BeerBorg

I'm thinking of heading out soon to pick up some Octoberfest beers and based on readings and my own personal interests I have 3 that I am targeting - at a minimum.

Firestone Walker: Oaktoberfest

Ayinger: Octoberfest

Weihenstephaner Festbier

The only Octoberfest I've had before has been the Sam Adams version which was fine/good, but I want to try a few more. Weihenstephaner makes a kick-ass hef IMO so I'm hoping this will be good, too.
Any other widely available good ones you can think of?

What have you had?

Ahh, my favorite time of the beer year. I make an effort each fall to attempt to get all O-fests that are available in the area (and some out of the area). I always come up woefully short, but here are my favorites that I've had in the last few years (I'm probably leaving out several great ones):

Yazoo: Fall Lager (well, this is widely available to me... )

Brooklyn: Oktoberfest

Spatenbräu: Oktoberfestbier

Heavy Seas: Prosit!

Leavenworth: Oktoberfest Ale

Moerlein: Fifth & Vine Oktoberfest and Exposition Vienna Lager

Green Flash: Fest Bier

Left Hand: Oktoberfest Märzen Lager

Victory: Festbier

Highland: Clawhammer Oktoberfest

Ayinger: Oktoberfest Märzen

Hacker-Pschorr-Bräu: Original Oktoberfest Amber Märzen

Löwenbräu: Oktoberfestbier

Paulaner: Oktoberfest

Beck's: Oktoberfest

Also had several of the highly available ones that were in the OK, but not great, category: Jacob Leinenkugel (both Big Eddy and Oktoberfest), Narragansett Fest, Abita Oktoberfest, Widmer Okto, BBC Oktoberfest, Harpoon Oktoberfest, Magic Hat Hex, Rivertown Oktoberfest, Yuengling Oktoberfest, Sam Adams Oktoberfest, Josephbrau Oktoberfest, Stoudts Oktoberfest, Dundee Oktoberfest, Shiner Oktoberfest, Avery Kaiser.

For me, the Yazoo for domestic, and Ayinger for traditional are my favs. I have tried to get all of the traditional imports and give them a go, and it's fun to side-by-side them to get the differences.

Ayinger IMO is the best marzen out there. So deliciously crisp and malty. Shining example of the style!

Me too..
+1 for Ayinger.

Don't want to change the thread topic, but Ayinger also does some great Hefe's.

I've heard really good things about the Ayinger and my Beer Thirty store just posted a pic of three beers I initially listed - which sparked my interest.
Given the praise I'm already seeing here I guess I'll be swinging by this weekend to pick up a few.

Ja, Ayinger makes good beer. Any/all of their beer is good. You should all also get some Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock if you see any and have not had that beer before. It's awesome with awesome sprinkles on top.

Their hefe is fantastic, as well. I've not had the Celebrator Doppelbock but I do loves me some doppelbocks!

This went down tonight...

Also, wanted to point out the following: Hacker-Pschorr's is decent. I was disappointed by how un-malty and golden colored instead of coppery the Weihenstephaner Festbier was. Drinkable for sure, but not how I associate the style. Victory's Festbier is too hoppy for an oktoberfest. Didn't care for that one at all.

I stopped at the store and picked up a handfull of single bottles. Here's what I got:

Shiner
Left Hand
Thirsty Dog - Barktoberfest
Brew Kettle
Paulaner
Hofbrau
Rhinegeist

I had the Shiner last night. It was really good. crystal clear light brown color, with a nice sweet maltiness. I'm actually looking forward to the other ones. It was a nice change from the hoppy ales/IPA's that I usually drink.

BlackDuck wrote:I'm actually looking forward to the other ones. It was a nice change from the hoppy ales/IPA's that I usually drink.

This is exactly why I decided to buy a few.

(He says as he mashes in the Fresh Squeezed clone....)

Kealia wrote:I'm thinking of heading out soon to pick up some Octoberfest beers and based on readings and my own personal interests I have 3 that I am targeting - at a minimum.

Firestone Walker: Oaktoberfest

Ayinger: Octoberfest

Weihenstephaner Festbier

I picked up these three bad boys today. I'm looking forward to trying all three of them. I may or may not have picked up something extra when I got these...

I've had every Oktoberfest I can find. More than I can keep track of, but I do remember liking Ayinger and narrangansett. Not to mention my own that I brewed this year... just sayin

Ibasterd wrote:I've had every Oktoberfest I can find. More than I can keep track of, but I do remember liking Ayinger and narrangansett. Not to mention my own that I brewed this year... just sayin

Hey, nothing wrong with that at all! That's the way it should be or we wouldn't be brewing in the first place, right?

Since my last post, I've had the Thirsty Dog and the Rhinegeist. Both were decent, but so far the Shiner is the leader.

Sorry Chris, without a picture it didn't happen