Dominion Octoberfest Maerzen - Old Dominion Brewing Company

superspak

Michigan

3.68/5  rDev +2.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

12 ounce bottle into pint glass, bottled on 7/24/2012. Pours lightly hazy and cloudy orange copper color with a nice 1-2 finger dense off white head with good retention, that reduces to a thin cap that lingers. Light spotty soapy lacing clings to the glass. Aromas of apricot, pear, apple, caramel, toast, toffee, brown bread, light nuttiness, light grass, and herbal hops. Nice and pleasant aromas with good balance and complexity. Taste of apricot, pear, apple, caramel, toast, toffee, nuttiness, brown bread, grass, light roasted grain, and herbal hop spiciness. Lingering notes of light fruits, caramel, toast, toffee, brown bread, nuttiness, light roasted grain, grass, and herbal on the finish for a bit. Nice flavor balance and robustness; with almost zero cloying flavors present after the finish. Medium carbonation and body; with a creamy and fairly slick mouthfeel that is nice. Alcohol is very well hidden with only a slight warming noticed after the finish. Overall this is a nice Oktoberfest style. Very nice flavor robustness and balance; and very smooth to drink. I enjoyed this quite a bit, well done.

Serving type: bottle

01-25-2013 05:37:59 | More by superspak

Zimm

New Jersey

3.25/5  rDev -9.2%

05-15-2013 17:47:57 | More by Zimm

twenty5

Pennsylvania

3.25/5  rDev -9.2%

05-15-2013 16:52:11 | More by twenty5

dacrza1

New Jersey

3.75/5  rDev +4.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

date reviewed: 31 January 2013...
glassware: standard pilsner...
occasion: last 30 Rock ever...cannot quantify the sadness...
appearance: ambitiously bubbling copper body with a thcik, fluffy off-white head--sediment seems present...
aroma: pleasantly malty; sharply incisive at the throat--not a boring stand-still lager....
palate: short notes: mellow and smooth, nice a nice cigar...
taste: pearish, fruity, and surprisingly complex....some of it works, some of it trifles...
overall: a pleasant beer to experience and revisit--quite a sessionable drink...

Serving type: bottle

05-05-2013 04:48:56 | More by dacrza1

vtn

Virginia

3/5  rDev -16.2%

03-03-2013 04:37:30 | More by vtn

JohnnieNepal

Michigan

3.5/5  rDev -2.2%

02-22-2013 23:57:36 | More by JohnnieNepal

TheBigBoy

Pennsylvania

2.75/5  rDev -23.2%

02-09-2013 21:12:21 | More by TheBigBoy

NeoZaZ

Pennsylvania

3.25/5  rDev -9.2%

01-28-2013 02:23:36 | More by NeoZaZ

cliff1066

Virginia

3.5/5  rDev -2.2%

12-24-2012 03:59:36 | More by cliff1066

jamisonspitzer

Maryland

3.5/5  rDev -2.2%

12-18-2012 02:06:05 | More by jamisonspitzer

t0rin0

California

3.5/5  rDev -2.2%

12-04-2012 03:28:48 | More by t0rin0

DruC4

Michigan

3.5/5  rDev -2.2%

11-11-2012 08:08:35 | More by DruC4

jp312

Pennsylvania

3.75/5  rDev +4.7%

11-04-2012 21:47:14 | More by jp312

Chaney

District of Columbia

3.63/5  rDev +1.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

I had this on-tap here recently at a local restaurant.

Served in a pint glass.

A: Poured an orange color, with a slight chill haze, and minuscule white head.

S: I got some bread with some German malt poking through the dough. Also, the fresh filtered water kinda reminded me of a melted lollipop.

T: This was slightly sweet, but not too Americanized. Nice balance between the sweet and the German mothball.

M: Nice spritz on the carbonation front, but I honestly wish this had a touch more bitterness for added character.

O: Nothing groundbreaking here, but I must say: I chugged my pint rather quickly.

Serving type: on-tap

11-02-2012 19:33:06 | More by Chaney

DrDemento456

Pennsylvania

3.18/5  rDev -11.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Mixed and matched this at the House of 1,000 beers. I think I paid around 2.50 for the single. Color is fair enough for the style. Light amber brown with a slight opaque colored head which seems to stick around for a bit. Smell is a clash of herbal like hops and German malts. Not too much caramel or toasted malt.

Flavor is about the same. Herbal hops, mild husky toast grain and some sweetness toward the finish. Simple but I am guessing they hopped it too much since it's kind of bitter. Mouthfeel is about par to style giving me a light to medium bodied beverage.

Overall it's pretty much hit or miss with this beer company and this one is a sure fire miss. Cut back to maybe a couple types of hops and this would be much more drinkable.

Serving type: bottle

10-29-2012 04:52:21 | More by DrDemento456

FrankShirley

Pennsylvania

3.25/5  rDev -9.2%

10-28-2012 00:39:36 | More by FrankShirley

Navalartichoke

Virginia

4/5  rDev +11.7%

10-24-2012 18:27:31 | More by Navalartichoke

EFR94

Pennsylvania

3.75/5  rDev +4.7%

10-24-2012 02:14:53 | More by EFR94

Trent

Michigan

2.5/5  rDev -30.2%

10-20-2012 21:46:49 | More by Trent

mscott1975

Pennsylvania

2.75/5  rDev -23.2%

10-18-2012 02:37:10 | More by mscott1975

Honeycutt

3.75/5  rDev +4.7%

10-14-2012 20:42:01 | More by Honeycutt

jsisko01

Michigan

3.15/5  rDev -12%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 3

Appearance - Pours a dark copper/amber color with an inch thick, creamy head that leaves a very nice lacing.

Smell - Caramel, roasted malts, and sweet.

Taste - This is way different than any other Octoberfest I've ever had. The bottle says they use 8 different malts and 4 hop varieties. Mostly what I taste is roasted malts, light caramel, it's quite hoppy, and has a weird floral bitterness in the finish.

Mouthfeel - Medium body with medium carbonation.

Overall - I give them props for trying something different but I'm not too fond of this beer.

Serving type: bottle

10-11-2012 03:04:28 | More by jsisko01

Kegatron

Pennsylvania

2.75/5  rDev -23.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3

12 oz bottle into a mug.

Pours a clear copper, with 2-3 fingers of off-white foamy head. This settles down in a rich ½ finger or so, leaving back relatively robust looking cascade of sudsy lacing. The aroma smells of floral notes and earthy citrus for the most part, with a faint sweetness on the edges. This sticky ripe sweetness of the nose really starts to stand out after a bit.

The taste is similar, with a ripe and earthy core that is surrounded by a sticky toasted sweetness. There is some bitterness to this but not a lot of crispness, as this finishes with a bit of a raw and earthy feeling dry pithiness on the finish. The mouthfeel is medium bodied, with a touch of sharpness up front that then gets much more bubbly and creamy feeling along the back. This is overall a little too soft feeling in the mouth.

I wasn’t very impressed with this. That ripe citrus character just dominated a bit too much in the profiles and this just lacked crispness and overall presence on the palate. I won’t be trying it again.

Serving type: bottle

09-27-2012 18:50:26 | More by Kegatron

mckenziac

2.83/5  rDev -20.9%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 2.5

Poured from a 12 oz. bottle into a Samuel Adams Boston Lager glass.

Appearance: Pours a translucent copper color. Has a small, foamy head that dissipates down to nothing fairly quickly.

Smell: Smells primarily of sweet, caramel malts. Not really much else there.

Taste: Mildly hoppy up front. Finishes sweet with caramel and other malts. Kind of ho-hum in this department.

Mouthfeel: Crisp, with a light to medium body.

Overall: A pretty pedestrian Octoberfest-style beer. Nothing really makes it stand out from the other hundred O-fests put out this time of year. Not bad, but not something really worth seeking out.

Serving type: bottle

09-25-2012 01:48:38 | More by mckenziac

jak3676

Virginia

2.68/5  rDev -25.1%
look: 2 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

Old Dominion - Octoberfest!

Bottled in Ahsburn, VA I don't think you'll find too wide-spread of a distribution outside of the VA and surrounding area. Which is kinda a shame.

I haven't been a huge fan of many of their other offerings, but I'm kinda liking their märzen. It's a bit darker, and thicker than some I've had, hazy. Some others have described the flavor with hints of toast, slightly nutty with some browned honey. I've never been one for trying to describe what something tastes like - it tastes like a darker than average Oktoberfest beer to me. It's definately a bit rougher that most. But, I think they're accurate in their description.

I like the strength of it, 5.9 ABV which puts in the range of most of its peers and nicely above the average American Lager. The bottling date says 7/10/12 which goes against the tradition, but I'm not sure how many compainies bottles beer and then lets it lager over the summer anymore (at least intentionally).

I wish I liked it more, but overall it seems too rough for me.

Serving type: bottle

09-20-2012 20:24:55 | More by jak3676