Boston Area Oktoberfestbiers

My favorite local Oktoberfest last season was Fort Hill's, Lager Not a Fighter. Not sure when it will be available again, but I can recommend it as a solid, delicious one to look for. Fort Hill really is a hidden gem!

 

Late August, usually. The ones that I usually seek out include: Idle Hands, Jack's Abby, Lamplighter and Berkshire. Some of the bigger regional breweries try to pass off malty amber ales as O'fests, so beware.

 

Probably one of my favorite styles, and by far my favorite beer season. I rip through 30+ different Oktoberfests each season (typically both in the bottle/can and on draft).

To me, the imports are still the best, but the locals have been steadily improving.

First, let's get this out of the way. There's two styles. Pale Oktoberfest (commonly referred to as "Festbier" on these boards). Basically it's an amped up Helles.

Then there's the Amber Oktoberfest style (commonly referred to as Märzen on these boards). Basically an amped up Vienna Lager/Munich Dunkel.

For the purpose of this post, I'll just write "pale style" and "amber style".

Imports:

You'll start seeing the imports around early August, and I usually snap those up and consume them when they hit the shelves in August - early September. Those show up around 2 - 4 months old already, so it's best to consume those before the locals. Weihenstephan (pale style) is a perennial favorite. That one actually shows up reasonably fresh too, typically bottled in June. Ayinger (amber style) tends to be the oldest, bottled around March usually.

Locals:

I don't really have a local favorite to be honest. Notch's is very good, because well, they're Notch. Sort of resembled Hofbrau to me last year. This is in the pale style.

People love Jack's Abby's Copper Legend (amber style). I think it's decent, but not my favorite. But it's well done, reminds me more of Ayinger which is a "tweener" style in my opinion, more a lighter amber style. This is also usually one of the first locals to come out, and it's in 12 pack cans, so win-win!

I liked Schilling's Konstantin last year too. Only 5%, but that's because it's not actually an Oktoberfest! But whatever, it's an amber lager filled with malty goodness. It's actually an Austrian Märzen, which isn't the same as the amber style Oktoberfest (hence the lower ABV). It always irks me that the highest rated "Oktoberfest" on this site is in this same style from the Austrian Augustiner (not the German one). Schilling also does a proper Oktoberfest, but the name and style escapes me at this moment. I'm also not confident that it was distributed to MA either.

Bars:

If you want to rip through the imports on draft, I HIGHLY recommend Olde Magoun's in Somerville. They typically have virtually every import out there on draft from September - October. They even acquire Andech's Helles Speziel (not technically an Oktoberfest, just an export Helles, but fuck is it good) and Traunstein's Oktberfest. Both are in the pale style.

Oktoberfest Events Locally:

We usually make a thread every year for local Oktoberfest events. More or less every local brewery has an Oktoberfest event, and they're usually a great time. Basically, block your calendar every weekend from mid-September through mid-October. If you have a wedding to go to or something similar, tell your friends and family you have Oktoberfest beers to crush and pretzels to eat.

You could also just search for my name and type in "Oktoberfest" to get more information than you'll ever want or need.

Prost!

 

It is! And a great place to visit. A beautiful spot.

 

That style is starting to gain more traction locally.

I think Jack's Abby starting doing one last year, and maybe Schilling? And of course I already mentioned Notch.

Smutty has a good one too, but I'm not sure what Smutty's deal is these days. Theirs is a higher ABV and more towards Maibock level than Oktoberfest, but still very good in my opinion.

Your best bet for the cream of the crop is the imports. Can't go wrong with Hofbrau, Paulaner Wiesn, and Weihenstephan. You'll also see Freising's as well that has popped up in recent years.

Oh shit! How could I forget my absolute favorite local amber Oktoberfest (even though you like the pale style)...Zero Gravity's!

 

Some of the ones I liked the most last year. And outside of the Tree House beers they were all distributed near me, and I live in Watertown.

Not necessarily best to worst but kinda in that order

Tree House Brisk, chef's kiss, incredible

Jacks Abby Munich Style Festbier, easily one of the best I had last year. Probably the 1B to TH Brisk's 1A for me. Absolutely buy this if you see it. It got distro'd last year but wasn't exactly all over the place like Copper Legend is.

Tree House Whisper, also good. I think this and Brisk are the same except Brisk is conditioned in oak or something like that.

Zero Gravity Festbier, another of my favorites

Grimm Festooning, NYC brewery but they distro here and this was great.

Schilling Konstantin, it's Schilling so it's good.

Notch Voll Projekt: Festbier, it's Notch so it's good.

Hofbrau Oktoberfest - apparently the only European one that made my list

Night Shift Steinbier, I really liked this but seems opinions were all over the place

Jacks Abby Copper Legend, solid every year and it gets distro'd everywhere. Can't not mention this one.

 

My favorites from last season were Tree House Whisper (which I strongly preferred over Brisk) and Two Roads Ok2berfest.

In years passed I try to mix a sixer or two of whatever other ones I can find, but the two above are the ones I seek out. Seeing the other posts on this thread, there might be a couple others I keep an eye out for once they hit they shelves.

 

Wow…July 16th. First Oktoberfest of the “season” in my fridge.

Four pack of Paulaner Oktoberfestbier in half liter cans (for $8!!!).

Canned 3/22…yeesh.

 

Yeah, especially with the rise of the lighter "Festbier" substyle, it seems almost criminal not to have those available all summer. Creep Shmeep!!

The fact that it's almost August kind of snuck up on me until reading this thread so I'm now very exciting for the coming wave....

 

I mean, from a seasonal stand point - I want those lighter festbiers, which are akin to higher abv Helles, from like now to when the real Oktoberfest is supposed to take place. I want the darker Marzen style for the actual fall through the end of at least college football season (end of Nov/early Dec).

 

Completely agree.

And to the OP I'll add to the nomination for the munich style festbier Jack's Abby put out last year aside from Copper Legend. It's stellar and I wish it was more abundant. It also came out late season last year...i think not until late October maybe. But it was nice to have fresh festbier at a point in the season where pickings were getting slim on the shelves.

 

Ball Square Fine Wines in Somerville.

Tasted great by the way!

Well, to be fair, the actual Oktoberfest is mostly in September and done within the first few days of October.

Oktoberfest is meant to be a celebration during warmer/nicer weather, at least during the day hours. And before the 90s they sold the amber style in the tents.

The second day I went it was in the mid 70s, sunny, and I was wearing shorts enjoying the weather and a liter of Hofbrau outside the tent.

But you can have your cake and eat too every season by drinking the older imports in late summer/early fall while they're fresher, and the locals in mid-September through November.

 

Oh, I do have my cake and eat it too. The main problem is that the American brewers confuse the intention of their labeling of these beers and it's hard to figure out, if you're only first getting exposed to that beer, whether they're going to be a Fest or Marzen or somewhere between.

 

What a crock (Scheiß).

Non-cheers to this stuff!!!!!

 

Another 'vote' for Jacks Abby Copper Legend. Excellent brewing process there.

It is almost as good as Sly Fox Oktoberfest (which doesn't make it up to MA).

Cheers!

 

Yeah I was surprised by that. While I have no problem having an Oktoberfest in July, many people don't want to do that.

Although the weather in New England the last two weeks has been dreary enough to fit the bill.