2018 Oktoberfest Releases

In Schlenkerla's case, when they caught wind of all this old stock in my area, they contacted the distributor and asked what stores I had seen this at. They replaced the old stock with new stock.

This is the gist of it anyways, I may have mixed up a detail or two, but that's the take home message.

 

Yup! Bottling a Festbier in April is non-ideal for we beer consumers.

Cheers!

 

But the email said:

So, likely brewed in March, bottled on April 15th, and so, supposing the standard "1 Year" shelf life, best by April 15, 2019.

 

Bottled sometime in March vs. April 15th given that we are in the month of August is splitting hairs for me but I take your point.

Hopefully we can agree that an Oktoberfest beer packaged in the March/April timeframe will be 5-ish months old come Sept./Oct. If my local beer retailers have those bottle now they are presently being stored under less than ideal conditions (i.e., warm/hot conditions).

Cheers!

 

1258 could also be interpreted as the 125th day of 2018, which would be May 5th.

 

Yeah, back in the 1970s when I first started trying to figure out date codes, a lot of US breweries were notching their labels. Some had numbers or initials that corresponded to months (see for example the Carling Red Cap label [Heileman at the time] on my date code page) but others just had dots.

I was a regular drinker of Ballantine Ale, brewed by Falstaff, which had only 9 dots. Since there's 7 days in a week, 52 weeks or 12 months in a year - didn't make much sense.

The notch at the dot was the first digit, the notch in the space between dots was the second digit - representing the week of the year the beer was bottled.
_________
Makes Anchor's code look downright consumer-friendly.

 

All I’ve ever seen is this is how you interpret their date code. It could be wrong I guess.

7038

7 = 7 or 17th day of the month

03 = week of the year

8 = 2008


Meaning the middle number would be the 25th week for my code. It COULD be the 5th week of the year I suppose, but then there’s no 12th day that week of this year.

 

Wow! Surprised Ayinger that old for this year’s release.

I will reserve my Ayinger for the rogue keg that will show up mid September in these parts. I hope that will be this years.

Although Ayinger has been an annual favorite in times past, last year’s was a bit of a disappointment.

 

Maybe last year's Ayinger was brewed in March 2017 so was 'old' too?

Cheers!

 

Oops, I should have double checked that you were actually talking about Weihenstephaner date codes. In which case you're right, it would be June 21.

 

Which is WAY better than March or April...

*cough* Ayinger *cough*

 

Recommendations of your favorite pale Oktoberfest?

 

Each year's batches can be a bit different for me, so my favorite changes year to year.

But Weihenstephan's is always solid, can't think of a year I didn't like it.

Hofbrau's this year is incredible. However as we've discussed here before, it leans more towards a Maibock than an Oktoberfest, but still delicious.

If you're lucky enough to see Andech's Festbier on tap in your area, that one's awesome too. Although I don't believe it's actually a seasonal, it just shows up in the US around this time. Because "Festbier" doesn't mean "Oktoberfest", just simply a beer a German brewery brews specifically for a festival. (Someone more knowledgeable than me can chime in and correct any of this)

If your area gets Smuttynose, I like their Oktoberfest. This one leans even more towards a Maibock than Hofbrau's though.

Honorable mention goes to Paulaner's Wiesn, which can be very hit or miss for me. In recent year's some batches have been hazy, which makes no sense. Unfortunately to try it, you have to either find it on draft, buy a 1 liter can w/a 1 liter mug, or buy a 12 pack of bottles (I don't believe I've seen it in six packs, it might be though).

To make a long post longer and actually answer your question directly, here's how I'd rank them over years:

1) Weihenstephan
2) Andech's
3) Hofbrau (although this year I liked Hofbrau's better than Weihenstephan, but I've only had one bottle of the Weihenstephan so far)
4) Smuttynose/Paulaner

Enjoy!

 

Thanks for typing that out; now all I have to do is say "ditto".

 

I've seen a few Andechs beers on shelf at TW, does their Festbier not normally see US distribution?

 

It's not the kind of thing you're likely to see at 'beer bars". You'd be better off checking German restaurants or even beer halls, if you have those nearby.

 

Come to Somerville. There’s a bar a mile from me that has it on tap every fall. Among a billion other imported Oktoberfests including Traunstein.

I’ve never seen it in bottles here, just draft.