Oktoberfests / Marzens

I understand, but that doesn't necessarily mean following centuries old recipes is good -- especially if we have no real idea how it actually tasted.

Also doesn't mean I have to like how it tastes.

The toasty, melanoidin breadiness that Spaten, Paulaner, and H-P Amber Märzens carry is just about my favorite flavor in a beer, and I'm not a big fan of the roasty, nutty American takes on the style. If I want that character I can easily find a Brown Ale.

 

I enjoy Hofbrau and Weihenstephaner. I don't know why American versions are always dark?

 

If you attend the Munich Oktoberfest event about 30 years ago, all of the beers served there would be dark (amber). Over the past few decades the beer served at the Oktoberfest event has continually gotten lighter in color until today it is a golden color. Paulaner has coined the term of Wies’n style for the present day Oktoberfest event beers.

US brewed versions of Marzen/Oktoberfest are ‘old school’ in that they are amber in color like the beers of 20+ years ago in Munich.

Cheers!

P.S. Victory Brewing makes a Wies’n style Oktoberfest beer. They call it Zeltbier and it is available only on draft. It is a very tasty beer. Below is some info from the Victory website:

Zeltbier

Contemporary Oktoberfest

Composition

ABV: 6.2%

Flavor

Gloriously golden for crisp fall days, this satisfying lager features the lightly toasted flavor of quality German malts balanced with the perfect touch of herbal, German hops.

Food Pairings

Soft pretzels, roasted chicken and salads

Availability

Available on draft in the fall.

 

They aren't. Just as Bavarian versions aren't always light.

 

Here are a couple from recent years:

 

Since both of these examples have "Ur"/"Original" on the labels, may we assume that you wouldn't find either descriptor on a bottle of Wiesn-style Marzen?

 

Same reason IPA are on top, many like them. I am with you I like balanced and at times malt forward beers. I mean the hops are there to balance not to overpower.

 

If I'm not mistaken, the amber maerzens from Spaten, H-P, and Paulaner are for export-only. If not completely export-only, they're at least much tougher to track down and you won't actually find them at the brewery tents. Err...at least not any more.

 

Hard to track down, yes, but I've found Paulaner and Spaten at different locations during Oktoberfest time, though that was a while ago. Nonetheless, they're representative of the style.

I think that would be a correct assumption.

 

Thanks for the info. The way it seems is that either Hunterdon has a couple of regional warehouses in the state with different lists of what's available, or the list I looked at was for that month only and things change from month to month. Either way, I'll make a specific request for the Dunkel Lager this time and have the beer guy find out from his salesman what can be done about it.

FWIW, NY doesn't have the 360 pull top either, so I guess they're one of the states where it's illegal as well. And I was looking forward to drinking out of that can, too .

 

Yeah, I think the CPL list is only what Hunterdon (or other distributor) currently has available - and isn't the Dunkel a Fall seasonal release?

Yeah, Sly Fox --- and especially Crown, the can manufacturer ---- really screwed up on researching that, given that NY and NJ are probably two of Sly Fox's biggest markets. (Altho' I was around and paying attention to the industry back then when the change from the old pop-tops to whatever-they-call-them-now [StaTab, I think?] and I didn't recall states outlawing the "removable" pop-tops. Maybe it happened after most every brewer switched?)

 

The only ones I like are Great lakes and Sly Fox, this is a style that is poorly represented across the board.

 

Oh man, that explains why I have been coming up empty! BA lists it as 'Year Round' but I just checked on the Sly Fox website and they have it as 'Seasonal'. D'oh!

Just this past week I had a can of imported mango juice in Brooklyn with one of those old style pull tabs, and having it on my finger really brought me back to those days. Obviously, it's the first one I've come across in decades. Apparently whatever ban there is on those things is open to a certain amount of interpretation. Just spitballing here, but maybe Sly Fox just didn't want to spend the resources on whatever process there is and just took the easy way out?

 

Do you have two beers in each of those mugs? Or is that just an absurdly small mug? 11.2 oz. would never fit any of my mugs.

 

I have the feeling that being poorly represented may only be because there are so few, and of the few -- there are few that hit the style well. It's not an easy style to brew.

 

It's a half liter mug, so probably one and a half bottles, maybe one and a third accounting for head. You can see beer left in the (second) Spaten bottle.

 

I was at Oktoberfest in 2011, and I bought a swing-top bottle of the amber Hacker Pschorr at a random cafe/bottle shop in the Marienplatz.

 

I think it's very specific - "carbonated beverages" or some such terminology (probably the same wording as those "mandatory deposit" state laws that only apply to certain items' packaging) - so that it only applied to cans that would be opened/consumed outside and then thrown on the ground, etc. Thus why it also doesn't apply to soup cans or canned vegetables or meats, etc.

 

OK, that would explain it, then. I wonder why it would be written that way- there are uncarbonated beverages- but who knows how these things go down sometimes. An uncarbonated Helles wouldn't be too good anyway .

 

Yeah - But aren't water bottles and other non-carbonated "juice" type drinks' cans/bottles also exempt from deposit in most mandatory deposit states? Those were also, in part, "anti-litter" laws.