Märican Biere Bought and Drunk...

Since the paler, Wies'n Fest is more modern than the Amber Märzen, I've stolen the phrase from H-P (I think) and call the Amber "traditional."

I've mentioned it in the past, but my first Oktoberfest in Munich was 1990. At that time the beer served in the Wies'n was still amber in color. 2 years later it had evolved to the brighter gold look.

Many theories as to why the style evolved, but both are well worth drinking and make the season more fun.

*BTW -- The Firestone is more golden in color than the pale yellow Augustiner you picture.

 

“I'm liking it less and less with each beer..”

Matt, pardon my confusion here; which particular beer are you “liking less and less”?

Cheers!

Jack

 

Great decision. I wasn't a huge fan of the Oktoberfest, but I'm most likely going to be purchasing another mix pack, so I hope to try more. LOVED the Vienna Lager though, and the Tumbler was as delicious as ever.

I can see why you didn't want to overlap styles with the Oktoberfest. I actually called your Vienna an "Oktoberfest Light" although I hope no one EVER uses that term in the industry. It hit all the right toasty/bready notes for me personally.

That being said, since you did have a brown ale in there already, and the Vienna, I would have loved to see a pale Oktoberfest in this pack. There's virtually no American examples of that style that I can think of, it would have been interesting to get Sierra Nevada's take on it (maybe next year?).

And you guys arguably do this better than anyone else. You add an American twist (whether that means a variation on recipe, process, or both) to certain styles without butchering them completely. Your Glissade and Summerfest come to mind.

To be completely honest, my faith in you had slipped ever so slightly when your seasonals became so hop heavy. And I understand it's a business, and you have to pay the bills. But this mix pack made me respect Sierra Nevada all over again.

I look forward to your winter mix pack!

 

One of my Vienna reviews from 2007...

 

Maybe you and I can market the term, "session Oktoberfest."

And when we do, I'm then going to officially retire from beer forever.

 

I had a couple bottles of this, and have had the itch to try a few more. But my initial response is that this one isn't to my liking. I had a discussion during another thread with @Domingo who said I may be perceiving some astringency in the finish (so much so that I actually THOUGHT there was oak in it, there's not). He also perceives this trait in one of their beers, not the Oaktoberfest, but their DBA, which ironically I thoroughly enjoyed.

The few I had both seemed amber to me, a lighter amber like Ayinger, but definitely amber.

 

When I compare "amber" in an Oktoberfest, Spaten and Paulaner are the benchmarks for me. Oaktoberfest has very little red to it, though it's far from the Wies'n Fests from HB or Weihenstephan.

Gonna start using this more often for precision (and yeah, I know everyone's monitor is different, but this will help):



The Firestone was about a 9 in my .5L Willibecker.

 

I had my first Sierra Nevada Vienna Lager from the SN Fall Pack.

This beer has a very, very pleasant aroma! Nice aromas of bready/toasty. Hop aroma was barely discernable.

The flavor very much followed the nose. Nice pleasant flavors of bready/toasty with just a hint of caramel. The hop flavor was a tad more prominent than what was present on the nose but definitely in the background here.

It has a nice light-medium mouthfeel with a dryish finish.

The strong suit for me was the aroma. This beer is very much malt forward which is what I personally look for in the Vienna Lager style.

If I had to use one word to describe this beer it would be süffig.

The Sierra Nevada Vienna Lager is right up there with Iron Hill Vienna Lager and Devil’s Backbone Vienna Lager in my opinion.

I wonder if there are any German brewed beers like this?

Another wonderful beer from the Sierra Nevada Fall Pack!

Cheers to @sierranevadabill and the Sierra Nevada Brewing team for another tasty beer from the Fall Pack!

 

Trying another right now; maybe even closer to a 7.

 

Ah, yes I know what you mean now. I remember it being very Ayinger-like in color, maybe lighter as well. Might grab another single or two tomorrow night. Give this one another whirl along with Sierra Nevada's Oktoberfest. I always like to give a beer a few tries.

Although, with the Spaten Oktoberfest I had on draft last weekend, it only took one sip to make me think, "This is everything I want in a beer. It is going to take all of my will power to not drain this in three gulps."

 

That's a beautiful sight! (despite the short pour )

I only sampled (ha, "sampled" is probably a poor choice of words) Augustiner, Paulaner and Hofbrau. I desperately want to go to the Schottenhamel. However, I was referring to the amber Oktoberfest exported to the US. But I imagine the pale one served in the tents is equally as delicious and "sessionable".

 

Again, I'm not convinced that our amber version isn't just the pale with some Sinamar added (100% speculation, mind you, but still...).

 

Have you had it recently? I tasted it side-by-side with Ayinger (amber), Weihenstephan (pale), and Hofbrau (pale) all on draft this past weekend. The Weihenstephan/Hofbrau tasted distinctly different than the Spaten. Ayinger's was sort of a hybrid, amber in color, but lighter in body and flavor than the Spaten. Ayinger still rocked, but in it's own way.

 

I have had some last week. Was a bit.over 3 months old. And I felt the same way you did: this is everything I want from an Oktoberfest...or a beer in general. Great stuff.

 

What's Augustiner Oktoberfest's presence like in the US? I remember seeing some dusty old 6-packs of the Edelstoff and perhaps even the Maximator when I was there but don't recall seeing the Oktoberfest. Curious as I've seen Augustiner's availability really pick up a lot in this area in the past few years, mostly on tap and from the wooden barrels. Had more than my fair share of their oktoberfest last weekend. Fantastic stuff.

 

The only one I've seen is this one,

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/820/12272/

 

And you felt it was similar to the Spaten found in the tents? I'm not saying you're right or wrong, I'm just curious to hear your take.