Lowenbrau: Oktoberfest (Germany: Oktoberfest: 6.1% ABV)
Visual: Pale yellow gold body. Large mounded white, tight bubbled head. An utter mass of small bubbled carbonation in the body.
Nose: Wheaty. Crisp. Vanilla toffee. Orange zest. Slight milk.
Body: Milky. Good hop character and bitterness. Toffee yogurt touch. Quite thick for a lager. Brown bread. Light hop oils.
Finish: Slight sulfur. Crusty white bread. Light charring.
Conclusion: This is quite the bready lager, and in an unusual take it is slightly milky as well in a way that gives more weight that I would expect from a lager, even the slightly heavier Oktoberfest style. It often feel sticky rather than crisp, which feels like a really odd vibe.
The bitterness is initially well done with a present and bitter hop character, which is initially quite welcome. However, as time goes on and you get through the glass the heavier, clinging texture means that the bitterness doesn’t leave gaps to be found afresh so gets kind of wearing.
The whole thing has a small, but present kind of milk to toffee yogurt character to the malt – along with a kind of neutral, bready backing. There are no real exciting flavours there, just ones that become over present over time and wear out their welcome.
I had hoped returning to this after many years would result in me finding new depths that I missed in my younger years, but it still feels like the weak spot in the line up of the big six Oktoberfests.
Background: This was the first Oktoberfest I ever tried, found it in Sainsbury’s many a year ago. I was not much a fan. Then again back then I hadn’t really got a taste for lagers, so when Independent Spirit got their yearly batch of Oktoberfest beers in I decided to give it another go. This will be the fifth of the six main Oktoberfest beers I have done notes on and I have now tried them all. Will have to do notes on the sixth at some point to complete the set. I have never actually been to Oktoberfest itself. Something I will have to change one day. Not much else to add, put Eels: Extreme Witchcraft on as backing music for something gentle to back the lager.
