When I wrote this round up earlier this week, I inadvertently overlooked one autumnal offering residing at the back of my office beer fridge: Narragansett Fest Lager. And since it certainly deserves mention, I feel obliged to rectify my omission.
Beautifully copper-orange in colour, the Fest has a sweetish, nutty-malty nose, reminiscent of the aroma of beer nuts, but drier. The taste, however, trends a bit too strongly towards the sweet and cloying for my taste, beginning with a lightly floral caramel flavour leading to a richer, more pronounced caramel maltiness and then finally a nutty and lightly boozy, but still caramelly, back end and finish.
Like a lot of malt-driven, medium strength lagers – this one is 5.5% alcohol – Fest has a definite food affinity, pairing well with simple, not-too-fatty foods like a turkey sandwich or roasted pork tenderloin. On its own, however, I find that the caramel a bit too pronounced for me to want more than just one at a time.