Yeah I agree Keith - a more easy drinking fest for sure. I really don’t detect hotness.
I am going to buy another 6-pack, maybe I just got a used and abused pack.
The Mrs. Brought home a 6 pack the other night, and it disappeared. A Wießen style for sure, the Record hops are spicy, that came out as a sensation on the top of the tongue and roof of the mouth, like some spices or Chilis. They would call it würzig in Franconia. There was a firm bitterness, at the top of the style, but it left you wanting more. It didn’t have that burn on the back of the tongue and in the throat like a hot beer.
Edit - there is usually a little more hop character in a Franconian beer, versus a Munich beer of the same style. Mahr’s is in Bamberg, so yes, it has some hop character.
Finishing my six pack now. It has grown on me. The spicy hop note is misleading and comes off almost chili like as stated before. I didn’t understand what this was supposed to be. I now think it is pretty good just nothing like what most would expect. To my novice palate it is basically a very spicy Pilsner with a bit more malt character. As noted, kind of like a strong Helles with more pronounce hop character.
The BJCP 2015 guidelines explain the Festbier style well 4b. Between a Helles and Maibock is where I would put it.
I must have misinterpreted the guidelines. I literally thought it was supposed to be a less malty marzen. This tastes a lot more similar to a pilsner to me. Again, I understand that there must be disconnect between my palate and what I think a festbier is let alone Sierra Nevada’s interpretation of one. A good beer regardless…
This thread inspired me to pick some up. It’s tasty.
The reviews on here inspired me to jump straight to a 12 pack.
Really tasty beer. I’ve no idea how well it holds up to style, nor do I care honestly. It’s a great lager, dry, crisp, and refreshing. The bitterness lingers in a way that entices you to take another sip, and pairs beautifully with today’s hot and humid weather.
Just picked up this years. More hop forward than some may care for but I think it’s a very enjoyable beer. Beats the heck out Sam Adams ( and some others) o’fest IMO.
Okay so picked up another 6er and took a crack at it last night. Not a single bit of the heat like before. Odd right? Or atleast I thought so. I have no idea what would have caused that, but I will say I enjoyed this a lot. It was spicy, smooth and delicious. At any rate, I hope anyone else that tries this beer chimes in on what they think.
Just picked up a 12 pack of this the other day. Bottled 7/6/16, so it is just shy of 2 mos old.
I think it is an excellent beer. Definitely not an oktoberfest or marzen. Most definitely a damn good version of a german Festbier. I put 3 down right in a row. Delicious!
It’s a really dangerous beer in that regard, drinks like it’s way less strong than 6%.
I’ve been avoiding drinking any more of that 12-pack…trying to save it for the weekend in case I can’t find more…
Hopefully they will put out another fresher round if the first one goes over well.
I hear they have been having distribution issues since adding the east coast location as far as getting fresh beer on shelves which is more applicable to the hoppy stuff I suppose. I would think that the second location would help with that…
They brew a lot of the lagers at the Mills River facility. They have some 1600 bbl fermenters that they fill and let lager.
I’d call BS on that. I regularly get SN products within 2 weeks of bottling.
Distribution issues may be more linked to the distributor than the brewery. More like poor inventory management on their part.
To brewinhard - the keg I got was packaged a couple weeks after the bottles I bought so there’s definitely been a few batches out.
Sorry. Just what I have heard. Distributor problems I suppose. I will shut up now.
Though it’s changing, in my area two months past the drink by date is “fresh” for some brands. Definitely not the brewery’s fault, we have several unscrupulous distributors out here. Thankfully the worst offender is currently losing a lot of his craft brands. I had my first fresh Dale’s Pale Ale just a few weeks ago.
It’s bad. I think that’s why some of the local microbreweries that make lousy beer are doing so well, folks don’t know what they’re missing because so much of the craft beer here is old.
Yeah, no doubt. It’s why I’m not buying as much packaged craft beer these days, unless the packaged date is clearly visible. I either drink it a brewery or craft bar, take home a growler or drink my stuff pretty much all the time. Most of the time lately, it’s mine.
If I had time to brew more often I’d be in the same boat.
Thankfully, things are improving. Within the last month really fresh SN products have started to appear, and a few other brands are now nice and fresh as well.
Nothing is more frustrating than having great local breweries (Flying Dog, Heavy Seas, Dogfish Head) only to have their beer already stale when it’s put on the shelf to sell.