The second beer in our Oktoberfest flight is New Glarus Staghorn. This beer has been called by a few of my beer geek friends, an American Oktoberfest, although I personally like the idea, the BJCP or other sanctioning bodies that I have found, have no such style listed. For quick reference, here is the style guidelines that we will comparing this beer against.

The aroma is sweet and malty, I think it’s almost more Victory malt (due to the biscuit-like aroma) and some sort of light caramel malt. The aroma is quite clean with no hop aroma. The suspected Victory malt and caramel blend lends a biscuity quality to the beer, along with some soft caramel notes, which should not be in a traditional Oktoberfest. Which leads me to the American Oktoberfest comments. I myself am a huge New Glarus fan, like so many Wisconsinites, so I can see why some people may want to adjust the style descriptions to make the beer more acceptable in their eyes to the Oktoberfest style. But, the fact remains that caramel aroma is inappropriate for the style. I like it, but per the style does not fit.

The color is more to what I think of when I think of Oktoberfest, than the Hofbräu was. The clarity is very good, and although it poured a small head, it disappeared very quickly to nothing.

The flavor is good, but not great. There is the initial sweetness up front, but the overall malt profile is a bit on the weaker side. The beer does finish dry, and there is very little bitterness to the beer, which tells me the hops are just supporting the beer. The malt flavor is pretty much matching the aroma, with a bit of biscuity malt, some toast, and a hint of caramel. Long into the finish you continue to taste the toasty malt, which I enjoy a lot. The only issue is the overall weakness of the malt profile. In this style it should be rich and complex.The mouthfeel is medium/light which is in the acceptable range, and I get a slight creamy feel to the beer. However, not as much as in the Hofbräu.

Overall the beer is quite good, but misses the mark in some places for the traditional Oktoberfest style. As far as drinkability goes, this beer is in the upper crust, and does not disappoint in that department. It does have several of the key points of a traditional Oktoberfest, but has the caramel that is not acceptable which hurts it stylistically. I ask myself, is this an Oktoberfest? Yes it is. Is it a classic example of an Oktoberfest. No it is not. So overall I grudgingly give the beer a B-, the  points taken off are for the caramel quality, and lack of richness. But the rest of the beer hits the mark, and it’s so remarkably drinkable.