Blue Point Oktoberfest (NY)

This is apparently the first year this Long Island brewery has produced (or maybe just bottled) an Oktoberfest. 5.0% ABV, 28 IBUs.

It pours a clear copper with a lame lager head. No surprise that this is malty, particularly upfront, but it isn't caramel-ish. This shouldn't be surprising ("noticeable caramel or roasted flavors are inappropriate" -- BJCP style guide), but a lot of American Oktoberfests seem to taste of caramel. Or maybe that's a problem of perceptions. Blue Point's hops come through at the end to dry it out, but I also detected a somewhat ale-ish aspect to it. Butter? Oak? (Chardonnay? No, that's not it.) The body is medium-light and pretty heavy on the carbonation.

So not a bad beer, but not a great one. Looking at my photo, the empty body seems to exert some sort of force bending the glass toward it, which is kind of neat, but I still haven't tried an Oktoberfest that really blew me away.

Update: A Joe Sipxack column from the Philadelphia Daily News describes the conflict between the BJCP Oktoberfest style guidelines and what's currently served in Germany. Interestingly, it's the current German brew that is "dumbed down":

The big Munich breweries still export their familiar dark version, including the original Spaten Ur-Märzen. But the variety they pour at the festival is closer to a much lighter Dortmunder or Helles style, experts say.

Oktoberfestbier "has evolved into a ubiquitous light lager," Brewers Association president Charlie Papazian wrote in an online column, "light on hop character and, I think, dumbed-down to appeal to the masses."