Kotas Reviews Yuengling Oktoberfest

Greetings my loyal readers! The time has come for another October Theme Week! Now, what could be more October-y than Oktoberfest? Well, just about everything, given that it usually takes place in September, but that's not the important thing! What IS more important is the wide variety of seasonal beers that become available around this time! I enjoyed Cereal Monsters Week so much, I decided to do it again, only this time with something that gets me drunk. Welcome, to Okotastoberfest! 

For today's entry, we hearken back to an old standby, Yuengling. Billing itself as America's Oldest Brewery, Yuengling burst onto the, uh, regional scene from its local brew roots in Pennsylvania a few years back. Of all the domestic beers, this one is probably my favorite, and is my go to beer for everyday drinking. This year, for whatever reason, they seem to have released an Oktoberfest version. How does it hold up? 

At least it is in a brown bottle. Green bottles suck!

I've found that Yuengling beers outside their staples of Lager and Black & Tan to be very hit or miss with me. I think their Porter is okay, but that "Lord Chesterton Ale" is very, very meh. They also price their non-staple beers more like the mass market craft beers, which is to say "$3 more than the usual price". I wasn't super thrilled with that, but hey, Science or something. Let's pop (well, unscrew, since it's a screw top) this bad boy open!

This is my non-schamcy glass

The scent is essentially that of standard Yuengling products, which is to say, not very strong. It's got a nice basic malt odor with overtones of hops and a hint of something...maybe pumpkin, maybe just extra malt. The scent would probably be heavier if I used an actual beer glass, but eh, roll with what you know. Not much head on the beer, but I'm gonna call that a good thing. 

The taste is pretty good, with a nice shock of malt and a bit of hoppy aftertaste. It bubbles on the tongue a bit in a fairly pleasant sort of way. It is rather more on the bitter side of beer than some, but it doesn't have a heavy sourness to make it taste bad like some really bitter beers can do, and the finish is pretty clean. It tastes a lot like a bit more bitter version of their standard Lager.

All that said, it's pretty heavy on the mouth feel. This is a beer that takes all other flavors around it and says "Nein! Ve shall haf none of zat now!" so it wouldn't go good with any food that has any flavor south of "Bold". It sits in the stomach, and is not something I could quaff with any sort of regularity. One or two of these, and I'm full. It's also not particularly distinct from their standard Lager, though you can tell it is different. I just don't know if it's different enough to justify the price difference. 

On the FACE Rating System, I give this beer 0 faces. It's not a bad beer by any stretch of the imagination, but it's not a particularly great beer either. If you get a chance to try it, say at a party or as part of a variety pack I'd give it a whirl, but I certainly wouldn't go out of my way to acquire it.