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

Enegren ~ Oktoberfest
Moorpark, CA

While I prefer the Festbier over this, Enegren is still top notch for a local-ish offering here in SoCal

 

Stable 12 Oktoberfest



The 2nd from a 4-pack and it's drinking better than the first, which had some off-flavor. Now I can appreciate the festbier qualities.

 

Tonight's new-to-me oktoberfest

Herrnbräu Tradition

500mL can stamped EXP 2025/03 from the 2023 Costco advent calendar poured into a mug at fridge temp 5.5% ABV. The beer pours bright, pale gold in color with off white head. The head recedes to a thin ring and single layer of bubbles. Slight lacing. The aroma is mild with pils malt, stone fruit and floral hops. The taste is semisweet pale malt with a sulfur / vegetable note that is unpleasant. There is some floral hop flavor on the back end with mild bitterness and a hint of diacetyl. Mouthfeel is thin bodied with average carbonation and a mostly dry finish. Overall, poor.

Cheers all!

 

My least favorite SN Oktoberfest to date. It’s not awful, but still too fruity and APA-like to my taste. Looking forward to next year’s.

 

A new one to me as well

Bewilder - Märzen



No canning date (norm for these guys unfortunately)

Purchased at the brewery cooler for $3

Poured at fridge temp into a dimple mug

Pours a fairly dark bodied amber with copper tones. 1F of sandy/khaki colored head and some sticky lacing. 4.25

Spicy Hallertau hops, earthy, fresh bread and sweet malts. It's well done. 4

Spicy hops introduce, followed by a balance of bread and touch of apple. 4

Body is soft, with moderate carbo and pleasant lingering bitterness. 4

Overall a very tasty Ofest that showcases the hops well. Love the can art too! 4

Cheers!

 

Actually, Spaten/AB-InBev uses a one-year best-by date. You'll notice below the best-by date is a code that is the packaged-on date and it starts with 'L' The following three digits are the Julian day of the year and the fourth digit is the last digit of the year.

For example, I was fortunate enough to find Spaten with a best-by of June 2024 (bottled in June 2023). Here's the back of the label:



You'll note the 'L1583' part of the code below the date. The 158th day of 2023 is June 7th.

Furthermore, here's the back of Spaten Optimator with a best-by date of July 2024.


You'll see the code L1933. The 193rd day of 2023 is July 12th.

Long story short, your beer is still old, imo, but not quite as old as you think.

 

Wow, thanks. The code on my bottle is L2852204, which makes my beer being bottled on October 12, 2022.

That's good info that we all who drink German beers need to know. Can you copy and paste that info into the German beer dating codes thread? https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/date-codes-for-imported-usa-german-beer.658248/

 

Troegs oktoberfest while enjoying the nice cool weather tonight

 

Only after asking, I realized that this beer was distributed to a limited number of states. Not sure how close you are to NY, but it is unusually available in many stores here. I'm happy to share with whoever passing by Brooklyn,

 

Thanks for the detailed answer. Yeah, JA IPLs are quite hoppy, but the core (Post Shift, House Lager, Shipping Out of Boston), seasonal (Copper Legend, Red Tape, Sunny Ridge), and Smoke & Dagger (not sure where it falls now) are not so much. This year's specials Munich Fest and Fest of Both Worlds seemed balanced to me too. That said, I prefer hop bitterness over malt sweetness in lagers, so fresh Post Shift can be easily my favorite German-style lager if only it was always available.

 

This is how I'd rank it as well. I threw in Weihenstephan's Festbier along with those too. That would still be number one.

The Fest of Both Worlds I also had on tap, and it was lovely.

 

Here's my thoughts on Weihenstephan's vs. the collab.

My apologies up front for no pictures.

I did a blind side by side with Weihenstephan's Festbier (bottle) and the collab.

I honestly had a hard time distinguishing them. Too things did stand out to me though. The Weihenstephan Festbier was hoppier (which is surprising considering it's older) and it had FAR better carbonation.

I hope to try Jack's Abby's Munich Fest against the collab and Weihenstephan's Festbier in a can next to the collab next.

I also tried the Munich Fest against the collab if I recall. Should have added notes. @Sheppard I think I sent you a message on my thoughts? Maybe?

 

Both locally and in this thread I'm noticing a trend of lower ABV's for both pale and amber Oktoberfests.

The imports all fall between 5.8% and 6.3%...I'm curious why the lower ABV's. I'm seeing some as low as 5%, which to me starts putting them firmly in the Helles/Dunkel/Vienna category...

 

Interesting. I had one pour of the collab at JA (they were out of cans) and also found it very similar to the OG Weihenstephaner. The two differences I picked up were some slight fruitiness from the hops on the front end and some slightly sharper bitterness in the finish. That said, it wasn’t a side-by-side.

 

For the imports, probably less malt/less ABV because of increased grain prices in an attempt to hold their prices to 'appease those frugal Germans.'

(Presuming the lower ABVs also exist in Germany )

 

Sorry, I worded that weird. I meant I was curious why the lower ABVs in American examples compare to US versions.

Even Sam Adams Octoberfest has been at 5.3% the last few years.

 

My local's Festbier didn't drop as far as they expected, lighter than last year, but you can still taste the difference between their Fest and Helles at the same ABV.

The Fest is much drier and crisp. Still very drinkable.

To me, I see it as the good fortune of having a small brewery providing me good beer. Not every beer is going to be consistent in its final presentation, but they're making consistently good beer.

 

Really? Even with different ingredients and importation?

Maybe you stunted your palate in Eastern Europe.

 

Cross post from WBAYDN.
Tucker Brewing Co (GA) Tucktoberfest Marzen
5.5% ABV

One of the better locally made Marzen. Good head retention. Nice malt complexity with toasty and bready note prominent. Spicy hops. Looks like it might would be too sweet & heavy, but has a medium body & drinks fairly dry. Balancing but restrained bitterness. Prost!