My Blind Oktoberfest Tasting 2019

Cool thread. It reminds me I've actually not had most of those and need to get on that.

I did have Hofbrau and remember thinking it was pretty meh but I'll have to revisit it.

 

Hofbrau won my complete tasting last year (blind), where both Marzen/Festbier were combined. This year, doing them separately.

About to do my Festbier tasting today, starting in a few minutes actually... Marzen tomorrow I'm thinking.

My lineup for today:

Fat Heads G'Suffa
Hofbrauhaus Freising Festbier
Weihenstephaner
Sierra Nevada
Columbus Brewing Festbier
Hofbrau Oktoberfestbier
Paulaner Weisn
Ale Smith

Some in the list I consider "hybrids", such as Sierra Nevada, Fat Head's. But I think they work better in this group, flavor wise.

Tomorrow will have the other 8 or 9 examples I have for the Mazen side... Paulaner, Ayinger, Great Lakes, Thirsty Dog, Bells, Spaten, Market Garden and whatever else I have that I forgot.

 

Just wrapped mine up... For both me and the girlfriend, Columbus Festbier won it! Our runner ups matched as well, Hofbrau Freising.

Alesmith turned out to be far more marzen this year, it's delicious, but should have been in the Marzen category. Oops!

The imports starting to show their age though. I bet if all the beers were the same age, results might have been different. That being said, Columbus was a favorite of ours before this tasting and it confirmed it which is cool!

Sipping on them after the fact, Columbus stands out for sure. Damn great Festbier!

 

I haven’t got it yet, but got Weihenstephaner last night and it’s really good. CBC standing up to the others doesn’t surprise me after this years Summerteeth (Kellerbeir). Is the Freising only at the Hofbrauhaus?

 

@WesMantooth

The Freising is an import bottle, not sure if associated or what from the "main" Hofbrau. Picked it up at Circle A, they got it along with the Dunkle and a third option I don't recall right now.

 

I'm curious on your Alesmith thoughts. I got a few more to drink but was impressed with the first couple.

 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. FWIW, Spaten is usually my Marzen "go to" choice.

 

It will be interesting to see if you note this as well with your Marzen tasting.

Cheers!

 

Just finished our Marzen tasting... I didn't actually pick up on the "oldness" as I did with the Festbiers.

My winner? Believe it or not, was Three Floyd's. Runner up was Thirsty Dog.

For the girlfriend, her winner was Sam Adam's... Runner up was Spaten.

For both of us... The absolute worst was Shiner... Followed by Market Garden. Both were quite bad.

Interesting results this year! Not sure I agree with my winner once it was all said and done, tasting them all side by side non-blind, but it is what it is! Very good beers though. I think FFF is a little lighter and not as intensely malty as most of them, so may be more of a "hybrid". I tend to prefer those, so it makes sense!

I still think, overall, Columbus Festbier is the top dog all-around! Incredible stuff.

 

I tried Shiner early on this season and have to agree, not so good.

 

Interesting. You are at least the third person who I’ve seen pick the 3F out of a crowd this month. Glad I grabbed one the other night.

 

That's interesting! But cool to know my tastes weren't completely off, haha. That's the cool part about the blinds though, removing all bias!

Let me know what you think when you drink up the 3F!

 

Thanks for this. I would like to add that I've been crawling around downtown Greensboro enjoying the North Carolina Folk Festival, I'm gonna talk about Foothills Oktoberfest shortly. We saw Booker T. Jones, (Green Onions-Time is Tight), Lunasa (Irish supreme), Skinny Tuba (Old time Nawlins) and Redd Voelkert (Texas Swing). The Carolina Oktoberfest is dry and grainy with a big roast flavor supported by a crips (crisp) nicely balanced big beer concept.

 

@scottakelly --nice job.

Locally our OMB Oktoberfest Marzen is typically my annual fav--this years a B+ with just a tiny sweet edge. Still very good. Looking to try the Highland Clawhammer which tends to lean toward the Marzen style. @rgordon--have you had it?

The Hofbrau Oktoberfest was again outstanding and will repeat for surfcasting and college football.

Heading out to get a Spaten.

 

All these blind tastings spurred me into action. As always wife poured and kept the key. Here are the final results with brief notes. Interestingly enough I picked each beer correctly as well.

1. Ayinger: Rich melanoidin malty ofest. Clear #1

2. Weihenstephaner: Only true wiesn style so easy to pick out. Dry, a bit light bodied and flavored but really nothing to knock.

3. Alesmith: I love Alsemith beers but was skeptical regarding an ofest from them but this is right up my alley. The sweetest of the bunch with a lot of breadiness and also a good dose of caramel. Caramel bread almost. Not true to style but enjoyable. A step down from Ayinger but pretty impressive.

4. Hacker-Pschorr: Lighter melanoidin like maltiness when compared to Ayinger but still quite enjoyable. This was real close to finishing #3 or even #2.

5. Spaten: Surprised how dark this was. Almost chocolate brown. Unfortunately it was also slightly skunked but the rich grapenuts like malts still emerged and it was decent enough. Typically this would challenge Ayinger in my book.

6. Sierra Collaboration: Higher carbonation. Light aroma. Caramel but light.

7. Utepils: Generally a reliable German style brewery in Minnesota. This was intended to be in wiesn style I think but still poured an orange/amber color and tasted boozy, spicy and fruity. Bad. Not close to the style.

8. Central Waters: I think I liked this in years past but this had a big caramel aroma and a watery artificial caramel flavor. Terrible.

 

Not yet, I'm a bit pedestrian these days. I'm with you on the Spaten. Many great memories. Happy trails!

 

Unfortunately, I felt the same way about Utepils Receptional. Last year's version was outstanding.

 

Would it be out of line to suggest ranking American and German oktoberfest in two separate lists?

 

Wow, talk about your different flavor profiles...

"Caramel bread" might be a description I've never seen before.