214. Brauerei Beck & Co – Beck’s Oktoberfest

I’m down to the last couple of beers in the beer fridge for my Oktoberfest Challenge, and I think I still need one or two more.  I remember covering Oktoberfest beers during one of our ABNormal Brewers club meetings last year, and remember being somewhat surprised at how much I liked Beck’s Oktoberfest in comparison to the others we tried. So now in the spirit of reviewing it, I thought I’d give it another go around.

It was clear and amber-red in color, and it had a thin, creamy head.  There was a big grainy aroma with a little sweet malty smell that reminds me of the smell of mashing lots of caramel malts.

The body was light and it had a bit of carbonation crispiness to it.  There was a light grainy and malty flavor up front which gets a little more caramelly in the finish.  The graininess comes back a bit in the aftertaste.  It was primarily caramel malty flavored with a noticeable grainy undertone.

I would enjoy this with some dry rubbed BBQ ribs, as the malty caramel flavors would obviously go well with the BBQ flavors. However, I think the grainy flavors would pair better with a dry rub than a wet BBQ sauce.

The caramel-like malty flavors were nice, and I really seem to enjoy the grainy flavors from the German Oktoberfests – like this one and the Ayinger Oktober Fest Marzen. Overall, I thought it was a pretty good Oktoberfest Marzen with a graininess that adds a complexity that reminds me of the fall harvest season.

My Rating:

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