Its that time of the year! ![[drinkers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/8/82916bed5ad74ac8470bc04089d9758b0c80c9fa.gif "drinkers"){kind=small}
Picked up a few, from Victory, Harpoon, and Weihenstephaner. I’ll try one or more Saturday night.
Too late. We’re already sold out - only took 11 days.
Hey, how is your Shwarz beer? Had my first ever recently (from Duck Rabbit) and really like the style.
WHAAAAAAT?
Let me preface that I have minimal experience with this style of beer and I have a habit of being far less adventurous with beer than with wine. I think I gave this style a fair shake and am glad to have some data points, but its not one I plan on revisiting with any regularity. My impressions are there are those brewers who like to showcase the malty side and others who create a lighter german pilsener style that has some color and some flavor, which better suits my palate.
CAMP MALT
Two Brothers Brewing Co. “Atom Smashers” Oktoberfest Style Lager – Cloudy. Dark amber. Flat head. Smooth mouthfeel with some heft behind it. Malty with no sign of hops. Pleasant but not my style. Illinois 7.7%
Sprecher Octoberfest – Out of Milwaukee. Dark amber. Seems flat? 6% abv Reminds me of drinking homebrew. Dense, flat, dark, malty. Perhaps a bad bottle.
Flying Dog Dogtoberfest Marzen – Amber. Brilliant. Malty nose and a sweet malt on the palate. This is definitely the heavier style that’s not my cup of tea.5.6% Mayland.
Clipper City Brewing Heavy Seas Prosit Imperial Octoberfest – amber color with an impressive head. Malts are prevalent and this is dense in comparison. 9% abv
Left Hand Brewery Oktoberfest – light orange color. Brilliant. Subtle hints of malt and hay on the nose. Soft approachable finish. Bit bland and not much depth.
Stoudts Oktoberfest – light golden color. This is very light style. Simple. Chugging beer and on the other end of the flavor spectrum. PA
Magic Hat Hex Ourtoberfest – dark amber. Brilliant. Medium body. This beer has fair amount of bitter hops. Clearly the hoppiest of the bunch. Although I do like hops, I just felt that this beer was not true to the style. Vermont. 5.4%
Paulaner Oktoberfest – Marzen – slight notes of malt with some hops. Well balanced. 5.8% abv. This was the first one that I was getting it! Perhaps I need to explore more beers from the Motherland to get a better grasp of this style.
Ayinger Oktoberfest – Marzen – a bit lighter in style and less malty than the Paulaner but still flavorful with a nice smooth finish. I enjoyed both of the Geman beers.
Bell’s Octoberfest – golden color. Brilliant. Bit of fresh hay on the nose. Softer with a hint of malt. Closer in style to the german brews. Very refreshing with plenty of interest. 5.5% Michigan
Great Lakes Oktoberfest – Nice pumpkin orange. Brilliant. Med(-) body. Plenty of complexity on the finish. They also have restraint with malts but create a nice rendition as well. 6.5% Cleveland
Cheers,
Lou
Great notes Lou ![[dance-clap.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/8/835ce082e2fa9c96c4b7f96406bf6e9a0db882ff.gif "[dance-clap.gif]"){kind=small}
I think you’ll find it at most of the usual stores in PDX. They should all have it, I just don’t have any.
We just finished bottling the last batch, and it’s delicious. I’ve had a GABF judge tell me that I should enter in their competition. He thought it would win.
Ok, here we go. I haven’t had an Oktoberfest in a while, and my faint memory recalls not digging then all that much. But what the heck, lets try some:
Harpoon Oktoberfest. A darker color than I expected, reddish/orange, decent head, malts/spices…pretty decent.
Weihenstephaner FestBier. My favorite brewery for Hefeweizen. This is what I remember, and no, I do not like Oktoberfest beers. I really don’t like the Marzen style of German beer. I don’t even know how to describe it, I just don’t like the taste. The spicy characteristic is decent, but still…I don’t like it.
Victory FestBier. Kind of in-between the two above. Not terrible but not worthy of further discussion.
In summary, this is not my style. I saw Bell’s Oktoberfest at Total Wine, and if i can get a single, I will try it. Otherwise, I’ll sit back and wait for the next category.
I picked up a couple at Total Wine yesterday, but I’m noticing a trend here that nobody seems to really like the style. I honestly can’t remember ever even having one, but will give it a go.
There seems to be quite a few available, but could only find two that were sold as singles, WTF.
The website describes it as a ESB, but the name and taste made me decide to include it here:
Southern Tier Harvest Ale
Color of light maple syrup. On the nose this beer is very much centered around hop aromas (pine resin, cut grass) with some sweet spice and caramel notes bringing up the rear. Quite bright & refreshing on the light to medium frame with the hop flavors being front and center while the malts lend that toasty caramel flavor again. A very drinkable beer. Again, not sure if it belongs in the category.
I’m going to an Oktoberfest event at Prost! in Portland on Sunday. They’ll be judging nine locally brewed Oktoberfest beers, including mine. I also interested to see what they have on tap from Germany.
When it comes to Marzen bier, there is Gemany and then there is all else. I have never had a domestic version that held a candle to the Originals from Bavaria. That being said many of the domestic ones are excellent beers, they just don’t remind me of or compare to German Marzen biers after living there for many years IMO.
Ayinger Octoberfest
Nice burnt orange color, nose of burnt sugar and toffee. Light to medium weight palate that showcases the toffee although not over sweet with some tea notes, finishes pretty dry with a nice grassy hoppiness. Pretty good and highly drinkable, I could see myself drinking a lot of this in a festival setting.
Great notes Lou! I’m stealing them for several I’ve had. FWIW, I agree with the above notes but am one who appreciates the malty, fuller-body style and thus far Atom Smasher has been the favorite of this season & Bell’s is a close second. Agree that the hoppier Magic Hat version isn’t especially true to the style, but I do want to try New Belgium’s Hoptoberfest as I often enjoy what they put out.
I’ve also had one from Capitol Brewing in WI. This came out much lighter than I was expecting and that lack of color was prelude to a lack of body & flavor; at least, lacking in ability to fully support the hop note. Not overpowering with hops, but not what I’m looking for in an Oktoberfest. Just decent; not what I’m into when going for one of these.
Still a few on tap across the street that I’ve yet to try…will bring back my own notes next time, but thanks again to Lou for letting me borrow & simply comment ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Paulaner WiesnBier- no, this isn’t a Weissbier, as a brewer friend of mine was certain to chastise me on recently. Wiesn means ‘meadow’ in German, referring to the meadow where the original Oktoberfest wedding took place, and where the festival is held. Paulaner is releasing this in the United States for the first time as part of the 200th anniversary, as this alleges to be the ‘true’ beer they serve during the festival. Only available on draft or in 1L cans with 1L glass mug, which is in and of itself worth the price of admission. Beer itself is crisper and thinner than the usual Paulaner O-fest, but I’m not a fan overall as it lacks complexity. More about the packaging than the actual product. Need t post a pic later once I can resize it.
I think overall the German versions have become lighter in body, as they have generally chosen to save money on malt and reduce the O.G. since most people during the festival are not overly concerned about quality. (I heard somewhere that for most of the breweries at least 40% of their ENTIRE PRODUCTION is consumed during Oktoberfest). To me most of the domestic versions are at least maltier and, in that respect, closer to the originals. Whenever we do in-store tastings, Ayinger usually wins out for the imports, while Left Hand and Brooklyn are the domestic favorites. Local brewery Legend does a great one, but the 22oz is better than the 12oz as it is much less filtered and treated, and in that way more ‘authentic’.
Always enjoy Highland’s Clawhammer. It should be available in NC and the surrounding states.
Last year Mendocino Brewing’s Autumn Lager was my favorite (tried around 15). Haven’t seen it around here yet this year. Look’s like it got panned by the guys on the BeerAdvocate site. Screw’em
Phillip,
Anytime and thanks for the feedback. I am glad you commented on the “Atom Smashers” as your style preference for more malts. No right or wrong answer but I did feel I could clump my sampling into 2 broad categories, based on malt intensity. I had small sample on draft of the Avery Kaiser, which I recall had a good dose of malt that might suit your palate.
Cheers,
Lou
Weihenstephaner Festbier
Medium gold in color with a small head that’s retained for a solid amount of time. Aromatic, with fresh hay, some hop aromas and sweet grain notes. On the palate it’s quite refreshing, while not exactly light, and smooth. Some hop and cut grass flavors dominate. A little hollow in the mid palate and I, particularly, would have preferred a little more malt presence. Decent but not great.
