It's kinda flat for what should be a lager.

Half-pint, on tap at The Boot on 11th October 2024. Clear and clean golden orange, white affair on top. Semi-sweet caramel and bready front, light hop action, liked it. Also had a 500ml bottle on 19th August 2025 while staying in Southern California!

Poured from 500mL bottle (lot 4088). Clear golden orange with full white head. Very metallic note upfront, soft malty caramel underlay, hint of honey underneath, average.

500 ml bottle. Clear dark golden amber with a big foamy head. Hay, straw, metal, roasted nuts, roasted malt, lemon zest, sourdough, pretzels. Dry metallic bitterness, malty sweetness. Medium bodied, oily texture, soft to lively carbonated, dry zesty malty bittersweet finish. A solid Festbier.

As Ayinger Festmärzen. Oktoberfestbier is basically a somewhat lighter (less malty) offspring of the old Märzen, and this one is apparently even sold abroad as an Oktoberfestbier, even though Ayinger does not belong to the six breweries officially licensed to serve their beer at the legendary Oktoberfest. I assume this one is made in the same style, but I have half a liter to find out. Thick and dense, frothy, foamy, egg-white, cobweb-lacing, stable head on a clear (filtered), warm pale 'metallic' amberish-glowing old-golden robe with steady sparkling in the middle. Aroma of dry crackers, lightly toasted white bread, hint of dry caramel, some old dried thyme, dried apple peel, slight petrichor, a whiff of banana faraway, wet granite, something very faintly smoky (wet cigarette tobacco) or even meaty (chicken stock). Malt-fruity onset, clean and rounded, softish in carb, smooth and slick; vague hints of red apple, pear and banana pop up but very superficially and briefly so. Cracker- and cereal-like malt sweet body with a thin caramelly edge, even something vaguely peanutty, with a pleasant minerality running underneath; lightly herbal hops grace a quenching finish, in which this minerality comes to the foreground even more. Hints of dried field flowers and fresh chamomile linger retronasally while the maltiness, remaining sweetish, rounded and cereally, maintains its fullness and purity. Trusted Aying does not disappoint: this is indeed a somewhat 'slimmer' and leaner version of classic Märzen, perfectly fit to celebrate the Oktoberfest tradition - it actually tastes as if it were served next to the Oktoberfest beers of Paulaner, Augustiner, Löwenbräu and the others. Recommended for those who like clean, 'süffiges', smooth and pure German Lagers.

Keg draught at Tønne, Leicester. Surprised I've not had this one yet. Deep brownish orange and clear with a small ring of white head. Light malty aroma, bready notes with fruited toffees. Taste is sweet but moderately so. There's no bitter kickback, it's just git a nice, moderate sweetness all the way through. More caramel and a touch of dried orange in the aftertaste. Medium body with carbonation on the heavy side. A solid beer which really grows on you.