Appearance

The Ayinger Oktober Fest-Märzen comes in a brown, mid sized bottle with a variety of color stylings on the front. There is an orange and yellow Oktober Fest stripe. There is a green front label. Overall, it’s not hard to immediately recognize this as an Oktober Fest style release with German branding. The beer itself pours a golden brown with a fluffy white head. Certainly visually appealing enough that I want to start tasting immediately.

Aroma

The aromas are average, with notes of sweet wheatiness and bread. Nothing here is spectacular, but it is still welcoming.

Flavor

Initially, I found the flavors to settle in at average. Creaminess with citrus, and a strong mid palate metallic note. Bready notes come through with a malty center as the beer warms up. There is an overall nice effervescent mouthfeel with some slight acidity. That creaminess intensifies significantly as the beer warms up, and the metallic center falls off. By the time I’m at the halfway mark, I’m thoroughly enjoying the combination of flavors.

Balance

The balance is good. None of the flavors of bread, creaminess, sweetness or citrus run over another and fortunately the metallic note that started the beer off drops away.

Finish

Initially, the beer finishes wheaty with a sharp metallic component. Once the beer has warmed more, that metallic component drops, but the finish is quite simple.

Overall

Some have called this the quintessential Oktober Fest Märzen style beer release. I definitely enjoyed it, and there’s no question that the flavor profile solidly ticks traditional Festival beer styling. I think the Ayinger Oktober Fest-Märzen is very nuanced and is best served warmer. I don’t think it would be too difficult to convince me to have one, or two, or five of these on a warm patio to celebrate.

John McTavish

SCORE

6.33

Cost/Point

$0.52

Scoring System

Personal Beer Review: Ayinger Oktober Fest-Märzen