German / Imported Märzens

There on deck I have not tried them yet I have pretty much all the imports and a lot of domestics. So far I’ve drank paulaner Oktoberfest, ayinger, flying dog dogtoberfest, Sierra Nevada, and troegs fest lager.

 

I live in the suburbs of Philly. We have a very good selection of beers here.

I am sorry to hear about your situation.

Cheers!

 

That’s perfect. You can start drinking at proper Oktoberfest time starting at 10 am with the pale style, and then slowly transition to the ‘tweener ones like Ayinger, and finish up with the amber style.

 

If I started at 10 and drank to 3, I wouldn't be typing today. Yeah, I'm out of practice for other reasons, so all-day drinking is no longer viable.

That said, I reversed the orders and had the Amber Marzen when it was hot and the Wiesn Fest when it was cool. Funny thing, they were both Paulaner and I couldn't tell the difference.

 

Ayinger is a tweener now?

Looks fairly amber to me!

In any case, I normally start Oktoberfest with a Weißbier with Wurst and bread.

 

I call it Amber too, but if you stand it next to Spaten Ur-Märzen it sort of wilts.

 

I suppose you are correct!

 

Nice pour -- I hope you tipped well.

 

I would say “allow me to explain” but @steveh did it for me.

I would say it’s definitely amber in color, but as far as amber Oktoberfests go, it’s one of the lighter ones. So if we’re moving in a spectrum from lightest to darkest it would go something like this...

Weihenstephan’s (pale) > Hofbrau’s (pale) > Ayinger (amber) > Paulaner/H-P (amber) > Spaten (amber)

 

Dead good article, from which I've ripped out loads of good info. Which reminds me that I meant to get a few more blog posts from it.

 

To me the tweeners are somewhere between Ayinger and HB, featuring elements of each substyle. Ayinger may be a pale amber, but it's decidedly in that camp, especially on the palate.

Benediktiner or Freising would be examples of tweeners.

 

See, to me the Freising Fest was more Dortmunder than Festbier -- at least when I had it a couple years ago. Haven't seen it fresh since then.

And unfortunately, never seen the Benediktiner.

 

I was actually disappointed in the Freising this year, so you didn't really miss that much.

 

Same place, same lighting:

 

No Paulaner or H-P? They're probably right between Ayinger and Spaten, so are they tween-tweeners? (sung to the tune of Bowie )

 

Controversial opinion:
All the talk of tweeners and outliers over the years just indicates that the boxes being used are too rigid.

 

As they should be until the Germans get with the program and start canning. I want my Weihenstephan feel like Busch Light in my hand, dammit!

Also, Paulaner Marzen - Weihenstephan - H-P - Hoffbrau - Ayinger - Paulaner Wiesn - Freising - that's the approximate order of preference for me.

 

Hah! I think we're just being fanciful for the most part.

When it all boils down I'd say that being a little bit amber is akin to being a little bit pregnant .

 

Not this year.

 

In my best political Twitter voice: Sad.