Fall Beer Sightings (2022)

So, I gotta be some kinda' saint?

I'm screwed.

 

Have barely seen any Oktoberfests here in DC yet, but grabbed a single of Allagash's Haunted House from Trader Joe's today. Brewed on 7-14-22. Way too hot for a beer like this-- will stash it in the fridge until the weather cools.

 

Nah, they'll let anybody in the beer cave.

 

I barely remember something like that, but it must have ended. Distributors have rights to distribute macro beers in the territories they service, and craft beers that they have an agreement with a brewery for that specified territory. But if the macro distributors don't carry a certain beer then some other, I think independent (no macro representation) distributor will do it. That's normal for just about all states, isn't it? (I'm not an expert on this topic.)

 

Hey, it could be worse, my brother splits his time between MA and TN, and their place in Tennessee is in a dry county.

 

Came to this thread to see if anyone posted the date on the Weihenstephan bottles, as my area got both the cans and bottles this year. FWIW, the 4-pack of cans I picked up had a best by of 6/3/2023, so it doesn't look like there's much difference between formats.

 

You don’t happen to be in the Farmington/Hartford area do you? Quick trip for me to visit family today into tomorrow. I wouldn’t mind picking up early as it hasn’t show in NJ yet.

 

I picked up a 4-pack of Ayinger Oktober Fest-Marzen yesterday at my Meijer store. I trusted them to have it fresh. Today I checked the date code and discovered I shouldn't have trusted their distributor. Date code is L2048 which is Feb. 17, 2022 (assuming that's a best-by date per the German beer date code thread). I'll drink them quickly and move on after learning my lesson.

 

Be wary of gushing. I've had bad experiences with old Ayinger in the past.

 

@steveh

Saw Paulaner’s, Weihenstephan’s, and Spaten’s at Wegman’s today.

Snagged a mix six of Paulaner and Weihenstephan because those were cold.

Spaten’s were a stack of cases and a few six packs out on top…in the green bottles.

Having a Paulaner now bottled in March (out of all my O-fests this is the oldest one, so down the hatch!). Best melanoidin kick so far out of the Oktoberfests I’ve tried.

 

Um... Wiesn or Märzen? Had the Wiesn Fest this year already, and the H-P Märzen, both very nice, but neither terribly strong (to me) with melanoidin.

As to Spaten Okto, yeah -- I always pull from the cases. Not sure why they stopped the 12-pack format.

FWIW -- I'm pretty sure I bought a whole, unopened case last year. Might do the same this year. If I see it.

 

I learned that this is out near me, sounds very interesting and looking forward to trying it:

Founders Ultimate Oktoberfest BBA Marzen
https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/founders-ultimate-oktoberfest-bba-marzen.668439/

 

Ah yeah sorry. Märzen.

 

Tried it blind with the Fest yet?

 

Yeah, saw it at my local store late last week and it had a date code of L2033.

 

Walked into a couple local stores and only one started to put out Pumpkin Head, Smashing Pumpkin and one Oktoberfest that I saw - Brought a smile to my face! Next week they said it'll be the whole 9 yeards!

 

I just looked into this a bit further and discovered that the Ayinger date code is a Bottled-on date, not a best-by date. I just updated the German Date Codes thread if you want to see the details. Buy it if you see it if you like the Ayinger Oktoberfest version. I'm a happy guy now!

 

Are the 4-pack bottles and .5 liter bottles dated the same? I usually go for one or two of the singles each season.

 

Yes, I saw the larger format bottles had a date code of L2055 in the one store I had visited.

 

Mine is a 4-pack of 330 ml bottles. They wouldn't change the style of date coding between different packaging types/sizes, would they?