Draught @ Pikkulintu. Poured mahogany color with a thin white head. Sweet malty bready aroma. Some rye. Flavor has rye, bready malts, sweetness. Malty, sweet, but pretty ok.

On tap. Pours a clear mahogany with little head. Aromas of burnt sugar and biscuity malts. Flavors of toasted malts, acrid brown sugar, grass and copper.

Bottle. Pours clear reddish brown with large foamy beige head, caramel malt aroma, sweetish caramel malt taste with a bit of smokiness, smooth body, long caramel finish. Smooth and smoky.

From tap. Pours hazy deep amber, small tan head. Aroma is roasted malt. Slight herbal. Dark malty. Sweet, caramelish. Subdued fruity. Breadish and roasted dark malty finish.

About as gorgeous as a festbier can be, pouring a rich, deep orange-red with a frothy beige head and solid lacing. Decent aroma, some caramel and toffee backed by a slight lager fruitiness. Not all that tasty, though, opening with a strong enough vein of caramel sweetness but growing overly bitter on the back end. The malts crap out rather abruptly, leading to a dry, almost medicinal finish. Good feel, creamy but evenly carbonated. Pretty unremarkable for an American Oktoberfest, though. Ballast Point really needs to up their lager game.

Its pretty good. Caramel and toffee flavors, warming, sweetish. I couldn’t say for sure but I feel like there’s maybe caramel malt in this, which is not desirable - it def seems to have that more caramel element than the toffee-cookie of Munich malt. Light hop, just for balance. Easy drinking, dark amber color.

12oz bottle at The Bayou
Pours clear dark amber with a medium sized beige head, good lacing. Aroma is toasted malts, bready, nutty and dark fruit. Flavor is malty, caramel, pine and citrus
Tasty

Bottle. Deep amber body with a short, frothy, off-white head. Malty aroma of bread, toasted grain, herbs, overripe fruit, caramel. The flavor is moderately sweet and lightly bitter. It finishes lightly to moderately sweet and lightly bitter. Medium body, watery/sticky texture, lively carbonation. Somewhat Ayinger like in flavor — malty, caramel, fruit. Too bad it has a raw grain aftertaste.

Bottle. Pours an amber color with a small off-white head. Has a fruity malty caramel grainy aroma. Fruity malty grainy caramel bitter flavor. Has a fruity malty grainy caramel bitter finish.

12 ounce bottle into dimpled mug, bottled on 8/8/2016. Pours crystal clear dark reddish copper/light brown color with a 1 finger dense off white head with good retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass. Aromas of caramel, brown sugar, brown bread, toasted biscuit, nuttiness, light toffee, floral, grass, light pepper, and herbal/toasted earthiness. Very nice aromas with good balance and complexity of dark/bready malt and light-moderate earthy hop notes; with good strength. Taste of big caramel, brown sugar, brown bread, toasted biscuit, nuttiness, light toffee, floral, grass, light pepper, and herbal/toasted earthiness. Light-moderate herbal/spicy bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of caramel, brown sugar, brown bread, toasted biscuit, nuttiness, light toffee, floral, grass, pepper, and herbal/toasted earthiness on the finish for a while. Very nice complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready malt and light-moderate earthy hop flavors; with a great malt/bitterness balance, and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Light dryness from bitterness, increasing through the glass. Very clean on lager flavors, with minimal yeast notes present. Medium carbonation and medium-plus body; with a very smooth, creamy/bready, and lightly sticky balanced mouthfeel that is nice. Minimal warming alcohol as expected of 6%. Overall this is a very nice Oktoberfest style. All around nice complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready malt and light-moderate earthy hop flavors; very smooth and easy to drink. A bit hoppy for the style, but not overdone; and has a plenty of rich malt flavors to balance it out. A very enjoyable offering.