Background – From Spoetzl Brewery themselves “Just like the world’s largest beer festival, our little brewrey has Bavarian roots and a long tradition of honoring tradition. Which is why we made this märzen-style with German-grown Hallertau tradition. If that doesn’t make you polka dance for joy, we don’t know what will..”

Appearance – The bottle has a predominantly orange palate that really stands out. There are nice accents of blue and white but it would be easy to mistake this for a pumpkin beer from afar. Once poured you have the burnt amber color with a heavy foamy head and alot of lacing, very traditionally looking Marzen here.

Aroma – This beer holds up the standard expectation of a Marzen. You have heavy notes of malt and biscuits. Both cold and warm I could detect alot from Shiner.

Taste: Just like the aroma the taste here is all what you would expect. A healthy dose of malt with a slight caramel finish. As the beer warms you will get some toasted notes and a minimal amount of hops. I like what they are doing with this one, its a solid beer.

Drinkability – The initial sip will be smooth with minimal carbonation and you will notice the sweetness of the malts. But as it sits you will have a dry almost stale aftertaste which is the biggest negative I could detect from this one.

Overall – The Shiner Märzen-Style Oktoberfest may not deviate too much from a standard Marzen, which is fine with me. Its the finish of the beer that stops it from being better. I would recommend trying it, especially if this is an introduction to Marzens.

Game Pairing: When it comes to game pairing I decided to pick Power Move Wrestling. Listen I know there are plenty of better wrestling game’s out there but this is an interesting choice that doesn’t do much wrong, yet its not perfect either. These two deserve each other.

Welcome to Beer Battle #5, this time it’s going down between two of Spoetzl Brewing Company’s Shiners winter brews.
– Shiner Frost, 5% – Click here for our review.
– Shiner Morello Dark Cherry, 7% – Click here for our review.

First up is the Morello Dark Cherry coming in at 7% this is a European Strong Lager. The label is sexy, I know that’s a weird word but the style of red and black combined with the stylish font looks quite nice. The aroma is heavy with cherry and has notes of milk chocolate.

The flavor is very interesting because it tastes like the filling of cordials, chocolate covered cherries, which is both odd and pleasant. The beer is surprisingly light considering it’s creamy mouthfeel. The finish is semi tart, probably thanks to the cherries.

Overall i wasn’t a huge fan of this beer while it was cold but as it has warmed up it has grown on me. I’m giving it a 3.5/5. I am gonna pair this unique brew with Infamous 2 Festival of Blood. The red and black made me think vampire and this standalone DLC is a lot of fun.

Next up is frost a winter Dortmunder coming in at 5%. This beer has a very wintery label with a nice blue/white combo, basically a polar opposite of the morello. The snowflakes really drive it home. The aroma is very light with malt and bread being the only detectable notes.

The flavor is similar to a pale lager with some additional malt/bread flavors. Maybe a hint of apple juice in the finish. There are some nice spices to the mouthfeel. This beer goes down real easy, like Jim’s mother,

Overall this is a solid session beer, even at 5% I can easily go through a lot of these guys. I give it a 3.1/5 and when it comes to pairing I am going to choose Ski Freak from Puppet Combo a fun indie horror game that takes place on the slopes.

I had to go with the Morello Dark Cherry. Better flavors and a bit stronger it has more to offer in the end, but if you hate cherries then this isn’t the best for you. Thanks for following and be safe, cheers!