Spaten Oktoberfest Ur-Märzen

Beer: Oktoberfest Ur-Märzen
Brewery: Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu
Style: Oktoberfest/Märzen
ABV: 5.7%

Serving Style: Bottle
Drinking Establishment: Chez Wood
Primary Consumer: Kerensa

——–

OVERALL RATING:

Sight: Clear, dark amber body with an inch of foamy head that quickly settles to a wisp of tiny bubbles.

Smell: Full range of malt aromas, from toasted to caramel. After a few more wafts, it smells like a freshly baked pretzel with a hint of herbal hops at the end.

Flavor: Like the aroma, it’s like a kaleidoscope of malt flavors. One sip is an explosion of  sweet caramely malt and the next tastes like a variety of nuts. It’s almost too sweet until the hops stage a friendly take over. All of a sudden, the beer goes from sweet to bright, citrusy, and a little herbal. At the end, there’s a bit of peppery, gingery bite. All in all, quite a good amount of flavor given the style!

Feel: Thin body with medium carbonation and a wet finish.

Concluding Remark:  Holy crap, this is Oktoberfest in a sip. As evident by its name “Ur-Märzen” (i.e., original Märzen), Spaten is one of the six breweries in Munich that produces a Märzen for The Oktoberfest. In fact, it was a Spaten brewer that developed what is known as “the world’s first Oktoberfest bier” in 1872. This is hands down my favorite festbier this season (so far). It’s not as sweet as other Oktoberfests; the hops balance the sweetness of the malts and it has quite a complex flavor, given the nature of the style. Spaten’s Ur is not characteristic of all Oktoberfestbiers, but I certainly could keep refilling my Maß with it. It reminds me of my Oktoberfest days, which is really a fallacy as I don’t remember anything. Prost!