Beer-a-Day #296
This is, perhaps, the quintessential Märzen.
Not quite as orange as Americanized versions of the style, clear, with a nice off-white head. Mild aroma with some roastiness. Malty, of course, with caramel and a hint of the hops. Good stuff. Now I’m craving bratwurst and sauerkraut.
Beer-a-Day #286
A classic marzen style lager, amber in color with a rich, toasty malt flavor and finish. Well balanced and smooth. Marzen is the style of beer traditionally associated with Oktoberfest. The name is a play on words since in Baltimore, everyone is “hon!” Once a year this beer gets a special “Oktoberfest” label.
Clear and coppery with an off-white head. Nice malty aroma. Just a hint of sourness in the taste. Good stuff.
Beer-a-Day #279
Available August through October each year, our traditional Marzen-style bier is brewed with Munich, Caramel, and a blend of Pale malts. Hallertau, Tettnang, Perle, and Cluster hops provide the aroma for this well-balanced, smooth, festive lager.
Clear and gold with some orange highlights. Hops aroma is light. Medium body with a little toastiness. Good, and now I’m craving bratwurst.
Beer-a-Day #274
This is one of the prettiest beer labels I’ve ever seen.
Nice harvest gold color with two fingers of head. Nice caramel-like aroma from the malt with a bit of grassiness from the hops. Not as sweet as I expected; clean, with medium body. It’s pretty good; I’d gladly have that again.
Beer-a-Day #272
Rich and malty, Festie is available in September and October, and is our tribute to the great German lager. Its name invokes the German tradition of Oktoberfest, while also paying homage to the end of the summer music festival season.
I’m really beginning to like what I’ve been having from Starr Hill. After having never seen them ever, I’m now seeing them all over the place.
Medium gold color. Soft, malty aroma. Lighter than I was expecting. Still, it’s pretty good. I’d gladly have this again.
Beer-a-Day #265
Woo-hoo! Only 100 beers left to go!
Saranac Octoberfest is a med-bodied, copper colored lager. It’s rich, malty taste is subtly balanced by Saaz and Tettnang hops. The beer is aged slowly in the tradition of the Octoberfest beers of Munich.
Golden color with a little red. Nice malty aroma. Medium body with a very nice finish. I like it.
We consider ourselves somewhat of experts when it comes to Octoberfest. We know how to serve up brats, party all day & night, and raise our liters of beer in celebration. We may even go as far as to consider ourselves experts on the Oktoberfest beer style, even though we are both a bit of hop heads.
The Oktoberfest style of beer is a medium bodied beer that is sweet yet balanced out with Noble hops. The sweet malt should be the dominant flavor. It comes in a variety of color ranges, from light orange to dark copper. You will find light toasty notes in the malt. Caramel/toffee flavors are also acceptable for the style. Additionally, bread or biscuit like flavors may be present. The aroma will be notable, but low to medium, and clean.
There is also an American Oktoberfest style where the only difference is a slightly stronger hop presence, but sweetness remains the predominant characteristic of the beer.
We’ve had several bake-offs and Brooklyn’s Oktoberfest remains the champion of champions when it comes to this style. It fits the American Oktoberfest description which is how I like it
Leinenkugel’s Oktoberfest is their autumn seasonal offering and is new to me. The new label design looks great and I hope it tastes as good as it looks. It pours super clean and is amber, or light copper, in color. There is a light hops presence as the frothy head stands up and hangs on to the glass.
The beer is very light in body and barely sweet, but there is light hop character to it. The best word I can come up with to describe it is dry. I would say this beer adheres to the original German definition of the style quite accurately and is balanced if a tad light on sweetness. It is definitely a high quality product with no off flavors; 5.1% ABV & 20 IBUs.
I enjoyed this beer, but it is certainly not my favorite for Oktoberfest. It just doesn’t have enough malt sweetness and elevated bitterness for my tastes. If you like Paulaner Oktoberfest but find it too sweet, you may want to give this a try.
One last thing… while I was on their website, I found Peg’s Kitchen and there were some nice looking recipes.
Beer-a-Day #253
A full rich bodied, hoppy, seasonal lager. Especially brewed for the Festbier season. This beer truly represents the Bavarian way of celebrating. Deep gold color, great mouthfeel and lots of flavor. Prost!
Tonight is the kickoff of the 2009 NFL season and, thus, the unofficial start of Autumn. This is my favorite time of year. Football (American) is my favorite sport. (My only sport, really.) And I have a special place in my heart for Oktoberfest beers. Time to celebrate!
Pale yellow, clear with a white head. Grassy hops. A touch sweet with some interesting toastiness. Good stuff.
Beer-a-Day #191
While it’s not yet on sale, JT shared with me some of this year’s Dogtoberfest. While I’ve written about it before (good and not-so-good-but-redeemed) this is too special a moment to let pass by.
Dogtoberfest is deep mahogany in color with an intriguing caramel finish and brewed with 100% imported German ingredients for a true German flavor.
That’s really good. Malty with just a bit of bitterness. I’m craving bratwurst and sauerkraut.
My wife likes it too.
Look for it at your favorite retailer in the next few weeks.
Tim Hynds at Sioux Brew is doing a “6-pack or so of reviews of beers brewed in the Oktoberfest style”. He’s also inviting other people to offer up their reviews.
Today’s review is Samuel Adams Octoberfest.
We thought the Sam Adams was pretty good, but it’s not our favorite.
I’m looking forward to seeing what else Tim writes up.
