Tasting Notes: Private Landbrauerei Scheuerer: Moosbacher: Weissbie

Private Landbrauerei Scheuerer: Moosbacher: Weissbier (Germany: Hefeweizen: 5% ABV)

Visual: Cloudy ripe banana yellow colour. Massive white bubbled head. Some small bubbled carbonation.

Nose: Overripe banana. Wheat. Peppery. Orange skin. Grapes. Palma violets.

Body: Tart grapes. Slightly sour. Peppery. Palma violets. Bitter. Banana sweets. Slightly dry.

Finish: Banana sweets. Peppery. Greenery. Some bitterness. Bitty hop bits. Dry. Cut apple.

Conclusion: Well this is interesting. The aroma initially seemed quite standard, if good quality, hefeweizen. You know the routine – banana, peppery, an odd but not unheard of extremity of orange skin showing some innovation, but not so much to mess with the base style.

And then….

Palma violets notes come into it, that call more to the pilsner noble hop style than I would expect, and after that a much more odd tart grapes touch in the aroma which only gets heavier and really gets going when you sip the main body. It is fruity and lightly sour in a way that I really was not ready for.

It then becomes a tad more familiar again with the peppery, wheaty character of a weisse, just tarter and with those green grape notes mixed in, now with sweeter grape touches as well.

Does it work?

Kind of. It is refreshing, which is good for this summer heat. It is different, so not what I came to the beer for, but it is reasonable. The fresh, slightly sour grape against the pepper and bitter character actually calls to mind the lighter side of the gose – the Goslar made version where it is mainly a salted wheat beer rather than the heavily sour monster some interpretations are.

There is a cut apple freshness later on which really reinforces the green fruit imagery, and little of the banana backing that the aroma hints at – a choice I respect but I kind of miss the expected banana notes.

Not one I will return to much but a refreshing yet gripping wheat beer.

Background: Independent Spirit got a new batch of German beers in, including some breweries I had not seen before, so I grabbed a bunch, including this one – of which I had to look up what that first letter of the “Moosbacher” was as I was not 100% sure with the typeface. I went with their hefeweizen as it was one of the first beers that got me into finding out that there was more to beer than I thought. Also this also has a pop cap, which is something I always like. They are just fun. Not much else to add, went with Metallica: 72 Season as backing music – a pretty darn good Metallica album, glad to see they still have them in them.

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Tasting Notes: Vault City:Neon Raptor: DDF M*rs Bar Monumental Imperial Stout

Vault City:Neon Raptor: DDF M*rs Bar Monumental Imperial Stout (Scotland: Imperial Stout: 15.5% ABV)

Visual: Black, fizzy initially then still. Thin brown dash of a head.

Nose: Nutty. Tempura batter. Butter. Crushed peanuts. Milk.

Body: Thick and viscous. Chocolate liqueur. Peanuts. Strawberry crème. Buttery. Vanilla cream.

Finish: Oily sheen. Chocolate liqueur. Peanut butter. Buttery. Whipped cream. White sugar. Nougat.

Conclusion: Ok, first up, we have to examine how exactly does this emulate a double deep fried Mars bar? I am asking the big questions here. Don’t lie, we all know that is the part you were wondering about as well.

It mostly seems to work by making it more buttery in feel and flavour, or so it seems to me. This has big buttery energy that feels like it comes through more as lighter tempura batter than the thick batter you would expect, but, you know, close enough, right?

Its also milky, but more importantly very sugary sweet – which isn’t in any batter that I know and yet seems to hang around in the more batter and milk side rather than the more Mars bars side, tying it very close together which is a tad odd so thought best to mention it.

So, apart from that, you have heavy chocolate liqueur notes and lots of nutty character, peanuts especially – slightly oily with a very viscous character that makes it almost sickly sweet – so, yeah Mars bar, but even sweeter if you can imagine that.

So, that is kind of it – it has big flavours but not big range. It does very well in emulate its inspiration in being a terrible idea, and yet one I am glad to have tried, and will never try again. The only unusual element that does not match the theme is a slight strawberry crème mid body, unexpected, not a huge element buts pops out of the sweetness now and again.

The odd mix of buttery notes over the very sweet chocolate and nutty notes make for a cloying mouthfeel and flavour, probably works best as half the can, as after that the thick buttery flavours get sweeter and overpower everything else.

Does exactly what the can describes, for better or worse.

Background: Ok, I admit, I bought this as it is trying to replicate the Scottish “delicacy” of double deep fried Mars bars as an Imperial Stout. That sounds such a terrible idea I just had to try it, despite the fact this was quite the expensive one. The description is quite the item, so to quote directly

“We wanted to create a true representation of Scotland, away from the tired cliches and usual tropes you might see on TV. A bold and unique idea was needed to showcase Scottish culture in all its glory…

Then we thought, screw that, let’s brew a double deep-fried m*rs bar imperial stout and make it 15.5%.

Deep fried m*rs bars are as synonymous with our country as haggis or Iron Brew, and we wanted to bring this dessert to life in a beer. With Neon Raptor’s help we packed it to the brim with chocolate malt, cacao nibs and an authentic deep-fried taste from adding battered m*rs bars right into the mash tun.”

I mean that is an utterly terrible idea, no? So yes here I am drinking it. Another one from Independent Spirit, drunk while listening to the Celeste OST for some chilled tunes to help mellow out the high abv beer.

Tasting Notes: Elusive Brewing: Midnight Oregon Trail

Elusive Brewing: Midnight Oregon Trail (England: Black IPA: 5.8% ABV)

Visual: Black, a half inch of coffee brown creamy head with a mix of tight bubbles within it.

Nose: Dry roasted peanuts and chestnuts. Wholemeal bread. Charred wood. Burnt toast. Sour dough. Grated chocolate.

Body: Dry. Grated black chocolate. Sour dough. Malt chocolate. Slight sulphur. Moderate bitterness. Subtle grapefruit.

Finish: Black chocolate slabs. Bitter cocoa. Moderate hop bitterness. Slight sulphur. As warms grapefruit comes out. Peppery. Pineapple.

Conclusion: I was wondering how a West Coast BIPA would work. As gone into in more detail in the background BIPAs tend to be more malt led, while West Coast tend to have an out of the way malt body. So, you see the conflict, right? I mean they both like the bitterness so hopefully we will see a lot of that, but I was confused.

It is quite dry, so we have that kind of attenuated character a west coast can have. Definitely not as full on attenuated as most west coast IPAs I’ve tried, but it gives a familiar mouthfeel along the Black IPA side and a satisfactory way to deliver the bitterness into the finish.

The bitterness is lower than expected, satisfying but not intense. Possibly this is due to balance from the malt making it seem restrained rather than any actual lower bitterness, hard to say.

The malt is, as mentioned, dry, but with that still quite chocolate filled, but in a bitter black chocolate to more neutral chocolate malt drinks kind of way, rather than anything sweeter. Along with that it has kind of sulphur touch, mouth filling backing character. It kind of works, not as dry as you would expect, not as sweet as you would expect and not as bitter as you would expect, but trying to walk the difficult balance between all those expectations.

As it warms slightly another familiar west coast style element starts to come out – the grapefruit hop character, which actually comes out clearer here than in standard Oregon Trail, which always seemed more earthy leaning to me. Here it comes out pretty cleanly and gives a nice fresh release from the bitter character.

The main disappointment, apart from not being as bitter as my withered taste-buds would like, is that it does not match the FANTASTIC early aroma. There is a huge dry roasted, nutty and nut oil character that is delectable, but doesn’t even hint at similar in the main body. If this had shown up more I would have been ecstatic.

As is, it is good, not GREAT, but good, and with the dearth of black IPAs right now I will 100% take good.

Background: The existence of this beer first excited and then confused me. Excited as, well Black IPA and West Coast IPA, two of my favourite styles that are being used a lot less these days. Confused as well, how does west coast black IPA work? My understanding of West Coast IPA is high bitterness, citrus notes and more notably out of the way malt base and generally quite attenuated. My understanding of Black IPA is quite dark malt led, high bitterness beer. So, yeah how does those two very different attitudes to malt profile work together? Maybe there is already a set style definition, but I was intrigued to see. While not on the front of the can the back text mentions this was a collaboration with “The West Street Alehouse”, so if I am ever in the area I may have to check them out. I have tried and done notes on the standard Oregon Trail and found it good if not top tier west coast IPA style. This was grabbed from Independent Spirit, and drunk while listening to a bunch of Depeche Mode – a friend was telling me about how varied and good some of their lesser known tunes were so I decided to have a little listen to find out and this seemed like a good time.

Tasting Notes: Electric Bear: Independent Spirit: Shenanigans

Electric Bear: Independent Spirit: Shenanigans (England: Dry Stout: 5% ABV)

Visual: Very dark brown to black. Creamy. Mounded coffee ice cream brown coloured head.

Nose: Bitter. dry coffee cake. Crushed coffee beans. Bitter cocoa. Crushed walnuts. Pecans.

Body: Bitter. Dry coffee cake. Light sour cream and chive twist. Ash. Charring. Soot. Bitter cocoa. Coffee liqueur and Baileys.

Finish: Bitter cocoa. Bitter coffee remains. Bitter coffee cake. Subtle tobacco. Ash/Cigarette ash. Peppery.

Conclusion: Ok, when they say coffee, they are not darn lying. While at the front the aroma is quite dry coffee cake style, as you go on this ends up like licking chocolate off crushed coffee beans.

As a disclaimer, I have never actually licked chocolate off crushed coffee beans. I have definitely not done that then put the beans back in the pack. This is just explaining the imagery that comes to mind.

There isn’t a huge amount of chocolate, contrary to how that may have sounded, but what is there is bitter and a second layer of imagery as someone trying to make a mochachino just as darn bitter as possible. Just to check mochachino is the chocolate coffee one right? Google suggests so, but I’m going to confess, outside of experimenting with the fancy beans you can get in some places to see what unexpected stuff I can find, I don’t actually drink much coffee.

Yes I’m a monster I know.

Under that massive amounts of coffee, and some chocolate character, is a very slight sour cream and chives twist. Just the tiniest amount, a bit savoury, a touch soured, just a tiny offset under such a strong flavoured beer.

As you get used to that there are subtle soot and ash notes underlying that, though that changes more into a peppery style as it warms. By confusing contrast there is also a more coffee liqueur, even just slightly Baileys character coming out. All this is very subtle, and nowhere near as sweet as that sounds, but a welcome release from the very bitter style.

All this dances around the dry stout base, which is clinging as often common with the style, but all these other elements very handily stop it becoming wearing, an issue I have had with some Irish stouts.

Very nicely done, a very dominant base concept core matched with enough around it to round it out. Despite its, well not modest, but certainly not high, abv it is not one to have many of. It is very strong flavoured, so one or two will easily do the job, even if the abv would suggest you can have more.

Have one, drink slow, start slightly chilled and most definitely let it warm fully before then end so you can fully enjoy it and you have a very robust and enjoyable beer.

Background: So, you all know Independent Spirit by now right? It is where I get easy 70%+ of my drinks. Well it is 10 years old! Darn time flies. Also I am now old. Anyway, to celebrate they teamed up with Bath local brewery Electric Bear to make this Irish Stout, loaded with coffee and Azacca hops. I have to admit Azacca hops is one I don’t know that well. Could mean anything. Well, something I need to do more tasty research on. Anyway, it is fairly obvious where I bought this right? Morrisons. Of course. With it being an IRISH stout I had to go for appropriately themed music. Rakshak by Bloodywood, natch.

And just in case you did not pick up it was a joke this was not bought at Morrisons. I did however listen to Bloodywood, because they are amazing.

Tasting Notes: Moor: Mando

Moor: Mando (England: American Pale Ale: 5% ABV)

Visual: Hazy darkened caramel colour that leaves suds. Large mounded off white head. Small amount of visible sediment, but no real visible carbonation.

Nose: Malt chocolate. Crushed digestives. Ovaltine. Biscuity bitter hop character. Light orange ovaltine. Soft grapefruit.

Body: Bitter, earthy and peppery. Malt chocolate base to ovaltine. Restrained grapefruit.

Finish: Earthy bitterness. Peppery. Light grapefruit.

Conclusion: Ok, I will admit while West Coast IPA is 100% my thing, I have had slightly less experience with West Coast pales. I have enjoyed most of the ones I have tried, but I am less able to say if any new beer in that style meets the style expectations. Or at least my version of the style expectations.

This feels like half way between a UIK earthy bitter and a West Coast IPA – not a bad combo. It is very earthy and peppery, which 100% makes me think of British bitters, and the malt base is less out of the way than I would expect from things of a West Coast style (though that may be my West Coast IPA expectations showing through). You get a quite biscuity meets ovaltine malt base that, while it doesn’t quite match to a UK bitter, feels like the American take on an English Pale Ale style which I always views as kind of how USA views a UK Bitter. That was quite a ramble – it’s not exactly that, but in the vicinity – a pale ale bitter British ale style definitely has its hooks in this somewhere.

Then you get the West Coast style becoming visible, with a higher level of bitterness – not an IPA level but still a good punch. Along with that also comes that tart grapefruit I’d expect from the style, not huge but in a way that just slightly lightens and refreshes from the bitterness.

Overall, it is very solid. Not a must have beer, but as a bitterness delivery system I am here for it. You want a bitter, lightly tart freshened beer with a British earthy, peppery character mixed in? Yeah, well this is that and a real ale influenced take on a west coast pale style and it is a job well done.

This is the way.

Background: So, you may not have noticed, but the beer name and imagery is a subtle nod to The Mandalorian. I know if I had not pointed it out, you never would have noticed. They have to be that subtle to get it past Disney’s lawyers. Anyway, while not the hugest Star Wars geek, I do enjoy it and both Mandalorian and especially Andor have been very enjoyable recently, so between that, the fact I adore West Coast IPAs (Yes I know this is a west coast pale, close enough to catch my attention), and that Moor do a great quality of live ales in cans, this really was one I had to grab. Grabbed from Independent Spirit, I went back to Lesbian Bed Death: Born To Die on VHS as backing music, while horror rather than sci fi, it definitely has the geek movie love quota to match the beer.

Tasting Notes: Newton Park: Crater Lake Cold IPA

Newton Park: Crater Lake Cold IPA (England: IPA: 5.8% ABV)

Visual: Clear, light pale straw to yellow colour. Large loose white bubbled head. Some small amounts of small bubbled carbonation.

Nose: Flour. Fresh lime. Lemon cakes. Dry. Prickly hops. Crushed salty rocks.

Body: Dry. Good bitterness. Lime. Light honey sweetness. Gherkin touch. Light Apricot. Vanilla. Clean mouthfeel.

Finish: Dry. Good bitterness. Gritty hop feel. Light honey sheen. Light gherkin. Lime.

Conclusion: Ok, I’d never run into a Cold IPA before this one, but if, as I think from a bit of googling, this is representative of the general style then they have my interest. If this is also representative of the general quality I could expect them I am 100% on board for this becoming the next big thing – hopefully pushing out the NEIPA craze. If you had not heard of the style either, imagine something between a lager and a west coast IPA – as a West Coast IPA fan that could either be completely for me or heresy, and as you have probably guess I am plopping down on the completely for me side of the line.

Oh, spoiler warning for the rest of the review there.

It is nicely dry, as you would hope from the west coast side of things, but slips down much easier than most of those, with that lager style giving a soothing feel as it goes down.

There is soft lime and lemon citrus notes, and a hint but not more than that of the American apricot hops – not the full intensity or range I would expect from the best West Coast IPAs, but that is a high bar of comparison to clear. It works well as a lovely fresh hop character to give enough fresh fruitiness against the dry character and decent hop bitterness. A nice balance.

There is that note I see in good IPAs that I can only describe as a gherkin touch, kind of a light sour undertone, subtly done – it sounds like a horrible thing when said like that but it really works to give a nice twist to IPAs like this. One day I may work out a better descriptor.

The body is mostly out of the way, (in a West Coast style one might say), though with a lager smooth sheen. The main sight of it is in a dry honey sweetness, but even that is understated. In general between the west coast and lager influence it is a gentle mouthfeel more than a flavour.

Overall, generally one I love. Balanced between bite and easy drinking. It dodges the curse of West Coast IPAs in England not living up to the USA ones by not technically being a west coast IPA, despite wearing their influence obviously. Any which way, this is lovely character and I highly recommend you get your hands on one before it vanishes, even if that means less for me.

Background: Been meaning to do notes on this one for a while now, I’ve not been doing as many notes recently but this one definitely needed a slot. First reason for this is Newton Park is, at least for a while, shutting down – as are many British breweries at the moment so wanted to slot at least one in before they went. Second of all this is a Cold IPA, an unusual style I had not encountered before, using lager yeast but aiming for an IPA style. Sounds like an IPL, but from trying it, this definitely seems to earn a place for a style as itself. Finally, well I enjoyed it, as you may be able to tell and wanted to get the message out a bit so people had a chance to grab it before it vanished. Anyway grabbed a few cans of this from Independent Spirit, of which this is one. Went with Electric Callboy: Tekkno for music while drinking – a mate introduced me to them and it was some fun high energy backing for the booze.

Tasting Notes: Original Stormtrooper: Goon Squad

Original Stormtrooper: Goon Squad (IPA: England: 5.5% ABV)

Visual: Clear with just the slightest bitty haze to the yellow body. A large white mound of large bubbled head that leaves lots of sud remains.

Nose: Orange zest. Crisp hops. Lemon juice. Slight gritty bitterness. Slight crushed rocks. Fresh. Cake sponge. Light malt drinks.

Body: Bready feel, moderate bitterness. Lemon cakes. Sugared orange jelly sweets. Crushed rocks air. Slightly thicker feeling middle, but moderately dry in general.

Finish: Orange – a mix of blood orange and tangerine. Solid gritty bitterness. White bread feel. Drying.

Conclusion: Now, I have repeatedly said that in general the UK doesn’t match the USA when it comes to West Coast IPAs. It makes sense really, they have home court advantage. Ones in the UK almost always seem to not quite get all three aspects that I adore – the dry, well attenuated body, the heavy hop bitterness and the layers of complex hop flavours on top of that. They seem to manage two of the three ok, but always seem to miss at least one.

This one … does pretty well actually. I feel that, as they probably have a wide net of potential buyers from the definitely not Star Wars imagery, they are holding off on going fell bore with the harsher edges of the West Coast IPA style, so not to put people off, but even with that said this is a very solid take.

What this nails is the fruity hop flavours, lots of orange notes, from sugared jelly sweets to blood orange to tangerine – it is very well layered around one simple concept for the most part and very enjoyable. It also leans into lemon notes with fresher lemon juice to sweeter lemon cakes. That cake sponge aspect seems to come through quite a bit – which leads us onto how well this manages a dry attenuated base.

It is pretty well done there, not super dry, but with enough attenuation that you can recognise the style. There is a bit more malt showing than normal, some sweeter notes giving a slightly thicker mid body than I would expect, which matches with the bit extra weight of mouthfeel that aforementioned cake sponge character adds but nowhere near east coast style malt levels or sweetness. So, a bit more malt led than expected but generally dry and out of the way so pretty well done.

Finally, the bitterness! Also pretty good – me, I could do with more, I want a west coast that kicks, but I am aware I like silly bitter stuff – this is still solid. Not full USA West Coast, slightly toned down, but still enjoyable.

Overall, yep as you may have guessed a very solid beer and a pretty good take on the style. No complaints here.

Background: This was part of an x-mas present pack of Stormtrooper beers from my Sister and her family, many thanks! I decided to do notes on this one first as I am such a sucker for West Coast IPAs. Like a huge fan. Shocking I know. What did shock me when I saw this was all the stormtrooper Star Wars imagery, how the heck did they either a) afford that? Or b) get around Disney’s lawyers? Turns out it is pretty simple, this is not Star Wars themed. They instead got the rights to use the Stormtrooper armour, which exists completely separately from Star Wars – so it looks Star Wars linked, but is not. Clever marketing. The glass used came with the pack, which, while pretty, all the images on it did make it hard to look at it properly for the visuals section of this guide. Went with The Cybertronic Spree: Ravage as music for drinking to – more sci-fi themed tie ins made sense – a fun 80s feeling bunch of metal from a band that cosplays as transformers. Because of course!

Tasting Notes: Bereta: BBC Maple Syrup, Toasted Pecans, Cloves Imperial Stout

Bereta: BBC Maple Syrup, Toasted Pecans, Cloves Imperial Stout (Collab with Cristi Tiuca) (Romania: Imperial Stout: 10.5% ABV)

Visual: Black. Still. Thin brown dash of a head.

Nose: Cinnamon. Cloves. Cream. Vanilla. Walnuts. Maple syrup.

Body: Smooth chocolate liqueur. Thick texture. Cinnamon. Mulled wine. Orange zest. Walnuts. Nutty coffee.

Finish: Mulled wine. Cinnamon especially. Vanilla to vanilla custard. Chocolate liqueur. Sherry trifle touch.

Conclusion: Ok, so this is one of those beers where if you have read the name you have a pretty good idea of how it will taste. Mainly because it lists all its special ingredients in the name. Innovative naming this does not have. This clarity of flavour is both a blessing and a curse but I really can’t claim this beer does false advertising.

There is the chocolate liqueur like base imperial stout – it is thick of body and yet slick of feel – nothing out of the ordinary but solid and well made. Over that, oddly, the first impact is an unexpected cinnamon character, it has a huge, kind of Crunchie chocolate bar taste as it mixed with the base chocolate flavour in the stout. Ok, I am aware this undercuts my point that all the flavours are in the beer’s name, but stick with me here.

Then after that introduction the more Christmas mulled wine like cloves notes come it, lightly on the nose, moderate in the body they very full mulled wine in the finish. Then, revealing more layers, the nuttiness comes out. To me it felt more walnut to nutty coffee flavours, but I will take their word it is, in fact, toasted pecan. The maple syrup is the least evident element. It is there but in general the sweetness is more chocolate, vanilla or cream like.

Overall, bar the cinnamon character, it does exactly what it says on the tin. The nuttiness works as a lovely savoury backdrop to what could otherwise have been an overly sweet beer. The Christmas spice is well balanced and not overpowering, which can easily be an issue with clove like flavours. The only real flaw I can see is there is not really much to examine outside the unusual ingredients. There is a touch or orange zest, lots of vanilla, but the special ingredients do the heavy lifting – I generally prefer to be able to examine the base beer more.

Still super enjoyable despite those minor quibbles.

Background: Ok, most of the information for this is already in the name really. It is an imperial stout made with the ingredients listed. The specific ingredient list on the can is not in English so I’m not 100% but it looks right at a quick reference. It is also, as listed, a home-brewer collaboration with Cristi Tiuca. Here I will have to admit I know nothing really about Bereta or Cristi Tiuca, so this section isn’t adding much this time. This was picked up from Independent Spirit as I felt it was time for some big Imperial Stout fun and this looked like it may do the job. Also always a sucker for a new brewery. Went with Slipknots new album “The End So Far” when drinking. Not grabbing me as much as their last album that got me back into Slipknot, but it is growing on me.

Tasting Notes: Kinnegar: Black Bucket

Kinnegar: Black Bucket (Ireland: Black IPA: 6.5% ABV)

Visual: Opaque black body with a good sized creamy brown head.

Nose: Citrus. Pineapple, grapefruit and lime. Crushed bourbon biscuits. Cocoa. Brown bread.

Body: Prickly. Pineapple. Vanilla touch. Tart grapefruit. Dark malts. Sour dough. Light cream. Quite tart. Light charring and charred bitterness. Peppery. Brown bread.

Finish: Charring. Slightly rough bitterness. Bitter black coffee. Grapefruit over that. Raspberry tartness. Bitter cocoa. Peppery to rye crackers.

Conclusion: This is a Black IPA that leans towards my preferred take on the style. While it is dark of body and backed obviously by the darker malts, the first impression you get is citrus heavy, fresh and quite tart in the hop expression.

The main elements in the lead in are pineapple and grapefruit notes, but late on in the body into the finish you get a spritzy raspberry like set of tart notes that I would not have expected at all. It is all very refreshing and prevents the roasted hopped stout take that a lot of BIPAs head towards.

Initially the freshness controls the front, with hints of darker malts behind, leading into a much more evident charred, bitter finish sprinkled with a touch of pepper. However as time goes along you get the malt rising in the middle with a bready base, more peppery rye character and more bitter charring, becoming more like the finish for the full BIPA experience.

It’s not quite got the balance of the best black IPAs, that hard to describe touch that makes them so good – but it is still darn good. The rye is mostly used well, initially quite quiet allowing you to appreciate the open beer, it builds to a heavy rye cracker and peppery presence by the end – possibly a tad too heavy at the end for me – it mutes the brighter, slightly tarter notes, but generally a decent progression of flavour over time for an enjoyable BIPA.

Pretty satisfying.

Background: This was found while heading around Dublin as part of a holiday in Ireland. Oddly, the pub I had intended to hunt out was shut down, so I stuck my nose into a place called Tapped that boasted 50 taps, figuring that should have at least something I want to try. A good chunk of the taps turned out to host cocktails and wine, which were not to my taste, but I noticed in their can list they had this – which was in ratebeer‘s top 50 beers from Ireland, so I figured I would give it a go. It’s a rye black IPA – I am an utter sucker for BIPAs, and a rye touch never hurts so I had high hopes – especially as the BIPA seems an underused style these days which makes me sad…

Tasting Notes: Augustiner: Oktoberfest

Augustiner: Oktoberfest (Germany: Oktoberfest Marzen: 6.3% ABV)

Visual: Bright yellow gold clear body. Medium sized white bubbled head. Lots of small bubbled carbonation to the body.

Nose: Brown bread. Light bitterness. Light peppery character and light sulphur.

Body: Banana syrup. Brown sugar. Palma violets. Touch of malt drinks. Brown bread. Dry toffee. Peppery.

Finish: Palma violets. Lightly oily. Toffee. Light peppery character. Malt chocolate. Lightly earthy.

Conclusion: This is probably the most robust Oktoberfest I have had – it has a slightly higher abv that most of the style that I have encountered and you can feel it in the more malt led body, with toffee and banana notes against a light peppery bitterness, enhanced by just a touch of oiliness.

It means that it isn’t as clean and easy drinking as most Oktoberfests, but also means that I am really enjoying it. I dunno how well the extra weight and abv would go down drunk in litre steins at the festival itself, but had here in my room it is exactly what I am looking for.

It gains a lot of bready character in there as well as time goes on. Early on it has a palma violets style that calls to the more Czech hops and banana from the malt that makes it quite sweet, but as time goes on it builds on the peppery notes that exist, and with that bready character and a light earthiness it becomes much more savoury late into the game.

I would say it is more exciting early on, but the change in style over time makes it much more manageable to drink while still keeping hints of what came before.

Its not perfect, it could get rough over time i’d guess, but it is the most interesting Oktoberfest I have had so far.

Many thanks to Tony for getting me it!

Background: Over the years I have managed to try five of the six mainstays of the Oktoberfest, however the sixth – Augustiner, has always eludes me. I was this many years old when I found out that is because the Augustiner Oktoberfest is not generally imported into the UK, if you see it, it is likely someone manually brought some crates of it over. So, anyway shortly after finding that out I found out Tony was over in Germany for … Oktoberfest. So I pleaded with him, and he kindly brought me a bottle back. Many thanks, you are a prince amongst people. This is that bottle. Music wise I went with Godspeed You! Black Emperor: G_d’s Pee AT STATES’S END!. Yes that is its real title.