Great Lakes Oktoberfest
Cleveland’s celebration of Oktoberfest dates to the mid 1800’s when German immigrants gathered at outdoor beer gardens like Haltnorth’s and Kindvater’s St. Clair Gardens. Our amber lager with rich malt flavor and noble hops honors Cleveland’s diverse cultural heritage.
3.4
600 reviews
Cleveland, United States
Community reviews
The pour was surprisingly fun. It gathered a frothy, lightly orange head that covered the glass with perfect lacing. Its bubbly amber color was clear. The aroma was very subtle, but it sweet and toasty. Its texture was refreshing and very smooth. The taste is incredibly smooth, yet satisfying. The toasty malt flavor lingers on. Considering how much I haven't liked smooth Oktoberfest beers, I actually like this one a lot. While it is crisp and easy to drink, it has layers that other smooth Märzen beers are missing. I highly recommend this forum an American Märzen-style lager.
It's no secret that Great Lakes is skilled with brewing German styles, so it's hardly surprising that they make a great Oktoberfest. This fest pours a clear copper shade with plenty of light tan suds on top. This brew has a bit more of a grainy, toasty caramelized sugar note and slightly fuller body when compared to some beers in this category, but even with that extra sweetness it doesn't really feel out of place for the style. Excellent.
A great, smooth drinking Oktoberfest beer. Lots of malt and caramel sweetness, goes down smooth
Cooper pour from a bottle into a glass. Aromas of bready malt and caramel. Taste sweet but not at all cloying with enough hops to make it balanced. Medium mouthfeel with plenty of carbonation. This is a phenomenal marzen. If you like the style it is a must try.
Bottle from Frank's. Clear golden. Bread, caramel, malty, some sweetness. Subdued bitterness.
12foz bottle, BOD: 11.16.2017, $1.75 single, pint glass. Appears copper in color with a fine particles and a head that is thin.Toasted, dried leaves, and light butterscotch notes represent the aroma/flavor profile. The body is a heavy medium, so this is a bit of a meal in itself kind of beer. Fair and balanced.
I have tried 15 Oktoberfest beers this year and this is the best! Well balanced and smooth. Excellent!
Bottle at GABF. Pours a hazy orange with medium off white head. The aroma is bready malt and spice. Thin body, dark fruit, earth, rye, light finish, decent.
Tap and bottle while at kalahari resort. Malty and just enough sweetness to balance. Ether than most Oktoberfest brews but not my fav style. Full bodied and full of malt. Toasty and roasty.
12 oz. bottle. Amber body with a small white head. Smells of bread and caramel with a hint of corn. Tastes bready, then a little bit of toffee, and then bready again. Back end spikes with a malty aftertaste. Medium light. Decent and easy to drink, but lacks a little something to make it interesting, even for a Marzen.
12 ounce shared bottle. Copper/bronze in color Thin white head. Your can smell the malt. Beautiful appearance. Malt in a taste and smooth. This is a wonderful marzen and one of the beers of this style you can get.
Draft at Hax in Chicago. A very good marzen with bread, sweet malt, booze, toast. The finish is slightly dry. Perfect chilly weather beer.
Malt forward. Notes of bread, coffee and grass. Not my favorite Oktoberfest but I enjoyed it
Sorry, I had to upload these old ratings. They were for me, not for uploading. And also I need 75 characters, hence this sentence.
12 bottle into a glass.
Pours with a clear copper body topped by a good head.
Fine aroma suggests something sweet and alcoholic.
Smooth medium - full body.
Toffee notes in the fine flavor.
Overall: Quite satisfying.
moderate malty aroma. amber and clear in color with huge long lasting head. taste is richly malty of caramel and faint toffee notes
deep amber color; bready maly aroma with some floral notes; fairly bitter up front with a nice bisquity malt background; well balanced
Bottle from Merchants. Aroma is grain, floral, somewhat fruity, earthy hop, caramel, very good. Appearance is amber, clear, light tan head. Taste is caramel, grainy, earthy hop, floral, wheat, grassy, excellent. Mouthfeel is light to medium body, light crisp carbonation, grainy earthy hop aftertaste. Overall, tastes like Autumn. A very good example of the style.
On draft at Dan's Downtown Tavern. The pour is a darker coppery orange with a thin off white head and a couple spots of lace it falls. The aroma is decent. There is a very heavy sweet malt and toffee to it. There is a light alcoholic caramel that creeps in, but it's decently balanced here. The flavor is much of the same. The caramel is a little more forward with a sweet maltiness and just a touch of metallic on this one toward the back. The mouth feel is lighter medium bodied with a soft carbonation and a lingeringly sweet metallic maltiness and a touch of caramel on the aftertaste that is pretty good. This is pretty good for the style. 6 4 6 4 14
Not what I imagine
12 oz bottle. Pours amber with a medium white head that quickly dissipated. Aroma is earthy, caramel, toast and some herbal notes. Taste is sweet with slight bitterness.
Dark reddish amber with a small white head. Nice aroma of toffee, caramel, toast, a bit of roast, with a hint of spicy noble hops and a mild yeast ester. The flavor has a nice balance of toast and caramel, with a hint of noble hops. A bold yet balanced octoberfest, that is somewhat more assertive than most German examples, Pretty good.
Best by 11/23/16. Rusty orange. Fragmented, off-white foam. Decent aroma of breadcrust, molasses, almond, orange, chocolate-drizzled toffee (Munich), licorice, cedar and tobacco. Light notes of paper, soured fruit, apple jelly and corn starch. Opens with a full fruitiness tempered by sharp sassafras notes. Fruity acidity sneaks in with a borderline overripe quality, and a stewed peach note taints things by adding weight to the body which greatly interferes with the subtler malt textures. Bouncy pale malt throws bouncy grass and uncured hay suggestions about, although it flirts at husky with its stale popcorn dimensions. Dabs of wet paper and apple jelly also bring in some flabbiness which tarnishes the otherwise clean and well-structured malt. Rich breadcrust signature restores the malty fullness, as notes of fallen leaves and nut skins augment the earthiness and aid the structure with a multilayered yet pleasingly dry quality. Malt is not exactly bursting with texture or detail, however. Licoricey hops prolong the malt with an assertive punch in the toasty, chewy-nutty and slightly raisiny, but well-attenuated, finish. Saccharine notes plague the finish as they linger amid hints of cedar. There’s a lot to like about this serviceable marzenbier, such as the balance and the earthcentric malt character. However, it would be markedly improved with some simple tweaks. I can’t help but wonder if the generic malt bill were simplified and decoction-mashed, exchanging those dreaded wet-paper defects for some melanoidins and finer textures. Decent...just not quite there yet.
Pours nice caramel color with a white head that dissipated leaving white lacing. Nice malty aroma. Tastes of toasted caramel malt with a hint of dark cherry. Nice medium carbonation. Right up there with anything done in Germany; this is a classic Oktoberfest.
Pours a beautiful clear amber with smallish off-white head, which goes fast but leaves some lacing.
Aroma of malt, toast, nuts. Palate adds nice caramel, dark fruit and earth. Just a tang of bitterness, but it is under control and blends well into the mild carbonation. A clean American take that may lack some depth of the German classics, but a crisp and refreshing brew. Good for a session or a season.
Very tasty Octoberfest. Pours a copper Amber color with a beautiful aroma of malt. Flavors of malty sweetness and fruit. Slight hop finish. Great beer.
A beautiful beer in the glass, pouring a rich caramel amber color, perfectly white head with great lacing. Aroma is malty and fruity. Flavor is big and fruity up front, with a good balance of malty sweetness and slightest bitterness at the end. Finishes smooth with the slightest bitterness lingering. Extremely well done.
Pours a hazy dark orange with a foamy beige head that settles to a film on top of the beer. Aroma of malt, toast, earth, caramel and slight nut. Taste is much the same with malt, toast, nut, and earth flavors on the finish. There is a mild amount of earth bitterness on the palate with each sip. Moderate carbonation with a slightly crisp mouthfeel. Overall, this is a pretty good beer with lots of malt and earth forward characteristics.
Sweet malt O-Fest with some caramel malt and citrus bitterness. Blended very well, surprised it took me this long to sample Great Lakes Oktoberfest.
Drank this one straight from the bottle. Caramel, toasty, nutty taste. Has a little bite on the aftertaste. Fairly full mouthfeel and medium carbonation. Nicely done!
Pours a clear golden yellow color. Aromas of grass, cheerios, and a touch of flowers. Flavor is kinda sweet to start, citrusy finish with some hop notes.