Midwest Oktoberfestbiers (2021)

I've been loving the central waters Octoberfest this year, not sure why but it's really hitting the spot. In years past my go to was staghorn but I think it's been replaced.

 

Had a couple more over the weekend. Really enjoyed Schell's Festbier which is available in their Fall Harvest pack. If they were to replace their Oktoberfest with this beer, I would be happy. Also starting to appreciate Utepils Receptional Festbier. Did not care for it when I reviewed it a couple years ago but it really hit the spot today.

 

Currently at RT. Damm. good Festbier.. Cheers!

 

Save some for me! I'm headed there Weds!

Psst... did'ja try the Doppelbock?

 

HA! We did take 2 packs of Festbier home along with a few others... We didn't try the Doppelbock, the Mr. did try the Pilsener with the milk pour- he thought it was interesting and good.

Cheers!

 

Joined the party and had some Roaring Table Festbier. Love it, one of their best.

 

Got to try the RT Fest vom Fass (on tap) at the brewery last night, myself.

Damn tasty and smooth -- that first .5 liter was gone before I knew it!

 

I got my hands on the aforementioned (by me) Crystal Lake Brewing Festbier -- and I'm disappointed to say that I think they missed the high mark they set with last year's brew.

The 2021 has a harsh, dry, grainy, over-sparged backbone that verges on unpleasant. There's also an herbal bitterness paired with the graininess that tastes like over-dry-hopping with noble hops. There's also a touch of phenol with warming. Just no nice malt character.

Too bad. I'd hoped this would be a good bookend to Roaring Table's Fest, but it doesn't compare.

 

I picked up More's offering and have a bit of buyer's remorse. Only $11... but expected more and just didn't do it for me. At least it wasn't overly sweet. Just OK. And on that note, O-Katz has been my fave personally.

 

I'm not sure how to respond to this thread as there are now four pages and that can be overwhelming. So, I thought I'd share my O-Fest Diary that is preceded by two general comments about this unique seasonal beer festival.

First, I average about 7 unique O-Fests a year since I joined BA in 2016. What that number doesn't reveal is that I half of the O-Fests I have are not unique, but rather I return to them. (That currently is a guess, but a good one because I've been counting repeats over @ Untappd for two seasons now.)

Second, why do we like O-Fest? That is easy for me to answer because I'm a malt-head and I like amber-Looking beers. But, what about you ?

My O-fest Dirary starting in early September is this.
"x" means it is my first time for this brew.
9/2 New Glarus Staghorn, one of my favorites, but requires going to Wisconsin
x 9/4 Oliphant Festbeir, BA calls this an O-Fest.. whatever
x 9/5 MKE's O-Fest, surprisingly new to me
9/20 Revolution's O-fest, a frequent repeat
9/20 Sam Adam's O-fest, an even more frequent repeat
9/21 Great Lakes' O-Fest rates up there with Staghorn
9/21 Shiner's O-Fest, a good lager brewer
9/23 Hacker Pschoor's O-fest has a distribution relationship with Paulauner
x 9/23 Paulauner's O-Fest is a pretty amber

Consider this my half-time report. I'll catchup with you later.
Prost !

 

For the Iowa or Rochester/Twin Cities folks, Lua x Confluence Festbier is definitely worth seeking out. Also grabbed Lua Oliver's Oktoberfest, and planning on drinking that tonight.

 

On October 3, I had intended to give a final report on my three week O-fest. But I just re-read the "Oxford Companion To Beer" and its entry for Oktoberfest and thought I'd share two thoughts related to today.

First, O-Fest didn't allow breweries outside of Munich to sell their wares. In the U.S., we regard this as a monopolistic practice... So aren't we glad that we don't have the same brewing laws? Imagine how much that would have crimped the growth of America's micro-revolution.

Second, Munich's O-Fest has been used politically throughout the centuries by princes, those seeking to unify Germany in the 19th Century, ****s in the 1930s and Germany's reunification in the 1990s. (The last helping the Festbier style become more popular.) Today and now that 16 years of Angela Merkel's leadership has ended, isn't it possible O-Fest will be used again? After all, the SPD now needs to Green itself to bring the Greens into a coalition government. Maybe in 2022, O-Fest will highlight those breweries (from around Germany) that have the most sustainable practices.

Just a thought to emphasize that what has lasted for centuries also changes. Prost !

P.S. Whomever first Likes this post vaults me into three digits of Likes.

 

@Beginner2 -- I don't think Munich keeping the Fest exclusive to town breweries (which has often been more than the current 6, and may well be 7 next year) did anything to stunt the growth and advancement of beer and brewing in the rest of Germany.

And if you look more into the current events in Munich, there's a lot of talk, by anti-Festers (no relation to Uncle Fester), about closing down the annual event permanently. I guess being closed the past two years has fueled a neo prohibition movement and they're using the past two years of economic survival without the Fest to support their campaign.

So maybe that thought about change is a little more drastic than one might think. I, personally, don't want to see a centuries old tradition end in my lifetime.

 

Unless I'm missing something, the recency of this thread has waned. That's OK. I very much enjoyed analyzing my Oktoberfest habits over the past month. And as promised, here is my final report.

Of the 19 total O-fests and Festbiers I had, 11 are repeats from previous years and 8 are unique to this year. I also more than doubled my Festbiers (admittedly starting with a mere 2.)

For those who might possibly care, here is the balance of my O-Fest Diary starting from where I left of on my 9/23 half-time report.
(again, "x" is an unique to me)

x 9/25 Allgauer's Bublebier Festbier, very soft and malty; seemingly authentic to the style
x 9/27 Alter's (Illinois) Festbier, a pretty rendition
9/28 Sam Adams' O-Fest, close to an annual tradition given its wide availability
9/29 Spaten's O-Fest, no improvement from last time
X Firestone Walker's Oaktoberfest, previous reviewers indicate this year is improved
x 10/2 Surly's O-fest is too hoppy for this malt-head

Also bought and to be drunk soon are three repeats from previous years: Metropolis' Afterburner, Brooklyn's O-Fest and Off Color's Waddle... all deserving of repeats. New to me will be Trapp's O-Fest which should arrive shortly from flood-prone Half-Time on Long Island.

So, that's all for this year. Thanks for the chance to think about my drinking habits !

 

As the season wanes, a friend of mine asked about doing a little blind tasting next weekend. For those in Chicago, what would you say are you top couple fest biers and marzens that you'd reasonably expect would be around at Bottles and Cans? I've already got some Rothaus and Staghorn, but looking to get maybe 4-6 more options.

 

I was not that impressed with Founders Oktoberfest but the more I drank it the more I accepted it. Just something seemed odd about the flavor initially.

 

I had a Stacked Deck Marzen Attack last night at Busters. I thought it was one of the better ones I had this year. Not everyone gets the malt flavor down.

 

Had an absolute shocker of a Festbier yesterday from a small town brewery in Elizabeth, IL(far NW IL). Highway 20 Festbier. It was perfect. Better than Roaring table's Festbier I gave really high praise to. Also it's on par and maybe even better than Dovetail or Goldfinger to give people a reference of the quality. My first visit to this brewery and they "blew the doors off".

 

ISO. ASAP!

Is Highway 20 the name of the brewery, or the Festbier itself?

Found it -- holy crap, is that place out in the sticks! Sure wish they had a stand-alone website to see some info on their brewing and brewmaster.