-Spaten Oktoberfest Ur-Märzen-
Oktoberfest, one of the biggest staples in a beer company especially one coming from Munich. Turns out this one is the world's first Oktoberfest brew from 1872. Coming from a guy who just had finished off his first Optimator 6 pack a while back I had high hopes for this beer when I got a hold of a bottle.
Appearance: The bottle design comes off as a festive yet reserved and proud container of brew. A traditional blue and checkered patterned design underlays both the neck and body. Traditonal Spaten markers are followed through on this guy and doesn't disappoint the uniformity committee here. Once poured it presents a dark golden copper body with a heavy head on its shoulders. It was a bit lighter than expected but showed a clean crispness through the glass. The head held longer than expected as one pour and I found the foam lofting for around 20-25minutes. Other than that the bottle design itself makes me think of medieval days past but that's me ahaha.
Smell: This was probably the hardest to nail down for me on this review. It gave me a quick sense of a borderline skunky if you keep inhaling for a bit but other than that I could only obtain quick shots of toasted bread, a little malt and some extra light chocolate. This one was definitely not for smelling but drinking, so no deductions here really.
Taste:
-Hoppiness: Not even apparent in anything but the lasting effects after a gulp. It'll stick with you for a bit but it isn't all that volatile either. Doesn't ruin the flavors and won't be found out in the open. Again with this brew it was a harder taste to figure out that seemed not worth the time to really analyze.
-Flavors: Another factor that hid in the dark as well, it gave me short and small senses of some caramel with a low to medium crispness. The malt seemed to team with the hops in the aftertaste and when taken from the glass. It wasn't chewy at all but had a dark bread flavor as well as a hint of the toffee tied in towards the end.
-Presence: It won't hit you like a lighter hoppy beer nor a dark lager or dobbelbock would. It's hard to figure this beer out in general but it'll give you a neutral, I'm sitting on the fence, kinda deal between the flavors tied in with each other with it leaning towards the malty bread taste. Only thing is it wish not impress you when it sits in the mouth, you can only really appreciate it when the aftertaste rears its head.
Gardner Factor: Well it's a tough beer, some definite drinkability to the guy but again it's not a lasting experiencing that's anything to write home about. I'd most likely choose this beer if I was out doing some rec in the sun or needed a light beer with a full meal. It's not a beer to make a time for but instead have it ready when you need it. At 5.9% it's not the lightest weight on the block but I could see downing quite a few, maybe say 4, without too much hassle as the taste won't be having you halfway through. Some Pros is that it's a fairly decent all around brew with some complexity if you look into it and has the drinkability for just about anyone who wants to step up from the ugly light drinking crowd. Some cons would be the twisted flavors making it hard to decipher and the constant lingering hops in the aftertaste that seem to last longer than they really should.
-Overall: An average brew with a good versatility for whatever your needs be. Spaten did a decent job and I hope to have a couple more in the future but not before their others, it's just not as enjoyable as it could be with its flavors.
-Rating: 7.6/10.0 - OK
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