It’s utterly apropos that I drank and am now reviewing the Flying Dog Dogtoberfest that I received the first part of the month: the beer won the Gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival in the “German-Style Märzen” category. Congrats guys!

This year’s version is slightly less in alcohol than last year’s (my review here) by half a percentage point to 5.3%. Flying Dog strove to use authentic German ingredients in the beer and they brewed a solid Oktoberfest.

Appearance: Pretty clear, reddish-brown with a light tan head, which fell quickly.

Smell: Malty, with rich caramel notes and a hint of roasted malts; some nuttiness in there too.

Taste: Very tasty—malty-sweet, caramel and a touch buttery, very rich. It’s full of the malty tasty character that I really enjoy and look for in Oktoberfest/amber beers.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied with a sweet presence, very pleasant.

Overall: I really like it.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores an overall grade of B. On RateBeer, it scores 3.13 out of 5, and is in their 54th percentile.