Oktoberfest (2020)
(Batch of Oktoberfest)
Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico, California, United States 🇺🇸
Lager - Märzen / Festbier Autumn|
Score
7.38
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Our Festbier is a refreshing ode to beer's biggest party. Toasty malts and German hops yield notes of fresh bread and floral, fruity character for a balanced, crisp lager than makes any movement festive.
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7.5/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 10
Overall 7
Solid festbier, grainy and semisweet with mild notes of toasted bread and hints of caramel. Grassy bitterness and a floral vein keep it lighter and crisper than its märzen cousins. Nice pint.
Tried
on 14 Sep 2020
at 22:10
7.4/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 5
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
12 oz. bottle. Pours a crystal clear deep gold color with a thick off white head and great retention. Minimal lacing. Pale malts aroma. Pale malts flavor too with a slight hop bite in the finish. This tastes more like a pale lager than an Oktoberfest beer. It's a good lager but a disappointing Oktoberfest beer compared to previous years. Too hoppy for a good O-fest beer. You hop heads love anything SN does.
Tried
from Bottle
on 09 Sep 2020
at 22:37
7.6/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Bottle. Golden body with a frothy white head. Aroma of bread, caramel, fruits, light herbal hops. Sweet start, nicely balanced bitterness in the finish as a Festbier should have compared to an Oktoberfest. Medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation. Flavors of caramel and bread, toasted grain, spicy hops with just a hint of vitamin B in the finish. Clean, crisp. Enjoy this style more than the sweeter classic marzen/Oktoberfest. Good job here.
Tried
from Bottle
on 09 Sep 2020
at 14:18
8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
I was a bit surprised there was no collaboration this year. I wonder why. Anyway, it appears they've learned a few things from these collabs over the years and have produced a pretty solid one that reminds me of the 2015 Riegele collab with those spicy hops in standing up against nicely bready caramelized malts. It doesn't quite rise to that level of wonder. But it is much better than say their 2016 Mahrs Brau take. Still a really great ofest worth looking forward too.
Tried
on 01 Sep 2020
at 14:59
7.5/10
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Appearance 7
Aroma 7.5
Flavor 7.5
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Bottle from Trader Joe's. Pours a clear gold with a finger of white foam that dissipates. Nice peppery hop aromas with bready malt and dried honey notes. Very drinkable on the palate. Great balance with more bread and honey malt notes with pepper and grassy hop notes. Lingering mineral, bread and a lingering peppery hop tingle.
Tried
from Bottle
on 28 Aug 2020
at 20:48
7.9/10
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Appearance 10
Aroma 7
Flavor 7.5
Texture 9
Overall 7.5
Bready malt and dry hay aroma. Golden yellow with small white head. Moderately sweet bready malt, and mildly bitter dry hay flavor. Good body. Disappointing that there wasn't a collaboration this year but SN still made another top of the line Festbier.
Tried
from Bottle
on 23 Aug 2020
at 02:58
7.4/10
Not a collab this year? 🙁
Tried
from Bottle
on 21 Aug 2020
at 19:09