Octoberfest
Harpoon Brewery in Boston, Massachusetts, United States 🇺🇸
Lager - Märzen / Festbier Autumn|
Score
6.24
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We threw our first Octoberfest festival here at the brewery in 1990 – it was actually inside the brewery, amidst the tanks. We can’t do that so much anymore (there were about 18,000 people at our last Octoberfest), but we still love having everyone here for our Octoberfest each fall. Come join us this year!
Harpoon Octoberfest is a malty tribute to fall, balanced by a gentle hop bitterness. In keeping with tradition, it is a Marzen-style beer, brewed with abundant quantities of Munich, Chocolate, and Pale malts. Those malts provide a solid, full body and create the beer’s deep color. It is a rich, flavorful beer.
Harpoon Octoberfest is a malty tribute to fall, balanced by a gentle hop bitterness. In keeping with tradition, it is a Marzen-style beer, brewed with abundant quantities of Munich, Chocolate, and Pale malts. Those malts provide a solid, full body and create the beer’s deep color. It is a rich, flavorful beer.
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4.6/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 4
Texture 2
Overall 4.5
Bottled at Stockholm Beer Festival. Clear copper colour. Caramelly nose. Medium sweet with clean, hard mouthfeel. No malt depth at al, instead there’s caramel and grass. Light resiny finish. Typical US-style pseudo oktoberfest.
Tried
from Bottle
on 22 Sep 2007
at 09:03
3.9/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 3
Flavor 4
Texture 4
Overall 3.5
Musty old wet wood aroma. Looks like iced tea with a reddish orange tinge. Strongish bold flavor impact. Bitter and malty at the same time. Mildly creamy carbonation. Bitterness almost overcomes the slight syrup coating mouth feel. Seems like it tries to be a bitter chocolate but never quite gets there. Finish is clingy and almost annoying. Could be nearly perturbed.
Tried
on 31 Aug 2007
at 15:44
5.4/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 5
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 4.5
I don’t really see what is so great about this octoberfest. I am not sure exactly what in this beer it is, but something in it just puts me off. It might be the weird little bitterness. It might be the residual sweetness. I don’t know exactly what it is, but something is just wrong with the beer.
Tried
on 31 Oct 2006
at 16:46
6.1/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 5.5
Bottle. Sweet apple cider and malt aroma - light hint of vinegar. Reddish amber color with small head. Sweet apple juice and doughy flavor with a moderate hops finish. Not a bad beer, just isn’t like any other Oktoberfest beer I’ve ever had - fruitiness and hops aren’t very typical for the style.
Tried
from Bottle
on 27 Oct 2006
at 21:57
6/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6
Sampled at From The Vine beer tasting Sep 22nd, 2006: Clear reddish-brown with a thin off-white head and spotty lacing. Sweet malty aroma. Medium-bodied with a malty character and a touch of hops. The maltiness doesn’t hold up very long, and ends up being a little bland. The finish is somewhat dry with a sweet caramel finish. Just OK.
Tried
on 26 Sep 2006
at 11:30
6.4/10
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Appearance 10
Aroma 5
Flavor 5
Texture 8
Overall 6.5
Sampled from a 12 oz brown bottle this beer poured a crisp caramel color with a huge dark tan head - very pretty. The aroma is sour tangy malts with a hint of fruity hops. The flavor is sour tangy malts with a light floral hop presence and a hint of vegetal malts underneath. The sour tangy malts linger on the palate quite a while.
Tried
from Bottle
on 02 Sep 2006
at 12:19
4.4/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 5
Flavor 4
Texture 4
Overall 3.5
2003 bottle. Deep amber-brown/mahogany, wavy and has some yellow tones. Good off-white head that lasts long. Smells lightly hopped, slightly tart and a touch of roast. Begins with a big slightly syrupy malt, that is chewy and lightly nutty. Body is a satisfying medium. Moderately carbonated. Finish has a big hops flavor for it. More so than traditional for the style I would think, as this one is not overly malted. But the hops taste fresh. Warming up, it gets sweeter, lightly chocolatey. I thought it much better than average.(7/4/7/4/16) 2004 bottle. Not quite as decent as I remembered. More watery, some fruity hops and a very dry malt. Light caramel/mild chocolate sweetness on the finish. Color, aside from being filtered, still looks impressive. (6/4/6/2/11)
Draught at Beacon Hill Pub, 9/24/15.
Wow, what the hell is this? Dark chestnut-amber with roastiness??!! in the flavor leading to spoiled fruits, nearly syrupy caramel and very little redeeming anything. Rating is for this recent sample.
Draught at Beacon Hill Pub, 9/24/15.
Wow, what the hell is this? Dark chestnut-amber with roastiness??!! in the flavor leading to spoiled fruits, nearly syrupy caramel and very little redeeming anything. Rating is for this recent sample.
Tried
from Bottle
on 03 Jan 2004
at 22:58
7.5/10
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Appearance 10
Aroma 9
Flavor 7
Texture 4
Overall 7
Dark amber colour with ruby and orange highlights. Medium thick dense tan head...this is really what a Marzen should look like...nothing wrong at all. Strong malty aroma with a bit of spice and a bit of sweetness. Medium to Full-bodied; Fairly strong malty taste at first, fading to a bit of spiceyness and then completely dissapears from the palate. Aftertaste only shows a residual showing of the malt, and really no hops are detectable at any point throughout the beer. While this isn't the best Marzen I could imagine, it is one of the best i've had this year, which is crazy, as this is a larger produced beer. Regardless, if you want to see what a Marzen should be in the appearance and aroma, try this. I bought this twelve ounce bottle from Beers of the World in Rochester, New York.
Tried
from Bottle
on 24 Sep 2003
at 21:06