Maierfest Lager

bottled. Pours an orangey orange. Malt aroma. Caramel tastes with some sour notes. Mild hops. Good

22 ounce bottle into signature pint glass; no bottle dating, but this is likely to be over a year old. Pours hazy golden orange color with a small 1 finger foamy white head with good retention, that reduces to a thin cap that lingers. Minimal spotty lacing on the glass. Aromas of caramel, apple, pear, toast, biscuit, nuttiness, toffee, herbal, and light earthiness. Nice aromas with good balance and decent strength; very pleasant. Taste of caramel, toast, pear, biscuit, apple, toffee, nuttiness, floral, herbal, and light earthy spiciness. Lingering notes of caramel, toast, light fruit, nuttiness, biscuit, toffee, and herbal spiciness on the finish for a good bit. Very nice balance of flavors with good robustness; zero cloying sweetness after the finish. Medium carbonation and body; with a lightly creamy and very smooth mouthfeel that is nice. Alcohol is very well hidden with hardly any warming noticed after the finish. Overall this is a very nice Oktoberfest lager. Nice robustness with a good balance of toasty and nutty flavors with light fruitiness(which I prefer in the style); very smooth and fairly crisp to drink. A very enjoyable offering.

Bottle. Pours light amber. Nose/taste of yeast, toffee, caramel, malt and light honey. Medium body.

Herber, etwas wässriger Beginn. Geringe Bitterkeit, nur sehr leicht hopfig, leider etwas metallern zum Schluss. Ein immerhin trinkbares, nicht komplet laffes Lager. 7/8/9/9/9/9

$5.49 @ Gary’s beverage, Portsmouth, NH. No born on date or ABV printed anywhere on label. Nice gold color with soft carbonation in a lager glass. Minimal head or lace. Aroma of grass and sweet malt. Taste has malts that are sweet but not overwhelming. In the finish you get a German/ Euro hop bitterness that makes it a nicely balanced. Medium body. Has a nice, smooth/creamy mouthfeel with a short crisp finish. This was want I was thirsting for and it met my expectations. Nice Fest brew.

Although I’m not a big Oktoberfest guy, I do love a yearly pint or two of Maierfest, a solid entry into the style. Grainy, semisweet and fruity, with a definite swipe of pilsner malt, pretty and very easy to drink. No frills, but then again, none are needed.

Churchkey, DC 14oz tap ($7): Pours your standard American Oktoberfest look, somewhat amber with an off-white head. Aroma is caramel malts and whatever. Taste is too sweet. This upset me, because I wanted a good quaffable Oktoberfest. Additionally, I seldom complain about sweet beers. So I don’t know what was the problem. All in all, I think that this was a second tier offering from Rogue and certainly a second tier oktoberfest; gimme Hofbrau Munchen or Spaten over this any day.

(bottle) cloudy orange with small white head; aroma is floral and flowery with bit of honey; light and clean flavour - tasty interpretation of style that I generally don’t like

Bomber pours gold with off white head. The aroma is sweet, grainy and develops spicy hops, earthy hops and a dash of lemon. The taste is pretty rich and sweet with sweet malts, a sweet sense of honey and then a healthy lagery yeastiness. Slightly above the sweetness rides a modest layer of spicy and earthy hops. It has a pleasing near creamy mouthfeel.

Draught. Poured red-honey gold with thick white head. Much lacing. Maltish aroma with a nice hoppy edge. Full bodied flavour, Malt and honey malt. Hop finish. Well worth a second look