightforward if maybe sensing a kind of alcohol/fusel hot.

Palate is a little odd. Comes off heavily mineral sensing, with a big rocky flavor and biting bitterness. Much of the mid palate doesn't seem to hint of classic flavors, or even the hints the nose gives off earlier. Fairly clean, and very crisp and dry in the finish, almost too much with a parching sensation in aftertaste. Faint finish of caramel, and maybe some toast.

Passable but kind of lacks just much what I expect in this style. The gaseous mineral rocky quality is just really something that overtakes the beer.

12 ounce bottle poured into a dimpled mug.
Best by 12/18/22

Nice clear amber body crowned with over an inch of off-white foam that reduces to a sparse cap but never fully retires.

The nose is subdued but what is there is nice and leaning to sweet, mostly lightly toasted bread aroma and fleeting whiffs of fruit/floral hops that are in the neighborhood of orange blossom.

Taste opens balanced toward malt, though not sweet or bready. Earthy hop flavor with a woody tang picks up before a semi-dry finish that leaves me with a semi-sweet aftertaste. ( Edit) Draft pour at the brewery seems balanced a bit to hop.

Feeling medium in weight with a hint of creaminess, the medium carbonation is enough for a crisp edge early in the mug that eventually smooths out

A drinkable Marzen, decent American example. The lower ABV is also appreciated.

 

Clear amber body with a large off white head and good lacing. Toasted malt aroma with a sweet edge. Toffee like taste wrapped in brown bread. Hops are subdued but there are enough to add some balance. Smooth, softly carbonated, medium bodied mouthfeel. Stacks up well against the many O'fests sampled so far this season.