I offer my observation of another sign of “holiday creep:” as of Labor Day weekend, I have already had a Pumpkin Spice Latte, before I’ve had an Oktoberfest beer.
Usually I only need one PSL a year to settle my curiosity, otherwise, another $5 gussied up hot chocolate is just not in my budget. But since Oktoberfests are usually held throughout September (I don’t need to go into why that happens) and into October, we have a reason to drink Oktoberfest beer up to Halloween. I can now kick off my Oktoberfest season with Surly Brewing, who have sent me cans of their Surly Fest for my comment, which I can open by the grill while wrapping up the Labor Day weekend.
It would have been more appropriate I know to have some brats grilling while I taste this but all I could find in the freezer was Italian sausage. Instead, we’re just cooking up some Hamburg-ers. That almost works. Like I’m showing my pour in a Saint Pauli Girl dimpled mug becasue, what city is Surly near? St. Paul!
Though it offers some lip service to the usual Oktoberfest or Märzen style with Vienna roast malt, Surly Fest has additional surliness from three kinds of malted rye, with German lager yeast, and hopped with a single variety and then dry hopped as well.
The smell certainly is big on a very toasty crystal malt, with a spicy nose of rye. If you’ve ever had a kvass, you’ll recognize the smell right away. It’s very malt forward, but also has a note of Marmite to it. And has a very powerful hop note in the palate. Without rechecking the sheet they sent with this, I am guessing that they hopped it up on something German like a Hallertau (I am slightly wrong: all the hopping is done with Sterling, an American varietal, but with Noble hop character).
The overall effect is very malty, almost creamy in texture. The hops are sharp and German rather than the piney citrusy American hops. And the carbonation allows for pinprick bubbles that deliver more of that hot bitterness to your tongue. A decent start to the cavalcade of spicy autumnal brews.
