Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest (2026)

It is too early for me but likely not for Sierra Nevada.

Heck, the can of Springfest I discussed above was canned in the fall (12/11/25). Will Sierra Nevada and their partner brewery produce their Oktoberfest beers in the spring?

Cheers!

 

I realize this is how things will usually be moving forward due to the criteria that Sierra Nevada uses to pick a partner, but I would be much more excited for these releases if they partnered with a German brewing company that's been around for generations rather than a brewing company that feels like a product of US craft beer culture being born in Germany. Perhaps this year's company makes fantastic lagers, but when the first beer listed on their website is a "sour IPA," I can't help but think that it diminishes some of the inherent strengths of the idea of an across-ocean collaboration. There's an uninformed romance to my bias (and nice aspects to this approach), but my unfair bias is still there.

 

I remember the days when Sierra Nevada used to stand on their own and put out a good Ofest without the need to collaborate with a german brewer.

Fond memories.

 

I think they still could stand on their own, but with the current collaboration craze going on, S/N probably sees it as necessary marketing to hook up with a German brewer. They get a story and a video out of it and that probably sells a few beers.

 

I can’t imagine any Sierra Nevada fan is going to be more interested in their beer by throwing an unknown German brewer on a label. I also don’t think any casual beer fan is going to be more apt to buying a Sierra oktoberfest due to seeing a random German brewer as a collaborator. I would be interested to know what the thought processes are with the collaborations. That said, the liquid is enjoyable every year in my opinion.

 

I kind of assume they do it because it justifies expensing a beer trip to Germany. But maybe thats just me

 

I think it would be cool if they rotated between the Munich 6 for collaborations every year.

How awesome would it be to see a Sierra Nevada/Augustiner collaboration?

 

Yeah, it’s probably another way from the brewers to scam their bosses, just like those hop selection trips they “must” take each.year. (Insert joke emoji)

 

I'm pretty sure the bosses are in on this one. Sierra Nevada is still owned by brewers. This sort of fun will probably end if they ever sell to some PE firm or a larger conglomerate.

 

I know you're just doing a "wouldn't it be cool if," but thinking about that concept, I'd imagine such a thing would be heavily frowned upon given how serious they are about the tightness of the "Oktoberfestbier" club.

 

Although my post had some negativity, I feel the opposite of you with regard to the collaborations. I look forward to them with interest. It was great when they returned after the Covid years even though they don't currently reach the level of fun and satisfaction of the 2015 era. SN didn't have to revive the concept and I'm glad they did.

@Jaycase - Perhaps you'd like to consider reporting your initial post to ask that all of these posts be moved to its own thread. Post #35 should stay in the Springfest thread if so.

 

Agreed. I'm not sure how many years a non-collab Sierra Oktoberfest even had nationwide distribution. Maybe 2014 (when it was merely included in a variety pack) and then 2020 and 2021? And I recall lots of grumbling here about the lack of a collaborating brewery in 2020 and 2021.

 

I long for the days of Oktoberfest Marzens being the predominant style for the festival. Not a huge fan of Festbier as a style but I'll always give it a go if I see it in late September.

 

I dont really notice much of a difference between them. Thats why I dont get excited about the SN/German collabs because there is only so much you can do with marzens and festbiers so they all end up tasting very similar.

 

Tom Nielsen used to work for Sierra Nevada as a brewing scientist (QC/QA). He is now part of a new brewery scheduled to open later this year: Emberside Brewing in New Jersey.

In the below podcast interview he made mention of a past Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest beer that he found to be especially appealing with the ‘reason’ being that it was brewed using Malt from Bamberger Mälzerei made from the Steffi barley variety. You can listen to this specific discussion around the 51:30 mark.

I found the entire podcast a worthwhile listen. One aspect that was particularly interesting to me was that Tom implemented a program for evaluating quality in crystal malts (e.g., incoming inspection, etc.).

Cheers!

@BillManley

 

You say too early like it won't be on the shelves May 1st

 

Well, I never saw any Springfest but I picked up a 6pack of Summerfest today, packaged February 23rd.