Sam Adams Octoberfest
By John & Dad on November 26, 2008 @ 8 PM (2 Comments)
We’ve written before how the Sam Adams seasonal beers differ quite a bit from their flagship beer (Sam Adams Boston Lager) – namely in that we like them and most of them aren’t overly hopped. Mind you, we respect the Boston Beer Company and their aggressive approach to beers – they don’t half ass anything and they don’t necessarily try to appeal to the lowest common denominator.
Their seasonal lineup looks like this, starting in the spring: Sam Adams White Ale, Sam Adams Summer Ale, Sam Adams Octoberfest and Sam Adams Winter Lager. We’re making sure we hit all the Sam Adams seasonals over the coming months and this is stop two of four in our journey.
For this Thursday beer session we’re working on the Sam Adams Octoberfest, which is the fall seasonal in their collection and is usually available from August to November. Our 12 oz bottle sports a 5.4% ABV and we got a starting temperature of 44.1 F. Our initial pour gave us an average 2″ frothy off-white head that dissipated quickly and left virtually no head lacing. There was a medium amount of carbonation and a normal clear body that was amber/orange in color.
The aromas came across with caramel, toasted malts, toffee, brown sugar and spices. It’s got a really nice bouquet to it. The tastes came in with caramel, nutty, toasted malts, citrus and spices. It’s really a quite refreshing beer and though it’s not overly complex, there’s something to be said for it’s simplicity.
Our initial flavor notes came across as a moderate sweet and a very light bitter that evolve in the finish to a light to moderate sweet, light acidic, moderate bitter, light tart and a very light saltiness. There’s quite a bit to the finish on this one, despite the finish length being somewhat short. The mouthfeel is oily, the tongue hit is middle, and there was virtually no body lacing as we gulped it down.
On our patented malt to hop scale, it comes in one click to the left of balanced on the malty side. Very nice for a Sam Adams brew. For our bottom line notes we got a yes to drinkable, repeatable, balance, harmony, memorable and buy again. The only no is to wow factor.
Truth be told, Sam Adams Octoberfest is just a great everyday beer for the fall months. It’s absolutely perfect for the fall weather in the south and it’s got a lot of bold flavors for a lager. It drinks like an ale and this is a perfect example of what a Sam Adams seasonal beer can be. It’s completely worth a 12 pack and that might not last you 12 days. It goes heavier on the malts and lighter on the hops than a traditional Sam Adams, which is just what The BeerFathers ordered. We recommend making this a yearly purchase, nay, investment.
If you like the seasonals then get some SA Chocolate Bock.
Totalwine Park Rd. and Brawleys both have it.
It is like dessert in a bottle.
Rusty – thanks for the note. I just stopped by Total Wine and picked up two. At $14.99 a pop, I had to sell it to the wife as an investment!