Octoberfest beers

Gymrat · Post by **Gymrat** » Sun Sep 22, 2013 10:10 am

I am doing the Octoberfest minitour at Old Chicago. Yesterday I had the Becks Octoberfest, Sam Adams Octoberfest, and a taster of Boulivard's Bob's 47, which is an Octoberfest. To tell the truth the differences in the tastes between them were very minor. And I would have to have them side by side to even notice them. I guess that is to be expected as all are based on munich malt with little to no hop presence. I just thought it was interesting. All I have left on my minitour now is the Shlafly's and the Free State's Octoberfests. I may go out a couple of nights this week after work and have one each night. I don't know how close to surgery I should be drinking alcohol as it thins the blood. Plus it wouldn't hurt to acclimate Ralph to me not being there after he is let out and fed when I get home from work.

swenocha · Post by **swenocha** » Sun Sep 22, 2013 10:47 am

One of my favorite styles, so I always look forward to this year. Yeah, a well crafted O-fest should taste very similar to every other well crafted O-fest if based truly to style. Go do a tasting at a true Volksfest where they are only serving the traditional beers from Spaten, Ayinger, Paulaner, Hacker Pschorr, Hofbräu, Weihenstephaner, etc. to really drive that point home. But you can really taste subtle differences. Beck and Hofbräu, for instance, are both a touch hoppier (to my taste). Other things I note Paulaner is a bit more fruity; Ayinger a bit more nutty; Hacker-Pschorr is lighter with higher carb; Weihenstephaner is lighter in appearance. It's all pretty subtle, so side-by-side tasting is the only way I personally get the differences. And it's really fun...

Now, some American styles are not totally to style. Great beers, but not traditional and a bit off of the reservation for the style, which is fine by me. I'm not a huge fan of Magic Hat, but Hex is pretty fun, with it's smokiness from Cherrywood Smoked malt. Victory's and Sam's version's are both a lot more hop forward than the style, with their flavor/aroma additions (most O-fest beers rely on the grains for the flavor/aroma and the hops mostly for bitter, with only a subtle presence in flavor/aroma, in my experience).

Oh, I love this time of year. I try to get a bottle or pint of each distinct brand I can throughout the fall.

Post by **philm00x** » Sun Sep 22, 2013 3:25 pm

Roger, you talked up that Ayinger Octoberfest real good and I've yet to try it, but maybe this weekend I'll drop by the store to look for it. I'm partial to more fruity flavors though, so I think I'd like the Paulaner one better. Maybe they've got both of them at the World Market and I can pick up a mixer sixer with both of them!

Gymrat · Post by **Gymrat** » Sun Sep 22, 2013 3:41 pm

Now having a bawktoberfest at 23rd st brewery in Lawrence. It has a nice toasty flavor to it. Present but not overbearing.

Gymrat · Post by **Gymrat** » Sun Sep 22, 2013 3:42 pm

The Ayinger is the best one I have tried yet.

duff · Post by **duff** » Mon Sep 23, 2013 8:05 am

I like some Octoberfest beers but there does seem to be little variation with many of them especially from the German breweries. This could be because I tend to prefer hoppier beers and just haven't learned to distinguish the malt character as much as I have with hops.

How was the Becks Octoberfest? Last time I had one it tasted off and I figured they were messing with the recipe like they did the regular Becks.

I really like the Spaten and Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest/Marzens. I don't know why but I really dislike the Sam Adams one.

russki · Post by **russki** » Mon Sep 23, 2013 9:11 am

I find that American breweries are pretty bad at brewing true classic Oktoberfest/Marzen beers. IMHO, you can only get a true Oktoberfest beer from a German brewery. Good ones are a true showcase for malt aromas and flavors without being too sweet. My favorite example is Warsteiner Oktoberfest; it's lighter in color, and has an amazing malty aroma and flavor, it's the kind of beer you can drink krugs of!

Gymrat · Post by **Gymrat** » Mon Sep 23, 2013 9:24 am

russki wrote:I find that American breweries are pretty bad at brewing true classic Oktoberfest/Marzen beers. IMHO, you can only get a true Oktoberfest beer from a German brewery. Good ones are a true showcase for malt aromas and flavors without being too sweet. My favorite example is Warsteiner Oktoberfest; it's lighter in color, and has an amazing malty aroma and flavor, it's the kind of beer you can drink krugs of!

I had one of those at Old Chicago on this mini tour. It really was good. I love Warstieners Dunkel as well.

JimH · Post by **JimH** » Mon Sep 23, 2013 10:06 am

It may not be to the German style, but I have always liked Widmer Brothers Okto. I like it better than even the Sam Adams Oktoberfest. Sadly, I have a hard time finding it here, and it has been a few years since I had it, back before I was a brewer and tasting guru, so I can't describe why it is so awesome. But, if you can find it, know I recommend it.*

All JimH recommendations are guaranteed, or your money back!

rickbray66 · Post by **rickbray66** » Mon Sep 23, 2013 11:18 am

Me lady and I attended an Oktoberfest celebration this past Saturday. This year, Paulaner was the selected brewer. Their selection included the Oktoberfest, Marzen and a Hefe. All 3 were pretty good. Me lady preferred the Hefe and stuck with it. I also thought the Hefe was the best of the three, but I chose to stick with the Oktoberfest. It was Oktoberfest after all.

Rick

Octoberfest beers

Octoberfest beers

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