Ayinger Oktober Fest-Märzen - Privatbrauerei Franz Inselkammer, Aying

Ayinger certainly gets bonus points for packaging on this beer. It has nothing to do with their label really, it's all about the bottle cap. I find this bottle cap... hilarious. It depicts a German family sitting down to beers in a field just outside of Aying. The father has a nice Bavarian mustache, wearing what might be a full leg-length pair of lederhosen. Mutti is seated to his left with a beer of her own. Seated on stage right is the young hell raiser of the family, wearing a grey wool suit.... with a beer of his own, of course. The table cloth is a Bavarian blue and white checked pattern, just in case you had any guestion about where this family of three was sitting down to enjoy their liter and a half of beer... It doesn't get much more stereotypically German than this.

Ayinger's Oktober Fest-Märzen tastes just as German as the bottle cap would indicate. First impressions were that this beer was really more of a Weissbier than a Märzen. This beer is a little sour, it has a bit of banana and orange up front. There is a generous amount of creamy malt which differentiates this from a Weissbier but it is still a long way from being a true Märzen. Whether or not this beer is a Märzen or Weissbier is really irrelevant if you enjoy it for what it is. If you like the sourness and the citrus fruit of a Weiss but are looking for something with a bit of malt and a smooth but hoppy finish you should really give this a try.

This was an interesting take on the Oktoberfest style lager and I enjoyed it. I do wish this beer had more hops and more Munich style malt so it was a little more like those other Märzens. I respect the approach behind making this a more Weissbier based Oktoberfest but I think this beer could use a bit more of those hops and malt.