Sierra Nevada / Riegele Oktoberfest (2015)
On a trip to Germany this spring, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. finalized its inaugural partner, Augsburg’s Brauhaus Riegele, for a brand new Oktoberfest beer. Released each fall starting in 2015, the collaborative seasonal will feature a different German brewery every year. The partnership blends centuries of brewing tradition with modern spirit, giving craft drinkers the ultimate Oktoberfest, a Bavarian festival beer unlike any they’ve experienced in the US.
3.5
317 reviews
Chico, United States
Community reviews
Bottle. Clear bright golden amber pour, with a white head. Bready, cereal, mild caramel, glue, and grass. Ok, not very interesting.
Poured into a perfect pint.
3.5 A: Clear dark yellow color. One and a half fingers of frothy white head. Retention is about average and a half finger of lacing is left.
4.0 S: Crackery and grainy malts. Caramel, grassy hops. Pumpernickel bread. Fierce lager yeast.
4.0 T: Plenty of toastiness with mineral lager yeast. Crackery, bready, grainy. Mild sweetness with focus on caramel. Grassy and lightly earthy hops.
4.5 M: Lighter medium body with a bit of viscosity in there. Good moderate carbonation. Pleasantly creamy and super smooth. Perfect for the style here.
4.0 D: Really freaking tasty.
★ 617 characters
DavoleBomb, Sep 17, 2015
Amber color. This beer has some cereal character, but also some glue in the aroma. Clean. But not very interesting.
Bottle - Sweet grains and caramel. Clear copper with a bit of a beige head. Light grains and caramel. Solid Oktoberfest.
12 oz. bottle, pours a hazy dull bronze with a small white head. Aroma brings out bready malts, some corn and light toasty notes. Flavour is along the same lines, with corn, bready malt and toasted malt. Simple, but clean and decently balanced. A properly constructed marzen.
Clear golden color with white head. Aroma has classic sweet malt and bread crust. Taste starts also malty, grainy, with a bit of honey sweetness and bread crust. Some hops in the background give a slight bitterness on the finish. Medium body with crisp carbonation. Really well made, classic marzen style beer. Not bad but it’s a style I am not very fond of.
(bottle) clear, bright light amber colour with a small beige head; aroma of stewed fruit, jam; creamy palate; balanced flavour with a long, very light bitter finish; well done
33cl bottle
orange color
aroma of caramel and malty, lightly toasty
flavor herbal
355 ml bottle from BeerLovers, bottled 09/02/15.
Amber, clear body, wit a quite small, fluffy, a bit lacing, light beige head.
Aroma of grains, flowers, bread, citrus, some grass.
Tastes of bread, flowers, citrus, grass, some herbs, honey, some biscuit.
Medium, a bit oily mouthfeel, with an average carbonation.
Finishes medium bitter, floral, bready, a bit zesty, a bit herbal, also a bit sweet.
Nice one. Not my favourite style example, but quaffable, with nice bready and floral notes. I would prefer a bit more biscuity body though, as it isn’t very hoppy.
Bottle: two labels but not information about the hops, malts and drink temperature
Golden colour, clear liquid, strong fizzy, moderate bitter, short head, no smell of anything,
(I have a 0.33l bottle with batch PKGD 09/02/15 0754 on the label but on the bottle is 090215M0740)
Bottle: Golden, lively csrbonation, small and slowly collapsing loose white head; moderate sweet pale-malty nose, some dust detectable, some impressions of honey, too; moderate sweet flavour with a bitterness, that is barely detectable; medium bodied, soft; hardly lingering clean sweet-malty finish with a delicate bitterness in the aftertaste. Nothing wrong with it, but completely overrated. Lacks a decent hoppy counterpart…
Bottle. Bright amber color with ivory foam. Herbal, lagered caramel, spicy aromas. Medium bodied. Lagered spicy caramel lightly sweet flavors with some subtle herbal hoppage, and bready maltage----good.
0.355 l bottle from ’Biermuda’, bottled in September 2015. Clear, golden yellow with a medium large, frothy, slowly diminishing, white head. Sweetish-malty, slightly floral aroma of biscuits, honey and caramel. Sweetish-malty, slightly floral taste of biscuits, honey, some vanilla and caramel, followed by a short, slightly bitter, minimally grassy finish. Medium body, smooth mouthfeel, average carbonation. Very nice, totally round and harmonic with deep, intense malt flavours.
Aroma is a nice sweet malt. Taste is nicely balanced with some bitterness. Overall very solid.
Dark gold pour with a one finger, off white head. Grainy nose with some floral and spicy hops, a hint of caramel and toast. Flavor is big on cereal, some oily grain, big floral hops, some spicy, a little biscuity malt and some floral hops. Light to medium body, creamy to juicy feel, light carbonation. Good stuff overall, a little too floral and fruity for my taste in the style.
12 oz. bottle. Pours a clear, bright copper with a small, barely off-white head that settles into a ring and a tiny island of film. Bright, vivid, and totally translucent. Notes of spiced cracker, hay, toast, caramel, grass, and a hint of fruit. Has kind of a horse stable note to it. Light-bodied, with moderate carbonation and a mouthfeel that teeters on the edge of smooth and musty. Not a malt-forward example of the style; the notes are there but it’s pretty sharp and clean.
Aroma: bread and grain malts, light caramel. Appearance: clear gold, medium, frothy, white head. Taste: light sweet. Palate: grain malts continue, caramel, light toasted notes, bread, touch of floral hops, light floral hops coming up towards the finish. Overall: very sweet and malty Maerzen, not bad, fairly subtle complexity in both aroma and palate. Pint at The Fine Line, Canary Wharf.
Many thanks for this beer to Erzengel. Pours a deep golden color. The aroma has notes of malt, straw and grain. The flavor has a light sweetness and notes of bread
Draft, TD Bank Garden, Boston. Served in a 12 oz. plastic cup. (no mug available) The color looks orange with some lasting white foam for head. Aroma is old biscuits, mild toffee and traces of a grassy hop.
Backbone of the beer is traditional for the style: baked bread, toffee malts, and light hints of yeast in the finish. Body is the lighter side of medium with balanced hops and malt. Smooth mouthfeel. Hits the mark for the style, easy to drink without any type of flaws or issues. If you like the style you will enjoy a sample of this.
On tap at Earth. Pours a clear orange amber with a thin white head. Crisp with a sweet grain character and a vague hint of smoke, fruit, and crackers. Medium bodied, malty, sweet, floral malt. Sweet malt into the finish. Lingering toast. Clean and easy drinking.
Golden klar, wenig Schaum, typisch malzig in der Nase, relativ massig im antrunk, schöner Malzkörper, im Abgang schönes Aroma, das Lust zum weitertrinken macht
Klares dunkel goldenes Bier mit einer mittelgroßen weißen schaumkrone. Geruch kräftig malzig, leicht hopfig. Geschmack dezent hopfig, süß malzig, karamellig.
The beer starts malty and smooth. Very soft and round, nice malt character with a full and easy to drink body. Round and smooth, very soft, The malt has roasty hints, caramel, not too sweet. Nice and full with a caramelly, malty smooth long lasting aftertaste. Great!
(bottle, 2015 Riegele collab. ed., 35.5cl) Clear, golden colour with a mid-sized and slightly off-white foamy head. Bready and delicately toasted malty aroma with notes of caramel, oak honey, backed by herbal hops. Moderately sweetand slightly bitter flavour, light to medium bodied with a modest carbonation. Slightly toasted malty and bready base with a whiff of herbal and slightly peppery hops; sweet-bitter malt-accented finish with rounded herbal hops. A decent brew, but I expected something more sophisticated, especially after I´ve had a Schönramer Festbier just before. 07.XII.15
Sierra Nevada’s latest version of Oktoberfest is a homage to the German brewing style. Golden medium bodied O-Fest with soft nose, malt body and slight lemon sweetness and subtle hop bite. Makes a great Thanksgiving beer.
A 12 fl oz bottle packaged on 17th August 2015 and poured into a Duvel tulip glass. It poured a clear golden orange colour with a one and a half finger slightly off white coloured head that had pretty good retention. Aromas were of toasty bread with honey and apple with a hint of caramel. Generally its the sweet aroma. Taste leans on the sweet side and definitely malty and bready with some grain plus hints of caramel and toffee. Medium bodied with medium to high carbonation. Overall, this was decent and easy to drink but nothing exceptional, though it is worth a try. It’s a one time brew, but even if I could buy it again, I’m not sure I would.
From a bottle. Looks great and lives up to it, quite tasty with lots of big flavours, very good work.
Bottle from Beer Cartel 261115. Nice and malty with some toffee in the finish. Looks goods, smells good and tastes good, what more can you ask for in a beer. Well packaged also in typical Sierra Nevada style.
355 ml bottle. Pours a clear amber-gold with a sudsy but lasting white head and lively carbonation. Aromas of crackers, fresh apple, flowers and cut grass. Taste is light citrus up front, followed by a crisp and spicy hop note. Clean finish as expected. Not my favourite style but I like what this is doing.
Bottle. Pours a light amber color with small white head and lively carbonation. Aroma is mostly caramel malt with some cereal notes. Malty and sweet. Light bodied. I enjoyed this.