Complacent moderation (formerly Heavy Seas Marzen) lacks focus and gets washed-out. Buttered biscuit-like Vienna malting, phenol-spiced lemony orange nip and toasted white bread spine stay thin. Cardboard-y caramelization needs sugary boost.

Complacent moderation (formerly Heavy Seas Marzen) lacks focus and gets washed-out. Buttered biscuit-like Vienna malting, phenol-spiced lemony orange nip and toasted white bread spine stay thin. Cardboard-y caramelization needs sugary boost.

Murky English Bitter-like moderation meanders aimlessly as musky rice-caked Vienna malting and tepid caramel toasting fail to properly materialize. Nutty nip, earthen slip and vegetal dip negated by dismal sulfuric acridity. Bland, underwheling and nearly tasteless.

Indistinct German-styled altbier lacks sufficient conditioning to be stylistically up to snuff. Mushy flavor profile meshes toasted cereal graining with mildewed cherry, orange, apple and apricot fruiting over phenol hop-spiced astringency. Muted chestnut, praline and almond undertones in deep recess. Could pass for a decent red ale.
Amiable medium-bodied amber lager stays nuttier than most stylistic contenders. Buttery chestnut-roasted pecan, praline, honey nut and walnut illusions override astringent hop toasting. Styptic sour fruiting underscores coarse nutty finish.
Mainstream Czech-styled session lager remains just a tad stronger than pale-bodied competition. Easygoing hop-toasted bread crusting and dewy rye persistence sedately affected by superfine sugar-glassed sweetness. Caramel nuttiness cannot overcome bland phenol spicing.
Stylistically shifty amber lager ‘brewed with grapes’ proves to be rather obtuse as advertised grape influence takes a backseat to brisk fruited malting of ancillary autumnal Octoberfest. Seasonal apple-peach-pumpkin-pied gourd spicing usurps barley-toasted almond pasting and leafy hop resin above metallic phenol whim, creating creamy frothed opening. But musty grape-stemmed earthiness, dinky red-yellow-green grape speck, and thin mineral-grained Scotch lick lose out to sterile Band-Aid astringency, leaving unrealized finish to flounder.
On tap, hardy crystal-malted dry-hopped golden-tanned lager packs quite a wallop, retaining rich wheat graining and loud citric-peeled bitterness contrasting soft clean-watered crisping. Caramelized Munich malt toasting, lemony orange-dried tangerine tang, and minor floral eccentricity create well-balanced flurry. “A sessionable year round Oktoberfest,” indeed.
On tap, wayward ruddy magenta amber lager offers herbal dried fruiting to cereal-grained toasted malting. Orange-dried cherry-fig-date conflux perks up diminutive almond-buttered chestnut roast. Puzzling flavor mix is as freaky as beer’s circus-inspired moniker. In bottle, ubiquitous gin-soaked caraway-seeded honeyed wheat tapestry provides funky promenade for bodacious limestone-salted lemon-bruised grapefruit bittering and stewed prune souring, upping its rating.
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