Wander Back Beerworks Festbier

What the brewers say

Our Festbier is brewed with 100% locally grown and malted Rabbit Hill farms Chillum, Munich, and Pilsner malts. An extended single decoction and ample hop additions of Magnum, Mittelfrüh, and Saaz balance the complex malt profile, yielding a beer that you can crush by the litre under the big tents of Oktoberfest.

What our panel thought

Floral- and perfume-like hop notes in the nose balanced by some light bread crust malt character. A light mineral character in the initial sip seems to strip away much of the early flavor notes. Malt is a touch of Maillard that rapidly fades to crisp bitterness with faint spicy hops. As that subsides some nice biscuit malt notes and floral hop bitterness emerges and it becomes lightly creamy and smooth into the malty finish.

What our editors thought

Looks, smells, and tastes like some hybrid of modern festbier and its märzen predecessors. Nice nutty note in the aroma, with vaguely lime zest and floral notes. Chewy in the flavor with bready and light citrus notes. But it feels like a fruitier Vienna lager more than beer that might be served at Oktoberfest.