Bayernbiere Bought and Drunk

I'm also a Spaten fan. I've never done any head to head comparisons, but it always seems like I enjoy their helles and pils more than Paulaner, HP, and Lowenbrau. They also have my favorite maibock...assuming HB's oddball darker one isn't in the equasion.
In my trips to Munich it almost seems like they Spaten is the forgotten brand. Franziskaner is (quite literally) everywhere you go, but normal 'ol Spaten doesn't appear to be nearly as common as the other brands in town. Outside of a few key locations (Der Pschorr for instance) H-P also seemed to be less common than it was a decade ago.

 

Computer monitors don't due justice to the color.

 

Due justice? Do the due justice, maybe.

 

Due to the hue?

 

Speaking of Spaten, here's one in a new willibecker given to me by an old lady who runs a little wine shop that happens to carry some choice beer as well - you'll have to excuse the amateur photography, but I think the beer speaks for itself.

 

Wow! That is the palest Pale Oktoberfest beer I have ever seen!

Thanks for posting that photograph!!

Cheers!

 

This is how I think of most of them! I've previously posted a photo of Augustiner's:


And here is what Spaten serves in their tent:

...which is certainly pale but probably looks a little different due to the Maßkrug.

I recently purchased a six pack of Spaten's Ur-Marzen (green bottle, not brown). I will report back as soon as I can get a few into my Paulaner Maßkrug. With a photo, hopefully.

 

Matt,

Thanks for your photographs as well.

The photo of the Spaten Oktoberfestbier in @mmmbirra 's post looks like water with 1-2 drops of yellow food coloring in it. I suppose the light conditions that a photograph is taken plus the serving glass will influence appearances.

Cheers!

Jack

 

So here is what I had at the tent last year:


...and here is what I'm drinking now, Spaten's Oktoberfest Ur-Märzen:


The beer I'm drinking now has the copper color of an Altbier. I'll give my impressions a little later when I have more time (and when I'm finished with the Maß).

Cheers!

 

Spaten Oktoberfest Ur-Märzen
5.9% ABV, three 12 oz. bottles poured into a one-liter Maßkrug.
Bottle code of L222416 11:31. If I have this correct, this denotes the 223rd day of 2014, or August 10th-ish? If so, that's not too bad, freshness-wise. Green bottle. Pictured above.

Spaten was my favorite Oktoberfest beer, based solely on the one that I had in their tent last year. The American Ur-Märzen is clearly different. The pale Festbier was sweeter, almost too sweet at first but damn satisfying and drinkable and a joy to drink by the time you got to the end of it. This one is a little drier and more in the vein of Hacker-Pschorr's version. Still very good, but I think I liked the pale version a little more.

Let's call it a 4.0/5.0

 

Is this bier 'Bavarian?'

 

Nope.

 

Astra is owned/brewed by Holsten in Hamburg, I believe. Nasty stuff. Had forgotten about that one (or maybe suppressed any memories!).

 

Yes, I think it came out a little bit lighter in the photo than it really was, but it was no darker than a standard helles lager.

 

Yeah... something really washed out in that picture. I thought you might have watered it down so we could see the logo on the glass easier.

 

Probably didn't taste as good because of the Maß you poured it into...

 

Really great video report on Schlenkerla, with lots of old (and new) footage. Quite interesting at the 3' mark, where a local author (and Stammtisch regular) talks about what has changed in the past 50 years... (hint: it's not that grampa's drink has lost favor with the youth ). Enjoy: http://cdn-storage.br.de/b7/2014-10/28/477b1d7c5e9111e4bca2984be109059a_C.mp4

 

The H-P Doppelbock tasted bad... so bad I took 2 pulls and dumped it down the drain and replaced it with a Faust Dunkelweizen.

 

Hmm. That's sad to hear. Can you explain what was off?

 

Those older clips are terrific.