Craft Oktoberfest, or festbiers, are styles that I typically avoid buying locally because they are usually poorly made (sorry, but that’s the truth). It also doesn’t help that you can get some pretty good German imports for a few bucks a can and most of those are pretty spot on. That being said, as someone who is open to trying new things, I was more than happy to accept some samples of this collaboration beer from Bomber Brewing and I’m really glad I did because this one is quite nice. Full disclosure, this review as a part of my sample series reviews, which indicates that this beer was sent to me free of charge.

Brewed to celebrate the 6th edition of BC Craft Beer Month (October), this beer was made in collaboration with multiple head brewers from the BC Craft Brewers Guild. It was brewed at Bomber Brewing, who in my opinion makes one of the best local pilsners, and was released officially on October 12th, 2017. They amped it up to 6.2% abv and got some support from West Coast Canning, IMS Labels and BSG Canada Malts to make this project happen. It’s available in government and private stores across BC.

Aroma and Appearance: It pours a super clear copper colour with average carbonation and one finger of tan foam. The aroma is very clean and bready, with whiffs of brewery (you know that grainy smell), sweet caramel and hints of piney resin.

Flavour: Up front there’s a brilliant caramelized malt note that’s immediate and exciting. It pairs up nicely with the honey oat bready middle, that’s medium bodied and clean in the mid palate. Upon the finish, it’s crisp, herbal and ever so slightly resinous in a mouth watering way, giving off nuances of pine sap on the aftertaste.

Overall Impression: Front runner for best local Oktoberfest beer, it’s refreshing, clean and shows an appreciation and admiration for malt.

Rating: If you see it here it means I’m pretty happy with it because I think it’s worth writing about, but I still won’t give a number rating because I feel it’s way too hard to remove bias in a free sample to give a true numbered rating.

Food Pairing: Bratwurst with all the fixins.

Check out that “Independently Owned, Independently Crafted BC Beer” Logo on these cans. I think we’ll see this develop into something we see more of in the future.