Bitburger Brewery Releases Festbier

Märzen was a process before Sedlmayr made it a "style." All beer was brewed as Märzen in the spring, but it was brewed in large batches and strong in alcohol to last through the summer while being consumed, not just laid down, when brewing halted. Spaten's "Ur" Märzen was called "Original" or "Genuine" because it was laid down thru the summer.

 

I already responded to you in post #60 above.

There is also an 'issue' that in Germany the term of Marzen details a beer strength vs. a beer style. I will let others debate this aspect.

Cheers!

 

But why do you think German brewers package it 4+ months ahead of the festival? I'm sure they could package the beer in July or August if they wanted to, but they purposely choose not to. In the US we tend to like fresh and hoppy beers more, and they have greater respect I think for malts and making beer that can last more than 3 months... It's not like we are talking about a year old festbier, it would all be consumed around the festival hopefully which would be around 5-6 months after packaging in late April. And what I meant by "good" was not bad, I said fine at first but changed it to good because I figured the beer is still good to drink 5 months after packaging. I guess YMMV. Cheers!

 

The Germans seem to think spring is still the time.to.brew the featbiers. I would be extremely curious to hear from one of these breweries why that is. Its clearly intentional, since.they all do it every year.

@Snowcrash000 , do you see festbier/marzen on the shelves with these same dates? Are they just brewing the export batches early?

 

¨s -- nope. won't fall over the consonant. FWIW.

 

Beats me. If you figure our this conundrum please let me know.

Cheers!

 

Color, schmolor...

Märzen... Fest(ival)... Oktomom....

Quit fretting over the pure meaning / definition / variability / history of what the Germans drink / drank in late September in Munich.

I prefer a maltier, full bodied ( @steveh ) fall seasonal that is more toward the American expectation of a Märzen that it is toward the American expectation of a light lager.

Pick a name for this darker, maltier seasonal and quit fretting.

Märzen works for me.

 

I suspect that some business considerations are in play here (cheapest shipping?)? Regardless of the explanation my local craft breweries brew their Oktoberfest beers in late summer. One of my local breweries (Workhorse) did not release their Oktoberfest beer until the middle of September. A better brewing approach IMO.

Cheers!

 

These are fairly large volume breweries so I'm sure that scheduling is an issue; and the default is to get the export beers packaged first to have ample time for shipping etc.

These dates don't bother me in the least for September and October. It's in December and January where you'll notice any quality issues.

 

Ya I would expect that brewing in August would make the most sense. But I also trust that these German breweries know what they're doing and the Germans are not known for their flippant attitude toward details. If there is not a brewing reason there must be a very good business reason and I am quite curious to know what that is. I have a hard time understanding why ocean freight would be cheaper in July than in august or September

 

Any insights into why that is the brewing schedule.they use?

I think we need to get a German brewer in here for an ama

 

Fewer icebergs?

 

Environment more favorable to umlauts?

 

There's definitely the issue of export and import and then distributing to the wholesalers and then to retailers which could probably take a couple months, but these breweries were already brewing the beer in early Spring before they started exporting across the oceans. I guess it all just worked out, the reason for brewing early, from refrigeration and the meaning of March to now exporting and getting through red tape. I wonder if the kegs that they serve on draft in Germany at the fest are brewed later closer to September or not.

 

IIRC Spaten brews theirs year-round for export, don't know about domestic German distribution.

Edit: translated from their German website (my underline) https://spatenbraeu.de/produkte/spaten-oktoberfestbier.php

 

Damned auto correct.

Läger=Lay-ger
Lager=Lah-ger

 

One of my favorites, definitely a dark amber marzen. That was one of my first Oktoberfestbiers.

 

If you figure it out please let me know.

Cheers!