Märican Biere Bought and Drunk...

I honestly kinda dislike Torpedo. It's weedy and too purely bitter. I like the hops they're using in it (Magnum, Citra, and Crystal) but there's something about that process that just doesn't do it for me.
On the other hand, Celebration is one of favorite normal IPA's.
One IPA that is kind of "new school" that should be easy to find in much of the country is Ska's Modus Hopperandi. It's in green cans. I think the world of that beer. I like it so much I almost brought some to Germany just to break up the noble hop experience with a blast of C's.

 

Just checked their grain bill -- may have to look for this one again for a review.

 

Yep, that's exactly what caught my eye. I remember liking it, but this was many years ago, and I'm a far harsher critic of Oktoberfests now than I was then.

 

Pretty cool to learn that about Brooklyn's Oktoberfest. I'm a huge fan of Garrett Oliver and am not too shocked he went out of his way to make that happen. I know he's pretty meticulous with his malts, and the touches they can add. They also use a lot of Maris Otter, which I love. We actually don't get their beers out here, but getting to talk to Garrett at the GABF and Rare Beer events always makes my year.

 

I know you're also a huge fan of Firestone. Have you had their Oaktoberfest yet?

Their malt choice also seems traditional.

• malts
  Weyermann Pilsner, Weyermann & Vienna, Munich, Cara-Hell, Cara-Red

I personally wasn't a huge fan of this one, I actually THOUGHT their was oak in it because I was getting an unpleasant taste in the finish. Apparently it's not oak. I also felt this one could have benefited from being a bit heftier. 5.0% abv is quite low for a Marzen.

I appreciate a beer that is more sessionable, but only if it's suitable for the style. Even the body felt a bit thin to me.

 

I had some on tap a year or two ago and I generally thought it was kind of "meh." I know what you mean about the finish and I get it in their DBA. I'm a huge fan of their bigger beers (Pivo, too) but I think DBA is a bit of a miss. It wouldn't shock me if that note is the same. While I'm just an untrained (more or less) drinker, I've interpreted that as a level of astringency that some people detect more than others. For me, I think I'm sensitive to it when Munich malts are in play.

 

I live about 10 miles from Firestone and just can't seem to "get it" with DBA. Probably my least favorite FW beer. Had some fresh Pivo Pils on Sauturday and it was quite tasty.

 

Funny, I felt the opposite. Here's my take on both from earlier in this thread I believe. I've had Pivo on draft since then and liked it a bit more. And to be fair, I couldn't see myself having an entire six pack of DBA, like I said it was oddly "heavy". Still quite enjoyable, though I need to revisit this one as well. I ended that night on Pale 31, which might be my favorite Firestone beer. Either that or Union Jack.

Second was the famous "Pivo Pils." I only grabbed one of these due to the "hoppy" name and the abv. I feared it would be something akin to Prima Pils, which is a fine beer but not an authentic German pils. Authentic is more appealing to my palate. I wanted to love this beer, I really did, but I only liked it. It was far too bitter, not hoppy, but bitter. Maybe it was the hops they used during dry hopping that don't agree with me. It wasn't like Prima, in that I feel the hops get in the way of the malt character, it was simply a bit too bitter. However, this brew was inviting enough that I will grab another single or two and break this beer down some more. This beer could have been a tad sweeter in my opinion, but the malt character was better than Sunny Ridge. Still something was a bit off in this department as well. All in all though, both of these beers went down quickly and were good enough.

Third was Firestone's DBA. This was an excellent English Pale Ale. Hops gave it that earthy quality I love in English beers, making the beer softer and quaffable. Perfect amounts of caramel again adding to the "drainability" of this English drink. I'm a session freak, so I'd prefer it to be less than 5% abv, but this is by no means a requirement, and 5% is the ceiling for my preference in English Pale Ales. I did find the beer to become a bit heavy as it went on, which would be my one knock on the beer. Couldn't put my finger on it, but something about the beer made it a bit more filling than I'd expect from a low abv British ale.

 

As always, to each his own. DBA is quite popular in these parts, but I never discovered the appeal. Just my subjective opinion.

 

Yeah, I know several people that love the stuff. I just can't get past that weird finish. It's like oversteeped tea to me.

 

I had a couple of bottles of Brooklyn Oktoberfest this past weekend. I really enjoyed this one, still not quite as good as the imports (I had some of those as well).

The nose may have been the best part, I got a huge whiff of toasted bread. Toasty and bread-like upon the first sip, but finished a bit too sweet. Nonetheless, it hit most of the right notes for me personally.

I also had another bottle of Weihenstephan, and it simply tasted off to me. Bottled in May I believe, so not that old, but it didn't taste as good as I remember. I had a sip of my buddy's Weihenstephan on draft as well, and it tasted better.

I had another bottle of Ayinger's, and had it on draft. They were both fantastic, and I had the Ayinger bottle right before Brooklyn's. While I liked Brooklyn's, I thought the Ayinger was a bit better. I don't find it too sweet, and it's drier. A VERY drinkable beer.

My favorite of the weekend was Spaten on draft. A bit meatier than the Ayinger, and maltier. But still an insanely drinkable beer. The body may be a bit thicker than Ayinger, but the mouthfeel and flavor are still soft enough to invite you for another sip....and another...and another.

 

Spaten Oktoberfest never fails to blow me away. So accessible...and so, so good. Prost!

 

I had my first beer from the Sierra Nevada Fall Pack: SN Oktoberfest.

I really enjoyed drinking this beer. The strong suit for me was the aroma: bready along with a hop aroma of herbal/spicy with some citrus as well. The flavor pretty much followed the aroma: bready with pleasant hop flavor. It had medium body and a dry finish.

If this beer was available via a 6-pack I would buy more of it.

This is the first time I have tasted a beer brewed with Pacifica hops and I really like what this New Zealand hop offers!

I wouldn’t classify this beer as being a ‘typical’ Oktoberfest beer but my comment to that is: so what? Perhaps I should have used the terminology of “authentic” or “traditional” instead of ‘typical’ but frankly I don’t know what authentic or traditional means wrt the Oktoberfest beer style. The SN Oktoberfest does not taste like the Pale Oktoberfest beers served at the Oktoberfest celebration. SN Oktoberfest also does not taste like the Amber Oktoberfest beers imported to the US from Paulaner, etc. But again, I reply: so what?

A message to @sierranevadabill , please tell the folks at Sierra Nevada Brewery that produced this beer thank you from me. I wish that Sierra Nevada would produce this beer as a stand-alone beer next year; I would buy 6-packs or a case of this beer.

Cheers to Sierra Nevada on this beer!

P.S. Below are details on the SN Oktoberfest beer below:

Overview

• Alcohol Content 6.2% by volume
• Beginning gravity 15.0° plato
• Ending Gravity 3.5° plato
• Bitterness Units 34

Ingredients

• Yeast Lager yeast
• Bittering Hops Pacifica
• Finishing Hops Pacifica
• Malts Two-row Pale, Pilsner, Caramel, Dark Crystal, Roasted Wheat

 

Thanks Jack, I'm on the development team that worked on this beer, so I'll let the others know how much you enjoyed it.
This beer is an interesting case for us. We were piloting several different versions of an Oktoberfest as we prepared to make this mixed pack. Initially, the pack didn't include Vienna Lager, and the Oktoberfest we were working on then was much paler and more in the arch-traditional mold. After we settled on the Vienna for the last beer in the pack, we decided that a super-traditional Oktoberfest and a traditional Vienna lager were stylistically very similar. One of the beers had to change. There are lots of American interpretations of Oktoberfest, so we thought that it would be better to tinker with that one rather than the Vienna (which frankly, I love just as it is.)

Also, there is some nostalgia in-play on our part. For years in Chico we've made a beer called "Oktoberfest." Its genesis dated back to a time where we weren't too concerned with doing traditional anything and in no way was it a stylistic match to other Oktoberfest beers. It was more like a brown lager--a beer without a stylistic home. The thing is, that beer, while out-of-style was also delicious and a lot of people loved it.

As we tinkered with the Oktoberfest for this fall pack, we decided to do a take on that existing Oktoberfest, remove some (but not all of the roast) and tweak the traditional "noble" hops for the NZ varietal which has characteristics of German hops, but is much fruitier and more floral than it's predecessors. (Fun fact, Pacifica was originally called Pacific Hallertau because of those similarities--and also some parentage--but to differentiate with the hops that come from the German Hallertau growing region the name was changed to simply: Pacifica.)

The result is the dark smooth slightly roasty take on the Oktoberfest that you find in the pack. Is it a stylistic match? Hell no, but is it delicious? Hell yes! I'm really happy with the pack as a whole and right now, it's my go-to in the fridge at home.

I'm really glad you liked it, and I will pass your comment along to the rest of the team.

Cheers!

-Bill

 

We actually don't have any German brewers. We do have several German-trained brewers, though. Our brewmaster in North Carolina (formerly the head of R&D in Chico) was trained at VLB in Berlin and was the creator of our Gold Medal beers: Kolsch, and our German Pils (Foam) and also Kellerweis. He's a real-deal badass, especially with restrained German styles.
We have a lot of respect for the German tradition. Our brewhouses and tanks are almost exclusively German-made and we work with lots of German technical advisers on brewhouse design and process handling. That said, we also love hops and helped create the "American" style. Just goes to show, good brewing is good brewing. The fundamentals of good technique that a lot of German-trained brewers bring good methods to any style of brewing.

 

Interesting, but I got that from a friend back when the Helles Bock came out. He mentioned there were multiple Germans around when he was there and he was surprised nobody said to call it a Heller Bock instead. I suppose he might have been referring to guys who simply knew the language, or maybe they weren't brewers. Either way - I love most of your beers. I still don't care for Torpedo and the Rye IPA (they taste like dirt weed to me), but I full-on love SNPA and Celebration.

 

@sierranevadabill stated: “Is it a stylistic match? Hell no, but is it delicious? Hell yes!”

I just wanted to shout out HELL YES too!

Cheers!

 

Nice. This explains a lot of the questions that came up in other threads, thanks for sharing.

 

This often happens to me -- today I took a chance and bought a sixer of the Firestone Oaktoberfest (chalk up one for making up your own mind). All the way home I was thinking, "What am I going to do if this is so beyond my palate tolerance?"

A pleasant surprise with this one. It's very much Ayinger Oktoberfest in its character with maybe a touch more hop bitterness in the finish -- but it's a good hop bitterness from spicy noble (type*) hops. A solid vote for giving this one a try.

*Had to double-check the recipe; German Hallertauer.