Best 2017 Oktoberfest, So Far

Nice review Jack. I’m in agreement with your take on VonTrapp being more bitter than preferred, in fact I found that the overly bitter finish ruined an otherwise acceptable beer. Just one beer drinkers opinion though.

 

Though I am not a fan of Leinenkugel's, I had a choice of their Oktoberfest or some of America's finest BMC beers. The Leinies was pretty OK, relatively speaking

 

Capital for a sweet malty hop blend. Bent Tuba from Titletown Greenbay WI was pretty good this year. I wanted more but it was empty shelves were the bent tuba was.

 

I have purchased 2 four packs of Aylinger so far. I thought it was great. Clean and crisp with the perfect carbonation. Not too heavy and with a great taste. I loved it. Especially when compared to Sam Adams - which I almost didn't finish.

 

Even though it's an Oktober Fest. This Smuttynose is very nice.

 

What do you mean by that?

 

Just joking on their spelling of October. Mostly because I had to keep overriding spellcheck to type it.

 

I can say after today's Zum Schneider Oktoberfest that without a doubt Hofbräuhaus Traunstein is the best I've had this season. Hofbrau is second then maybe the Weihenstephaner or Sierra Nevada.
All others are just for show (but I still want to have Von Trapp and Jack's Abby just because)

 

Me too, I've gone through two six-packs and just recently purchased a twelve pack that I've yet to crack but will do so this week.

 

To reinforce what you say, export is a strength designation, there are Export Dunkels.

Dortmunders are at export strength, more minerals, and hopped more like a Pilsner.

Ayinger makes the well known Oktoberfest Märzen, but they also make another beer for a church festival, named Kirtabier. We brought some bottles back last year, and compared side by side with the Märzen, with friends who brewers. The Kirtabier has a little more caramel, and is a little darker. Our feeling was that the CaraMunich was bumped up a little too make a special beer for the local fest.

 

FFF Munsterfest, love it.

 

I've had a ton of these in the last week, so far the Hoffbrau and the Ayinger are my top two.

 

That's Oktober Fest-Märzen...

Just funnin' because Munich won't let Ayinger call it Oktoberfest (one compound word) because the brewery is outside the city limits. Absurd, yes.

 

I saw that when I typed it, autocorrect, didn’t fix it due to laziness. The guide last year talked at length about that. One of the Munich brewers has proposed a new modern brewery outside of Munich, keeping a small operation in Munich to serve at Oktoberfest. It didn’t pass with the authorities.

 

This is particularly ridiculous when you lift the veil a bit from the vaunted Munich 6.

Of the six (Löwenbräu, Augustinerbräu, Hofbräuhaus, Hacker-Pschorr, Paulaner, and Spaten) only one (Augustinerbräu) is independent with their only brewery with Munich.

Löwenbräu and Spaten are both owned by AB-Inbev. Labatt (also owned by AB-Inbev) brews Löwenbräu in Canada, don't they?

Hacker-Pschorr and Paulaner are both owned by Brau Holding International, which owns 12+ brewing companies, all except Hacker-Pschorr and Paulaner are outside Munich.

Hofbräuhaus is owned by German Government and brews Hofbräu-branded beers in Hofbräuhaus locations around the world. (This might be slightly inaccurate, since some - maybe all - of the Hofbräuhaus locations are franchisees, and it is not really clear which of them brew on site... but I think some do, and those beers carry the Hofbräuhaus brand.)

It must be a wonder to behold the discussions where they try to "enforce" this Munich-only racket. I believe it was Löwenbräu that was the one denied the right to expand outside Munich. Absurd, indeed.

 

Well, it's owned by the Bavarian State government, and has been for a long time. The fact that they're still owned locally and still brewing within Munich proper puts it in the same league as Augustiner to me.

And yeah, HB has franchised around the world, some brewing on site, others not, but the beer served up at the Oktoberfest is still brewed in Munich (as is the beer from the other breweries, but yeah -- ownership is definitely suspect with them).

A great link provided by @einhorn: http://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/oktoberfest-das-sind-die-sechs-wiesnbiere-1.3664022

Pretty easy to translate thru Google Translate, and fun to see the men with their hands on the controls -- whether or not employed by Auslanders, they're all natives.

 

@FatBoyGotSwagger great slide show! My only complaint would be that not one of them was in a proper Maß or even a half liter dimpled German mug.

But you're not alone, in the last few pages at least, not one picture has an Oktoberfest in a mug.

Come on guys!

 

Much better. And it's my favorite Oktoberfest of the season...which is saying something because I think I'm approaching close to 40 different versions this year.

Are there two bottles in that mug?

 

A liter is 3 of the 11.2 ounce bottles