Lagunitas Tuberfest (Oktoberfest)

Lotta those goin' around with "Oktoberfest" on the label.

Bland at 7.5%, hmm. I figured it would be very Bock-like.

 

I'm always down to give it a try.

 

I'd put that in my mouth

 

I tried it yesterday, decent beer, didn't make me think I was drinking an Oktoberfest beer though.

 

Could not agree more. Thought Tuberfest was basically sweet with an alcohol bite. Oaktoberfest is much more nuanced with great flavor.

 

Not digging it. In defense of Lagunitas, they never called it a märzen. However, to call it malty is pretty misleading. All I was getting were the weird fruity and cedar heavy hops. At 45 IBU it's no wonder why. Weird beer. I'll take an Ayinger, thanks.

 

Lagunitas just couldn't resist overhopping even this style.

 

Have you ever tried an IPA brewed with Idaho 7 hops? It says "cedary" and "herbal", but I recall a strong pineapple note, and it was used in a single hop IPA by one of my favorite local breweries. It was very much in the "New England-style" for an IPA.

I mention this because, Idaho 7 in an Oktoberfest? 7.5% for an Oktoberfest?

This doesn't sound appealing to me at all. I like bock-strength German style beers, and I liked Idaho 7. But neither of these should be combined in the same sentence, and certainly not in the same sentence as the word Oktoberfest.

If I see a single or it's on draft I might try it, just out of curiosity.

 

...except when they try to brew a nuanced style like pilsner or maerzen or alt. I love Sucks, Sumpin', Hop Stoopid, and even the occasional Brown Shugga', but they can't brew lagers or anything that takes deft hands without making it taste like every other Lagunitas beer and losing every subtlety possible in the process.

I think I might hate Bock-toberfests more than overhopped ones (in the sense of dark fruit, doppelbock flavors, not in the "bock" means "strong" sense). Ballast Point's ironically named Dead Ringer was full of dark fruits, which is way, way off for a maerzen. At least over-hopping sort of (in a massive stretch due to the lesser malt bill, which allows for more bitterness, dryness, and hoppiness) calls back to the alternative in Oktoberfests, Festbiers.

 

I went to an Oktoberfest tasting last weekend and this was one of the available beers. It was by far the worst offering of the group. I love Oktoberfests, one of my favorite styles, and I like APAs/IPAs and don't mind a hoppy spin on an Oktoberfest when done well (see 2016 Sierra Nevada), but the Tuberfest IMO horrible. The cedar and sweet potato flavor was overpowering

 

Thanks for that info, Tuberfest showed up around here last week -- at $12.50 a sixer! Now I know I don't need to try it.

I usually don't get overpowering fruit character out of Doppelbocks -- yeah, they're in there, but nothing like a big, estery Porter or Barley Wine. More of an accent to the big, rich malt character. Bocktoberfests? Capital Autumnal Fire please.

 

I actually like this. Needed some hoppy stuff in the fridge so I grabbed a sixer. Easy to drink for the ABV and not quite as hop-forward as most of their other beers with the malt staying mostly in the forefront. A reviewer referred to it as more like a red IPA than an Oktoberfest and I would have to agree.

 

What about their Pils (their regular Czech Pils)? I haven't had it in years, so I can't comment on how hoppy it is. I don't recall it being my favorite Pils ever, but I honestly remember very little about it.

I don't really get much dark fruit from German Doppelbocks. Simply a more enhanced, deeper and richer breadiness. I hate to phrase it this way, but almost an "imperial" Oktoberfest (amber) or bock.

I'm also not sure the pale Oktoberfests are appreciably less malty than the amber versions. They simply use more lighter malts such as Pils. Someone with actual numbers (maybe recipes) and more knowledge than me might chime in. But both versions are malt-forward to me, just different ratios of malts.

EDIT: @steveh beat me to it

 

I do love Capital's doppelbocks. Shame they gave into the IPA pressure...

I agree that Festbiers are still malty, but it's a different kind of maltiness. Lots of bread, honeyed malt, sugar cookie, sometimes even a bit pie crust tend to be the malt flavors I get out of Festbiers. Maerzens are just toastier, so bread crust, biscuits, and sometimes even caramel (though certainly not cloying). I know from your history on the site that I don't need to be telling you that, though.

I don't think I'm alone in tasting figs, dates, and the like in doppelbocks (in addition to a deep breadiness). I also get lots of toffee in many of them, a flavor I tend to mentally pair with dark fruits (though perhaps this isn't a widely-shared association). Whatever, palates gonna palate, but I think we can all agree that dark fruits have no place in Maerzens or Festbiers.

Lagunitas Czech Pils is not terrible. It's definitely their best lager, but I wouldn't put it in the same conversation as the American greats like Dovetail Lager, Lazy Monk Bohemian Pils, Off Color Tooth and Claw, Von Trapp Bohemian Pilsner, Hill Farmstead Mary, Heater Allen Pils, Urban Chestnut Stammtisch, etc.

 

I definitely get what you're getting, but I've never found them to be the bigger flavors, just in the background -- and not in all Doppels.

Yeah, I get a little toffee or caramel in Doppels once in a while, but usually just as an accent too, not a major player.

Agreed.

 

But there's no sweet potato in the beer at all...

 

I know, that's why I said "sweet potato flavor". I would imagine there is no cedar in it either.

 

it's a pretty good red ipa