59 points
What do you get when you cross the off-putting appearance of apple juice with the even-more-off-putting taste of pumpkin rind, green beans and molasses?
If you guessed Hooker Octoberfest, congratulations…you just won the remainder of our six pack, because we have no plans to drink it.

Look, we wanted to like Hooker’s autumn offering. They’re practically in our backyard, and we support anyone helping the craft brew industry.
And we very much enjoyed their Chocolate Truffle Stout. But in every category, Hooker Octoberfest was fair at best.
On pour, the beer is light and looks like clear-filtered apple juice. Most panelists found it unimpressive, though several remarked on its generous, lacey head, supported by lively carbonation.
The aroma of Octoberfest is all malt. It smells, as one panelist put it, “like a light beer.” Our panel found no discernable profiles other than the malt. Not surprising…after all, it is a Marzen-style lager. But not impressive, either.
Taste also was all malt. Panelists picked up faint tones of smoky molasses, pumpkin, and even cooked green beans. But the malt dominated on first taste, then quickly disintegrated into a watery, nondescript aftertaste.
Most panelists noted a slight bitterness to the aftertaste, but one that also disappeared quickly, leaving our panelists to rate it sub-par.
Our panelist Bob gave up trying to be scientific at this point, and instead wrote inappropriate jokes on his tasting sheet. We won’t repeat them here, but suffice it to say…we found the jokes more satisfying than the beer.
With its light structure, this beer is easy to drink, but the panel scored drinkability only fair, because while you could drink a lot of it, you probably won’t want to.
So Hooker Octoberfest isn’t a home run in our books. But don’t let that detract you from trying their other products. As we said, their Chocolate Truffle Stout is very good.
Maybe they should find a way to get some of that delicious chocolate into this beer as well. Ooh, I think I just found a use for my leftover Halloween candy.
(Appearance 7.33, Smell 5.17, Taste 17., Aftertaste 12.5, Drinkability 17.17)
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