Your Top Oktoberfest Beers

Wow, surprised you were the only one to mention SurlyFest. I really love that beer! Unfortunately no Great Lakes for us in Colorado, but the Left Hand Oktoberfest is quite good. Of course, with high temps hovering near 100 the past few days, I'm still stuck in summer beer mode.

 

Sam Adams
Great Lakes
Bells
Frankenmuth
Hacker-Pschorr

 

Thank you! I've been looking all over for this list!

 

1. Great Divide Hoss
2. Free State Octoberfest
3. Paulaner
4. Avery The Kaiser
5. Left Hand

 

Sticking to the original six: Hacker-Pschorr, Spaten, Paulaner, Augustiner and (tied) Lowenbrau and Hofbrau.

 

Excluding the Munich 6 but of the season, Ayinger for sure, Schlenkerla Rauchbier Maerzen, Victoryfest, Stoudt's & Sam.

 

Not at all. I don't like it either. It's thin bodied and lacking.

 

1. Capital Fest (retired)
2. Berghoff
3. Spaten
4. Point
5. Argus Holsteiner Lager

...of the 13 märzens I've tried, NG Staghorn is last with a rating of 2.65...anyone that thinks that Staghorn is a good märzen, really needs to try some other märzens.

 

Oh, and SA and Great Lakes are near the bottom as well..."known" brewers that can't brew a good märzen.

 

This may be the best one but at 10%+ I hate that I can't have 3-4.

 

Top 5 German: Top 5 American:
Augustiner Oktoberfest Victory Festbier
Ayinger Oktober Festbier Narraganset Oktoberfest
Hacker Pschorr Oktoberfest-Marzen Brooklyn Oktoberfest
Paulaner Oktoberfest-Marzen Harpoon Oktoberfest
Weihenstephaner Oktoberfestbier Left Hand Oktoberfest

 

Surprised to not see more love for Victory Festbier, actually. It's very nice - fairly dark and roasty compared to Munich tent beers. Great Lakes, Ayinger, Schlenkera, Left Hand, and, of course, Weihenstephaner are great as well.

 

I found it didn't smell like much of anything, and there wasn't a lot of taste. I thought maybe it was just me, but I passed it over to my roommate and he said the same thing.

 

Weihenstephaner, Hofbrau, and Paulaner, all in the wies'n style, are the ones I always look for.

 

High Point Ramstein
Victory
Sam Adams
Great Lakes
Brooklyn

 

Marzens are amongst my favorite styles. Hard to rate. Germans (tho not ideally fresh) are probably the best, but us Americans make sum fine examples too. (I'm lookin' at you, Sam Adams)! Get a 2 liter mug. Pour till filled, w/ ideal head. Drink, with some schnitzel. Prosit!

 

1. Weihenstephaner
2. Moat Mountain
3. Berkshire Brewing Co.
4. Sam Adams
5. Victory

 

Hofbrau
Paulaner
Great Lakes
Hacker Pschorr
Augustiner

Note: Augustiner is NOT worth $15.00 bucks more than the others. Pretty similar actually.

 

From the dozen or so I've had, Ayinger is my Favorite.

 

Using math I have determined that I was way off. A case of twenty 16.9 oz bottles of Augustiner are 3.12 per case or $0.13 more per bottle than a 11.2 oz case of 24 Hofbrau.