BeerAdvocate Oktoberfest Tasting! (Sep 16-Oct 3, 2023)

Trouble’s End Festbier. Light, floral, not too shabby.

 

That beer is a looker with that pour, love that label too

 

Interesting. I didn't notice any bitterness, just a slight diacetyl flavor when first poured. As it's warmed a bit of malt sweetness comes through.

 

Happy Oktoberfest everyone! Tis the season so figured I’d join in on the festivities and indulge in some festbiers. I had my first Spaten Oktoberfest on draft a couple weekends back as the first of the season. Today I just picked up some old favorites, Weihenstephaner and Ayinger along with Hacker-Pschorr which is still new to me. I’ll be enjoying these fine German Oktoberfestbiers over the next few weeks and see what else I can find.

Spaten Oktoberfest Ur-Märzen on draft this year was lovely and complex with dark fruity esters, rich dark toasty malts, molasses, caramel, red apple, raisin, dried dark fruit, brown bread, subtle chocolate, with mild earthy herbal floral hops. The color is a dark red-amber brown.

Weihenstephaner Festbier is great this year like usual for a paler style, rich with Pilsner malts, honey, cracker, and light toasty biscuity bread notes balanced by light fruity esters, green apple, pear, subtle lemony citrus and earthy floral grassy noble hops. Real flavorful, rich, refreshing, crisp and light. The appearance is a brilliant clear golden yellow.

Ayinger Oktober Fest-Märzen is usually my favorite Oktoberfest beer every year, and now is no different. Real rich melanoidin flavors, toasty dark bread crust, almost like raisin bran cereal, hint of dark fruitiness, orange citrus marmalade, amber honey, light caramel, hint of pear, apple, dried fruit, and earthy herbal floral grassy hops. It has a nice orange amber hue to it. A nice in between option of the paler festbiers and darker märzens imo.

Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest Märzen is a bit hoppier than the others, a little skunky and fruity, toasty, lightly sweet, some caramel, dark toffee, brown sugar, mild roast, sweet spice, hints of apricot, dried fruit, orange citrus, tea, and earthy herbal grassy floral hops. The appearance is dark amber orange, maybe slightly darker than the color of Ayinger. This is my first time trying this and I like it. It is a bit hoppy right now fresh and a quite unique taste I think overall. Nice and toasty, a bit dark tasting, balanced with fruity herbal hops. Highly enjoyable and able to be crushed.

I hope everyone enjoys the Oktoberfest and festbiers that go with it. Cheers all!

 

Another good one. This is from Hamburg Brewing Co. Oktoberfest Märzen Lager. This is one of a few dozen beers brought up to me by a top tier BA last week.

This one is full bodied, has a nice malty start, a light bitter middle and mild crisp finish. Great dimple mug courtesy of the inimitable @jonphisher.

 

Oktoberfest by Masthead Brewing Company

Bready, Caramelly, Malty goodness!!

 

I love that glass, glad it is still serving you well. Cheers my good friend.

 

My wife's dog fair in Chester, Connecticut. Plenty of beer but I chose this first because of the thread.

 

Oktoberfest - Back Shed Brewing - Waite Park, MN

Nice malty grain flavor, some caramel. Quite delicious.

 

One of our locals (owned by my neighbor), Glenbrook Brewery in Morristown, brews this particularly dark Märzen. It resembles an Altbier and it's no caramel bomb. The dominant taste is bitter, earthy, nutty char. But it's certainly not one-dimensional. Glenbrook brews some quirky but enjoyable beers and this is one of them. It's very different from our flagship Ramstein Oktoberfest, which is more caramel-forward. And I miss Bull n Bear Brewery's Von Albrecht. I hope they overcome their legal issues and reopen soon!

 

While eagerly awating the Oktoberfest box from Untappd / Half Time, I'm checking out the local offerings. This festbier, Junc Fest from Base Camp Beer Works in Grand Junction, CO is fantastic. Nice and bready with a crisp and dry finish. Prost!

 

Great Lakes Oktoberfest – Marzen Style Lager



The most pronounced characters I can taste are malty and sweet. Sweetness is nicely offset on the back end by an appropriate bitterness. Nose might have a touch of biscuit or fresh baked bread and something floral, almost lavender, or white grape.
There’s surely much more to it than that but my sense of smell, and therefore taste, were impacted a lot by Covid early this year.
BTW, first time to join in a BA tasting. Could end up being too much fun...........

Jam to this ! ! !

 

This one always delivers but this year has been disappointing for marzens and Festbiers. Paulaner marzen and spaten I can find are almost a year old. I can’t find benediktiner, Bitburger, rothaus, or allgauer this year.

 

Good evening BA
Daredevil date with Mrs. Jkblr

Daredevil Märzen on the left. Nice toasted malt, no BS caramel malt, minimal sweetness.

Luckily, we hit Jungle Jim's in Cincinnati today before traveling to Indy, so I'm loaded down with 12 or so new to me Oktoberfest beers. Cheers all!

 

Hi-Wire Zirkusfest Oktoberfest



When purchased I had no clue this was the gold medal winner at the 2016 GABF in the German Style Marzen category. Much can change in 7 years, but this seems to have held its own.

Lovely light amber / dark straw color, two-finger head dissipates in relatively short order but the remaining thin, skiff of a cap laces well.
Has a slight alcohol warmth
I wonder if this uses a similar yeast as the Great Lakes Marzen I just mentioned because it has the same floral aspect but not as obvious. It’s not as malty as I’d hope for a Marzen.

 

Entering the land of the 'near' beer, here's Athletic's Oktoberfest Fest Brew. It's a decent approximation of the Fest Beer style, and relative to the quality of other NA beers to their style, I give this one a 4.0 rating.

 

Hofbrau Oktoberfestbier, 6.3 % abv. I haven’t had this one before and decided to get a sixer today along with the Hacker Pschorr Ofest. This is a very clean, and vibrant Ofest, the wiesen style I believe, and this gives Weihenstephaner a run for it’s money. I’ll have to do a comparison while I have some of both, prost!

 

From one of Atlanta's fine lager breweries - Round Trip Brewing Oktoberfest Marzen 5.5% ABV



Brilliant & clear. Good head retention. Good malt complexity with toasty, bready, and grainy malt flavors. Spicy hops. Not too sweet, not too dry. Well crafted beer.

 

Thought I was being so clever, waiting for today to start with the festbiers. Cross- post on WBAYDN.
The wait was worth it. Great to get back to these malt bombs after gnashing my teeth on a steady diet of IIPAs.
Spaten O- fest had been a little hard to come by in these parts, had to travel to fetch this. Looks more amber than I'd recall, but not complaining. Now I remember why this was my favorite drinking time of the year. And this year, we're flooded with Octos and Festbiers. Have some Ayingers, Pauliner, and Hacker-Pschorrs down in the cellar fridge. Great gateway to the Xmas dark and Belgian season.