7

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7

Very nice, ever so slightly hazy amber and copper coloured body with a thinnish, one to two centimetre tall tan head that fades fairly quickly and doesn't leave much of anything up top. Aroma of biscuits, light bread, earthy and slightly nutty malts with a surprising level of squash and spices, both, which show nicely with some caramelised sugars and a good hit of toffee. Medium-bodied; Strong earthy and nutty pungent malt notes with a grassy and herbal quality, but the squash and coriander seed/allspice note seems to be a bit stronger than everything else with a nice bready quality from the yeast and a pleasant sweetness from caramelised sugars at the end. Aftertaste is pretty rich and nutty with a good complexity from the spices and especially the yeat on the finish, but the sugars provide a nice balance without any real hops noticeable here, at all. Overall, a pretty nice marzen with a good rich malt backbone, a smooth and noticeable amount of spices here with a pungent yeastie, bready and sweet finish that makes this nice throughout with plenty of flavours, but still is easy-drinking. I sampled this sixteen ounce, pint-sized can, purchased from Ye Old Spirit Shop in Frederick, Maryland on 29-November-2020 for US$3,59 after cutting down my last Christmas Tree, sampled just over a year later at my house here in Washington, still without a Christmas Tree for the year on 30-November-2021.