Märican Biere Bought and Drunk...

In a simple word, yes. But since the style is my favorite, I have a problem with "commonplace."

 

Interesting.

On one hand, it appears the members of this website appear to be docking the imports points when this style is a pale lager (see Hofbrau, Weihenstephan..etc.). On the other, the amber version isn't commonplace in Germany, at least from my experience there. Both in the beer halls and the tents this time of year you find the pale lager, and the amber is scarce, short of finding them in bottles.

The amber version can be found from imports both on draft and in bottles in the US. From what I've seen, the bottles show up here at best, three months old. Not being able to see the kegs at bars, I can't speak to the freshness of kegs at bars obviously. The Sierra Nevada bottles I've found have all been two months old or less.

The other data point I have is Ayinger. Ayinger has the highest ratings among imports, and it's the closest example to Sierra Nevada that I've had this fall. I find it to be better than Sierra Nevada's, but it's also slightly different. And as always, different palates, and to each their own. This isn't a slight on Sierra Nevada's offering.

In addition to that, this isn't the first lager Sierra Nevada has nailed, but it's the first that has turned out to be number one in its respective style. I think Summerfest has been a solid, fresh, seasonal year in and year out, but it's not the number one pilsner on Beeradvocate. I agree with your sentiment to a degree, but I don't think it's as simple as your statement makes it. I'm a bit mystified over the wild popularity of this beer on this particular website, regardless, I think we all win. I'm quite eager to see what they brew next year!

 

Finally got around to trying Odell's Oktoberfest last week. Not too shabby, but it was missing something and didn't quite measure up with either SN's or the better Germans. Started off nice enough, good little blast of lager yeast. Similar in color to something like Ayinger. Palate had a noticeable but not unreasonable kick from the hops. But there was just a hair too much sweetness for my liking. Not super overbearing, but just a little much. I'm also somebody, to be fair, with a low tolerance for much sweetness in a marzen, gravitating toward the wies'n style (a la HB or Weihenstephan), which I find to be noticeably less sweet. In any case, Odell was good enough to warrant a sample bottle or two if it's in your area.

On a separate note, @AlcahueteJ, you ever been out to Tree House? Obv., they're the latest/greatest IPA darling in the region, but they've put out a couple lagers recently. I was interested to see how they turned out, because their IPAs are part of that mega-hazy trend. Sure enough, the lagers appear to be quite hazy as well (though certainly not as much as the hoppy beers). I know that's not really to style on appearance, but I'm wondering how they taste -- if they approximate something traditional; if they're hopped to high heck; if that haze detracts from the taste at all; etc. At least they're trying to branch out and encourage their regulars to dip into lagers. I saw Hill Farmstead has been doing the a touch of the same lately, with their pilsner, Mary, often on tap (as well as an IPL, Song of Joy...which I only partially count, since IPLs seem so untraditional...but still, it's gotta count for at least something.) Really hope giving due attention to lagers becomes more commonplace among these highly popular craft breweries.

 

Shaun Hill must be producing a fair amount of Mary lately because I have been finding it on tap a lot lately in the Philly area. I had a pint this past weekend at a local beer bar.

Mary is a high quality German style Pilsner.

Cheers!

 

Unfortunately I have yet to try a beer from Treehouse. They're definitely highly touted on Beeradvocate though, the highest rated brewery overall (higher than Hill Farmstead) and they have the number one beer (it flip flops though) overall.

While I'm not one to chase after hype, if it's convenient enough for me I do enjoy trying these highly rated beers/breweries. Treehouse is about 2 hours west of me though, and there's usually quite the line. I might head out there one day, but with breweries like Trillium nearby making the same high quality IPAs, there's simply no rush.

However, I do judge a brewery by their lagers, so I'm quite eager to see what a lager by Treehouse would be like as well. The guys at Trillium make some damn fine hoppy beers, but I've found some of their other offerings to be lacking. Their Koelsch for example is hop driven, and one of their saisons I tried was no way near the level of a Hill Farmstead. Some of this could change with experience though, as I said, their hoppy beers are outstanding (if you're looking for murky tropical fruit forward IPAs).

I've had Mary on tap, I found it to be a bit hoppier, almost Prima-like but not as hop forward. Overall, a good pilsner, but then again, Hill Farmstead doesn't really make bad beer both from what I've had and heard.

 

Yeah, the hype train on TH/Trillium/etc. is big time these days. Again, that's what I was intrigued/heartened to see TH doing some lagers -- appreciate the effort to branch out from being an IPA-only brewery. Will be interested to hear if you ever make it out there for some of their lager offerings.

Actually have a kindly chap here on BA sending me some Trillium shortly. I've had Fort Point Pale Ale and Congress Street. Thought the former absolutely fantastic, the latter perhaps a touch astringent but still a really nice IPA. They're also in the big haze crowd, which again makes me wonder how they'd approach a lager (who stylistic requirements feel even more stringent than something like IPAs). Pretty sweet to have high quality, fresh IPAs at your doorstep though!

 

I'm a big fan of the hazy IPA's. They obviously aren't much to look at, but I really enjoy that grapefruity character. Supposedly there are a few breweries out this way that are looking to make some IPA's along those lines. Hopefully that comes to fruition.

 

Oh yeah - I had some of the Left Hand Oktoberfest this year and found it to be excessively sweet. It's usually on the sweet side, but I wasn't a fan of this one at all. It was just too much. I had it side-by-side with the one from Sam Adams (also usually sweet) and thought the Sam was much better. It seemed to be a good batch this year...or at least it was by comparison.

 

Agreed, much too sweet. I had the same reaction to Victory's Festbier. Way too much crystal malt flavor, quite unpleasant - I bought a sixer and drain poured most of it. The Odell's is very solid and I enjoy it as much as SN and Santa Fe.

 

Interesting, there is no crystal malt used in brewing Victory Festbier:

“Composition

Malt: Imported 2 row Vienna and Munich German malts

Hops: Whole flower German hops

ABV: 5.6%”

http://www.victorybeer.com/beers/festbier/

Cheers!

 

Interesting indeed, because the beer sure tasted that way to me with a sharp, burnt candy sweetness. I appreciate the information.

 

I had the same experience from this year's Victory, which I hadn't in years past; very sweet and caramelly.

What struck me about Victory's web info on the beer is that they show a new label, but every label I saw here in the Midwest was the old one (with current dating, so it wasn't old stock), so I have to wonder if there have been changes to the beer as well.

 

Thats the Munich coming through....

 

Jim, are you guys using Dark Munich Malt (10L) in Festbier?

Cheers!

 

Pretty sure its a custom order of Munich from Bamberger Malz.

 

Sweeter harvest than last year? Because I'm with @jeebeel, this year's Fest had much more caramel sweetness than I remember from the past -- I usually don't taste that from Munich unless it's Caramunich.

 

As an impulse buy I picked up a 6'er of Leinenkugel's Honey Weiss - why I don;t know.

It wasn't clear like a real Kristalweizen nor did it have any honey taste...

Oh well, I have 4 days and 3 nights to spend in Lake Garda this long weekend, so maybe we will come across some good northern Italian beers.

 

You found this in Germany (or anywhere in Europe, for that matter)? The horror.

 

I like to sometimes torment my German buddy with stuff like that

Hoping to make up for it with 4 days/3 nites in Sirmione at the southern end of Lake Garda over the long weekend

 

Stopped at TJ's for some their Oktoberfest and also grabbed up some of their Heller Bock -- always a favorite and having one now: rich and bready sweet with a malty chewiness and lightly bitter finish to offset the malt sweetness. Gordon Biersch makes a terrific Bock.