Marzen?

I picked up a big case of Dundee Octoberfest at the store because it was cheap and I usually like Octoberfest type beers. Kind of a risk since I had never tried it before. They bill this beer as a Marzen style lager. I gotta say, it's full bodied, good color, decent head. The taste is light for an october beer. The smell, however, is fairly unpleasant, at least to me, I can't put my finger on it, but it just doesnt smell very good to me.

Anyone have anything offer about this style of beer?

Märzen Should be rich, malty and medium to full bodied, but still very drinkable with a nice dry finish. they should not be like a maibock or anything. And unlike the modern straw colored German Festbiers they should be Amber and very malt centered.

Märzen is one of my favorite styles. Especialy the stronger Oktoberfest styles that you lagger all summer. Oh yea Märzen were called Märzen because they were usualy brewed in March to last through the summer since brewing used to be outlawed during the summer months in Bavaria before refrigeration. So they would make some stronger stuff to last untill, you guessed it Oktoberfest in September when brewing could begin again.

I've never had the dundee, but sounds like it's somwhere between the Märzen and the modern Oktoberfiestbier in Germany that's almost pushing on strong German Pilz now. Not sure about the smell. It should smell like you stuck your head in a bin full of Munich malt. The Märzen is a liquid shrine to Malt. Perhaps it skunked? A better representative nationally is Sam Adams Oktoberfest. And Great Lakes Oktoberfest is my go to beer in fall, but you can't get that in Maine I don't think. And this late in the season I'd be wary. They are a seasonal thing.

http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style03.php#1b

Basicaly for brewing just get a whole bunch of Vienna and Munich malt and I like Caramunich (60L) to get a nice rich coppery golden color. Mash around 155 or a little cooler to ferment out about 10Plato (40 points) but keep some body without making a bock like liquid bread. I do bittering and some flavor, but hops should be way down on the taste and aroma profile. Just enough to balance and add depth.

The key is think german lagger, not Harvest beer/cookie beer like most of the stuff that rolls out these days come the turning of fall.

I've had that dundee before, and I think the smell your getting is yeast, at least thats what i smelled over the malt. I really like dundees beers other than they need to make their bottles pop tops

Ya know, it was semi malty, with a rich amber color and good body but it had less hops than most of the "oktoberfest" beers I've had, I love the Sam Adams Oktoberfest, its caramel, malty, smoothly bitter with a fullfilling autumn beer quality about it.

This was the first Autumn beer that I really did not enjoy.

As a side note, the store that I buy my beer from sells beer that is out of season for a great price, but not necessarily "bad beer."

As far as I know and what I was taught at the NYWCC for explaining to customers is that Marzen and Octoberfest are interchangeable for the same style. Basically Marzen is drunk at the Octoberfest and the beer became known for the festivals name.

Dundee is brewed by High Falls/Genesee brewing in Rochester BTW.