German Oktoberfests which ones and where to find them

I love this style too, so I'd start here: https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/style/29/

 

Mecktoberfest fresh is as good as anything out there IMO. Especially the fresh part over 6 month old Fest beer right now , that's a few months old right now.

 

Hacker Pschorr
Hofbrau
Spaten (if you can find it on draft - buy the green bottles at your own risk)

 

Paulaner Marzen is my favorite

Paulaner Oktoberfest Weisn if i can find it, ive only had it once, id drink all the time. So memorable of how clean it was.

As for domestic...

DuClaw Mad Bishop
Left Hand Oktoberfest

Those are my current favorite

I can not WAIT for this season. I only tried 9 different ones last year. Trying to double that.

 

Hard to find around here. Usually spaten is in the grocery. I am looking forward to any I can find. Hofbrau original was at the grocery briefly and I had their oktoberfest.last year. Wegmans carries ayinger but not the oktoberfest and I ask for hacker pschorr each year at the shop, still no.

 

All of the major German Oktoberfests that get wide distribution here are good. Plus the style variation is enough that it's hard to compare some head to head. My advice would be to try any you can find. My favorites last year were Ayinger and Hacker Pschorr, but the degree of separation in terms of enjoyment is small.

 

One of the German brewed Oktoberfest beers that I buy every year is Weihenstephaner Oktoberfestbier (a Pale Oktoberfest beer).

I also like Ayinger but the three bottles I bought last year tasted a bit old to me; I was bummed.

To re-enforce what Dale (@nc41) posted of “over 6 month old Fest beer right now, that's a few months old right now.” Why do the German breweries bottle these beers so early in the year (e.g., April 2016)? Do the logistics of German beer production and shipping require this? Makes no sense to me.

Cheers!

 

Oh, definitely.

Here's a list of all of the major ones that should be pretty easy to find-
Spaten (amber)
Paulaner (amber and pale)
Hofbrau (pale)
Hacker-Pschorr (amber)
Ayinger (amber)
Weihenstaphaner (pale)

Of those I tend to load up the most on Hofbrau and Spaten as my favorite examples of their respective types, but Ayinger is also heavily in the mix (and pretty unique, as well). The first 4 are from Munich; there are 2 more breweries in the old 'Big 6' the we don't really see, unfortunately, Lowenbrau and Augustiner.

 

It's my understanding that some of the German breweries (i.e. Paulaner) brew their Oktoberfest Märzen year round for export to the US because their sales are good. So a beer that was bottled in April 2016 may be meant for consumption now, not later in the year.

To answer the original question, Ayinger, Hacker Pschorr, and Paulaner Weisn are my personal favorites.

 

The Weihenstephaner Oktoberfestbier beers I purchased last year were bottled in April 2015. That beer is not a year round beer; it is a seasonal.

I have zero idea when my Ayinger Oktoberfest beers were brewed since Ayinger refuses to bottle date.

Cheers!

 

No particular brand, just try any German Oktoberfest you see on tap.

 

Yep, that's early! I don't know the reasoning behind this either.

 

You shouldn't have to search hard to find many of these beers. Not every one is going to be distributed to North Carolina, but a large-volume beer store should be getting them in soon, if not already. As with many of the 'best of' lists, the highly-ranked ones typically can be more difficult to find due to demand, but work your way down the list and you'll likely see some of them.

 

In terms of wide distribution, both Sam Adams and Yuengling make exceptional Marzens that absolutely do justice to the style.

In terms of Germans specifically, Weihenstephaner's Pale and Paulaner's pale are both great, and Ayinger's is my favorite. I tend to shy away from most domestic ones as I often find they are overhopped, and quite frankly the big guys SA and Yeungling do the best job preserving the style, at least in my opinion. Also there are specific malt qualities I look for in the style that those 2 do best.

 

I wish we had more available here. Lacking much in the way of choice I buy the ones that are stocked.

 

Our choices are very limited. I like Ayinger, but Mectoberfest a week old IMO is a better beer, as is SN Oktoberfest. Must be a logistics thing, but time doesn't do this style any favors, although with the nice malt backbone the star and not really the hops still very good as 6 months.

 

Honestly the best Oktoborfest I've ever had was the one I brewed out of a kit last year. Adventures In Homebrewing's Oktoberfest recipe kit. Absolutely delicious. Nice malt bill and a hop spiciness that is so great. If you brew at the right time, it goes well in Oktober as well as Thanksgiving

 

Thanks for the amber vs pale indicator. Not a fan of amber versions but after having the outstanding SN iteration last year I'm going to explore further into the pale variety. Cheers.