Beer Of The Week (Vol XXVII)

Another edition of Beer of the Week brought to you by the gut volk at Glen Lake Wine & Spirits who can help put the fest into your October. And by "brought to you" we mean they supplied the beer. Can't be too careful about such disclosures nowadays.

While they're not as bad as seasonal clothing (good luck finding a winter jacket in February), seasonal beers do not exactly track with the way the seasons are traditionally defined on the calendar. So even though it's only early October, you can expect to see start seeing fewer and fewer Oktoberfest beers available for sale. They'll still be on the shelves for a few more weeks, but even though the leaves have yet to raked and the pumpkins yet to be carved, we're already close to the end of the fall beer season.

So this week will be the last official Oktoberfest beer reviewed. Next week, we'll try to sneak in one more fall selection before taking a couple of weeks off until we enter the most wonderful time of the beer year: winter. Can't hardly wait.

This week's beer comes from Chippewa Fall, Wisconsin, a community no doubt still reeling from Monday night's Packer defeat at the hands of their cross border rivals now lead by their former savior. It's going to take a lot of Leinenkugel's Oktoberfest to numb that pain.

Simple brown bottle. Standard pattern Leinie label with a fall lake scene framed by autumn leaves. A Bavarian hat on the label provides a nice touch as does the white and blue checkered bottle cap.

Beer Style: Oktoberfest Marzen

Alcohol by Volume: 5.1%

COLOR (0-2): Deep amber. 2

AROMA (0-2): Light toasted malt. Not a lot there. 1

HEAD (0-2): Off-white color, full. 2

TASTE (0-5): Slightly sweet malt flavor with light hops. Medium body. 3

AFTERTASTE (0-2): Smooth, but not much follow through. 1

OVERALL (0-6): A workable if unremarkable Oktoberfest offering. Drinkable with decent flavors. Very much in the middle of the Marzen pack. 3

TOTAL SCORE (0-19): 12

Here's a quick rating summary of all Oktoberfest beers reviewed here this year and previously:

Full Sail Oktoberfest 14

Paulaner Oktoberfest 14

Surly Fest 14

Bell's Oktoberfest 13

Capital Brewing Oktoberfest 13

Flying Dog Dogtoberfest 13

Summit Oktoberfest 13

Sam Adam's Oktoberfest 13

Saranac Oktoberfest 12

Tabernash Oktoberfest 12

Schell's Oktoberfest 11

Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest 10

Beck's Oktoberfest 9

Hofbrau Munchen Oktoberfest 9

Portland Brewing Uncle Otto Oktoberfest 8