For today’s craft beer review I’m going to be sampling another Schlafly brew from the St. Louis Brewery located in St. Louis, Missouri.  I thought I would give their Oktoberfest a try this time around.

As I have mentioned before, I think that Schlafly is a very under appreciated brewery that makes some very solid beers.  I’m hoping for the best with this effort.

Let’s look on the website, schlafly.com, for a description.

Our Oktoberfest is a traditional Bavarian Marzen with a toasty malt aroma and slight caramel taste.  This rich, amber lager is balanced by the use of German noble hops, while the lager yeast ferments cold and slow, creating a smooth, crisp beer.   

Let’s give it a taste shall we?

This beer comes in a 12 oz. bottle and has an ABV of 5.5%.

This brew poured a mostly clear, orange to amber color with a few burnt orange and yellow highlights showing through at the bottom.  An amiably creamy, but off white head of good size, commendable retention and ok lacing grazed the top of the liquid.  I thought this beer looked pretty good sitting in the glass. 

The nose seemed a touch subdued in my opinion.  Very faint caramel and toasted malts.  Very light touches of breadiness and spice.  It smelled a little bit grainy also.  I didn’t think that this Oktoberfest had a lot going on in the nose.  I really had to search to find the aroma.  Everything seemed to be balanced pretty well, but the overall profile was just so relaxed and insignificant.

The taste was a little more evident.  Some sugary caramel sweetness with a negligible earthy hop characteristic.  The malts were modestly toasted, yet remained crisp (if that makes sense).  It was somewhat bready with a worthy “clean” taste.  The spices were slightly more prominent and the earthiness sat right in the middle.  The overall flavor was favorably balanced.

The mouthfeel was medium, gentle, smooth, soft and slick.  It was mostly dry, but it did become a tad watery at the very end of the drink.  The palate was left with only an average amount of flavor after the sip.

Well.  The Schlafly Oktoberfest is ok I guess.  It’s definitely not the best Oktoberfest that I’ve had this season.  To me, it seemed as though this effort could be a great introductory beer for someone interested in the style.  It’s reasonably easy to drink and proportioned well, but there was just not much by way of smell and taste.  Either way, it was still a meritable and sessionable drink, so give it a try if you see it and let me know what you thought.

Thanks for reading and commenting everyone.

Cheers.

Score:  3.4 out of 5
Grade:  B-