Brewery Website: http://www.redhook.com
Type of Beer: American Amber / Red Ale
Alcohol Content: 5.9%
Beer Review -
Appearance: The color of this beer can best be described as a bright copper with chestnut hue. Poured with a fluffy, one-finger, off-white head that slowly settled down to a sticky film that forms a beautiful lace on the side of the glass.
Smell: Smell begins somewhat sweet with bready malts, caramel and toasted malts. Some citrus hops creep to help spice things up. There is a graininess in the finish. While the smell is more on the subtle side of things it’s still alluring enough to wet your appetite.
Initial Taste: The flavor picks up where the smell leaves off. Smooth and creamy mouth-feel with bready malts and sweet caramel coming up to bat first. Followed up quickly by a crisp toasted graininess. The hops make there way across the palate last with a subtle but welcome fruity and herbal bitterness. Finishes dry and crisp with some lingering malt sweetness.
Thoughts: Late Harvest Autumn Ale is Redhook’s fall seasonal. Redhook describes this beer as “easy-drinking, yet flavorful brew” and I think they accomplished exactly that. It’s a fall beer that’s NOT an Oktoberfest, which I find extremely refreshing as it seems every brewery either makes an Oktoberfest or pumpkin beer for the fall season. It’s very nice to have another option on the table. This still gives you the full bodied creaminess you find in your Marzan Oktoberfests but the main difference here is that it’s an ale with a flavorful hop complexity. Something that you rarely find in the other fall seasonals. This beer is robust enough to appease the hop heads yet subtle enough to drink as a session beer. Highly recommend.
Brewery Website: http://www.magichat.net/
Type of Beer: American Amber / Red Ale
Alcohol Content: 5.4%
Beer Review -
Appearance: Pours an attractive crystal-clear, golden-amber hue. The two finger, off white head that looked so nice when pouring the beer dissipates rather quickly leaving behind a creamy film on the beer. There didn’t seem much to any lacing. The one aspect of this beer that does stand out is the carbonation; even with a heavy pour the carbonation bubbling off the bottom of the glass is very noticeable.
Smell: Smell is what you expect from an Oktoberfest; sweet,toffee, malty and biscuity. The smell is nice and strong which I believe is due to the heavy carbonation. There is also a hint of something else in there, a fruity/melon scent. It’s not prominent but if you look for it you’ll notice it.
Initial Taste: The taste is one of familiarity as it tastes a lot like the other craft oktoberfests on the market. However there are a couple discernible differences. Starts off mild and sweet with toffee and caramel flavors dominating the palate. There is a slight hoppy bitterness that helps gives some energy to the sweet flavors. The carbonation is still pretty heavy taking away the smooth creamyness that this beer could have had lots of. The scent of melon (maybe cantaloupe) has made it’s way into the flavor as well. It’s a funky flavor that is extremely hard to pin down. It doesn’t hurt the beer by any means, instead it adds a little mystery which makes you want to keep tasting it. The finish is a little dryer than I would have liked.
Thoughts:It’s important to remember that this isn’t your typical oktoberfest lager. It’s an ale (amber ale) with oktoberfest style ingredients. Magic Hat is well known for making slightly odd-ball brews with flavors you normally wouldn’t see in beers. Hex fits in very well to their lineup of strange brews. This “hybrid” oktoberfest or as they put it “Ourtoberfest” is a mild beer that tastes mostly like a Marzan with it’s sweet flavors and buscuity maltiness. There is only a slight hint that this beer isn’t a lager as the hops make the beer a little dryer than what you would normally see in an oktoberfest marzan style lager. The is also a special ingredient they fail to mention. I personally think it’s some sort of melon but you will have to taste to determine for yourself. The flavors are quite mild making this is a worth session beer. I would have liked a little less carbonation, more flavor and a little more balance to the sweetness but overall it’s a decent beer that I will certainly buy again. Cheers!
Brewery Website: http://www.saranac.com/
Type of Beer: Märzen / Oktoberfest
Alcohol Content: 5.4%
Beer Review -
Appearance: Clear amber-copper complexion with fluffy, two-finger, off-white head. Sadly head retention was just ok, lasting only a few moments and then settling to a thick film. Lacing was pretty much non-existent with only a skeleton of a spider web remaining on the glass. The mass of cascading bubbles show what should be some decent carbonation.
Smell: Scent is clean with a grainy, bread-like malt smell. Lots of sweetness comes through with notes of caramel and toasted sugar. Small sampling of hop spiciness makes it’s way across the nose but it’s only a wisp and grows more faint as you drink.
Initial Taste: Starts off pretty mild and sweet with vanilla, caramel malt and toasted sugar flavors hitting the tongue first. The flavor then starts to dry out with a hop bitterness that is spicy more than floral. While the hops are certainly present they only make a dent in the malt-heavy backbone. Finish is somewhat dry with little to no aftertaste.
Thoughts: Saranac has created yet another very drinkable seasonal brew. The flavor is what you would expect; heavy on the malts, just like most other American Oktoberfests, with a hop bitterness that tries to balances out the sweetness. This is a solid, middle of the road Oktoberfest that is easy to drink and pairs well with German food. While the flavor isn’t really all that provocative this is forgivable as the lager is really sessionable. I believe this to be an acceptable trade off. I recommend this beer as it’s usually easy to find (and drink) and sure to please even the most untrained palates. Though if you you are looking for an Oktoberfest beer with lots of flavor you are best to look elsewhere. Cheers.
Brewery Website: http://www.harpoonbrewery.com/
Type of Beer: Märzen / Oktoberfest
Alcohol Content: 5.5%
Beer Review -
Appearance: Pours a copper-red with a two-finger, off-white head. Head recedes slowly leaving behind incredible lacing that looks like it’s been painted on. Very attractive looking beer.
Smell: The first thing I noticed was the hops, they are quite fragrant but in no way do they seem overwhelming. The sweetness from the 3 different styles of malt helps to add some balance to the nose. There is a subtle fruitiness in the finish.
Initial Taste: The malt sweetness comes through first creating a very smooth and creamy mouth-feel. Much like what you would expect from a Marzan. The malt gives way to the hops that give a welcome but gentle bitterness that gains a little momentum towards the finish. The flavorful mixture of bready malts, bittersweet chocolate and citrus hops create a balanced and very tasty Oktoberfest beer. Finish is dry and clean making this high in drinkability.
Thoughts: Like many of the other American craft Oktoberfest beers this is an American style Oktoberfest. Which really isn’t a true German Oktoberfest beer but rather a Marzan boosted with hops (us Americans love our hops!). That being said, this beer is one of the best available for the style. Harpoon has created a perfect balance with what is traditionally a malty beer. They have mixed three different kinds of malt (chocolate, Munich and pale) with tettnang hops that give a spicy flavor that balances out the sweetness. The end result is a beautifully smooth beer that delivers on both the sweet and hop front making this a great session brew. This easily has become my go-to beer for American Oktoberfests. I highly recommend to Oktoberfest and craft beer lovers alike.
