Oktoberfest: Wiesn and Märzen

The ones that are still around here are all on discount. I never did see the Spaten. The beer store guy swears to me that they had it but I still don't believe him. The only one you're missing is Hacker-Pschorr! Let us know what you think of them.

Also, nice Pilsner Urquell mug.

Cheers!

 

Paulaner Oktoberfest Bier was as expected of the style, bready and semi-dry despite the alcohol content, with a bitterness that made itself known yet didn't overwhlem the malts. I've had several Swedish lager beers around 6% abv which tend to be malty sweet rather than bready, some of them have off-notes (due to rushed fermentation/insufficient lagering?) which Paulaner doesn't have. It's a really tasty beer in my opinion. Next up is Spaten Oktoberfestbier (since you mentioned it I figured what the hell).


It's sweeter than Paulaner although both list the wort strenght at 13.7%, with Paulaner having 6%abv and Spaten 5.9%. It would be interesting to learn the degree of attenuation of both, I'm guessing Paulaner is more attenuated, and perhaps Paulaner has a few more IBUs than Spaten. Spaten Oktoberfest reminds me alot of their Helles version in taste, only sweeter, and I definitely prefer the latter over the former (I haven't tasted Paulaner's München Lager). It gets to be a bit too cloying in my opinion and I'd rather have another glass of Paulaner Oktoberfest Bier. I really enjoy the standard Spaten München though.

 

I have pictures of family get togethers from the mid 90s where it looks like the participants are drinking Vienna lagers even though the brands are cheapo Danish import lagers (pilsner malts all the way). I wouldn't claim to know anything about the color of the Oktoberfest beers of years past, since I've never been to München and wasn't of legal drinking age until 2006, but it seems to me that beers appeared a great deal darker on pictures "back in the day".

 

Picked up a 6-pack of the Shiner Oktoberfest. This stuff is close. If the hopping were a touch lower (and less grassy) and underlying maltiness a bit more bready (a touch thin as it is), it'd be pretty right on. None of that annoying roastiness or cloying sweetness. And at $7.99 it's a good deal, too. Kudos to Shiner.

EDIT: as I drink more of it, I think just achieving more breadiness would balance out the hops almost perfectly. Good stuff. Beautiful color.

 

The best domestic oktoberfest beer I have had this year, by far, is this: http://www.karbachbrewing.com/beers/karbachtoberfest.

For me the taste and color are halfway between Wiesn and Maerzen styles. 5.5% abv, very quaffable. Comes in 6-packs of can and draft.

Unfortunately, it is only distributed here in Houston. Karbach Brewery opened here a couple of years ago. For any of you who are homebrewers, Karbach's head brewer is Eric Warner, who wrote the Hefeweizen and Koelsch books for the Brewing Classic Styles series. All his beers are really good, particularly his german-style beers.

Scott, I may have to try the Shiner o-fest due to your review. I had pretty much given up on Shiner, but may try again.

 

I tried the Shiner yesterday too. I tried 4 different "fest" beers and the only one I thought was better was the Ayinger.

 

*growl*

 

For those of us in Deutschland, Bier & Bier is selling the Augustiner Oktoberfest online beginning Sept. 9th (but you can pre-order for a Sept. 10th ship date). I may wait and see if one of my two local places will carry it (they both have Augustiner's Helles and Exportbier in the regular rotation), however one way or the other I think some Augustiner Oktoberfest is finally in my future. This will leave Spaten as the only Münchner Oktoberfestbier that I haven't tried here in Germany. I'm thinking about going to the 'Fest this year as a day trip, so I guess I'll be hitting the Spaten tent.

I may also order some of the Ayinger Kirta Halbe with the Augustiner to finally try some of that, too.

 

[quote="herrburgess, post: 1668450, Roasted.

High kilned munich malz will do that.

 

Pretty interesting about the Shiner being so good. Gotta love the fact that their beers are cheap, too. They had a mildly smoked helles a few years I really enjoyed. It reminded me a lot of the Schlenkerla helles.

 

Are you using roasted and toasted synonymously? Because that would be off.

As said in the past; Roasted = Stout. Toasted = Märzen.

 

I thought it was

Roasted = Insults

Toasted = Praise

 

Only in speeches.

 

No, it's, in an hour,…

Roasted = first 3 bottles of beer

Toasted = 3+ bottles of beer

at least for me.

 

I thought that post was half-baked!

 

I'm surprised none of y'all have dropped your knowledge in this thread yet, which is about the good ol' O-fest.

 

Great, that thread has opened up a whole new can of worms and brought out the members who really don't know the style -- and can't tell the difference between Wiesn & Weizen.

 

I'm back here. My son poured a cup of coffee over my laptop and the hard drive and keyboard had to be replaced.

In the meantime, Oktoberfestbier has hit the German shelves. Found the usual choice of the Munich line-up, nothing else so far. Anyone know where to get the Ayinger in Germany?



And the bottle shop also had a 2 litre-bottle of the H-P Oktoberfestbier Wies'n. Didn't buy that, maybe next time.


Apart from those, there's also some regional non-Bavarian Festbiers/Märzens at this time of year, like this from Pfungstädter.

 

Other than the crappy link, did I regurgitate any misinformation?

 

I'd get two cases of these just for homebrewing! The contents is a bonus