Midwest Made Oktoberfests

I did a side-by-side tonight of the Capital Oktoberfest and the Schell's Oktoberfest.

Most definitely NOT a blind test, so for whatever bias that brought...

I must say, if anyone finds the Schell's too sweet, the Capital is even a bit more so.

I agree with @ZAP that the Capital has more caramel. I found it to be sweeter than Schell's (but not objectionably so), with a somewhat sticky finish, compared with the Schell's clean finish (aided by its more obvious bittering from the hops).

On the five aspects,

• Look - Very narrow for Schell's, due to the slightly hazy look of the Capital vs clear Schell's. Color, head, and carbonation almost the same otherwise. Basically a push.
• Smell: Capital wins here. Stronger aroma with a more obvious malty goodness.
• Taste goes to Schell's. Both have the essential aspects of a malt-driven beer, but Capital is sweeter, maltier vs. Schell's cleaner, crisper finish.
• Feel: Nod to Capital it is thicker feeling, creamier, but Schell's has a more clean feel.
• Overall, Schell's. Better overall flavor, crisper, cleaner like a good Oktoberfest should be, not as malty sweet.

Both are quite good, but to my taste, I still give the nod to Schell's. A person's preference might boil down to whether they favor a decidedly malty Oktoberfest, or one with a more balanced, cleaner finish.

 

Surprised with all the German OFests mentioned that no one has brought up Weihenstephaner Fest, everything they make is excellent.

 

Well, the title of the thread is "Midwest Made Oktoberfests" so it's not that surprising.

But I do agree that the Weihenstephaner Festbier is a good one.

 

Staghorn is awesome this year.

I was slightly disappointed by Schell's. Just a little too sweet. Everything else was right. More of a result of the standard I hold Schell's to, rather than it not being a good beer.

 

I was able to pick up some Staghorn (made a quick trip across the border to 'nova). I'll let you know if you are right or wrong in a few days or so!

 

Last Year (2016) I did a taste test of many Oktoberfest beers from WI and MN.

The 2016 Winners were Lakefront for a Hoppy spicy beer and Central Waters for a Malty Carmel sweet beer, Honorable mention went to Old style. I tasted well over 20 different ones.

For 2017 I decide try a few different ones plus a few of the same ones from last year. Things seemed to change a little. Central Waters wasn't very good. bad batch or bad handling? unsure. I am not done testing for this year but so far it looks like this: Capital wins for a good combination of sweet malt and Spicy. Bent Tuba from Tittletown (Greenbay) gets second place. Third place goes to Lakefront.

I am going To Eau Claire this weekend to the Lazy Monk brewery Oktoberfest. I will load the coolers up with beer and Groceries from Woodmans in Altoona. Will eat at MKE Burger company. Might buy more beer at Chicones in Hudson Wi.

 

@cheeseheadinMinneapolis, once the Sep 23 online tasting is over, I'm considering doing a ranking of the ones I have bought this year, which will be MN-WI vs Germany.

In addition to what I already have in my 'fridge, I may buy a 4 pack of Ayinger (my last years favorite) to bolster the German side!

The complete list is:
USA MN-WI:

• Schell's Oktoberfest
• Fair State Festbier Oktoberfest
• Bauhaus Schwandtoberfest
• Third Street Oktoberfest Session Marzen
• New Glarus Staghorn
• Capital Oktoberfest

Germany:

• Ayinger Oktober Fest-Märzen
• Paulaner Oktoberfest-Märzen
• Spaten Oktoberfestbier Ur-Märzen

I'd like it to be a side-by-side tasting (not blind), so it will be in stages of 3 or 4 at a time. Even so, I may drop some out from the USA side based on my ratings, since that is a LARGE tasting! (for me, anyway)

 

For midwest produced I am pleasantly surprised to say Urban Chestnut's O-Katz is my favorite this year with Schell's a close second. Sierra Nevada and Paulaner Weisn are other favorites but are paler, little hoppier and lower in ABV and not as much caramel malt sweetness.

 

I checked out the Urban Chestnuts website, sounds like a interesting brewery, I haven't had any of there beer, but will keep a eye out for it. Not sure if it's available around here. I had some 2017 Sierra Nevada it's a solid beer.

 

@MNAle I tried to make a ranking list last year, It's hard to do. since there so close, Kinda made two different lists in the end. one for sweet one for non sweet. Yep you can only taste test so many beers at a time. if you swallow it like I do it seems like 4 or 5 different beers is all you can do in one session. I found Staghorn to be off a little this year with a slight flaw just before the finish, it was still good beer thou. I threw Surlyfest out of the running. Great beer but just too much out of style. Summit is solid and consistent, but just never makes the top of the list. Schells is good but this year I only had it on tap at bars. Lazy Monk I like, it's a little bit different. It has that lazy monk taste that it seems like all there Lagers have. I am not sure how to describe the lazy monk flavor, maybe its a Czech, Polish or Far Eastern Germany style flavor. I might head down to Milwaukee for some beer in one to two weeks but I am not sure yet.

 

Had Surly's Oktoberfest at the brewery last night and thought it was great. This is the "true to style" Oktoberfest, not the hoppy rye Surlyfest. I think they brewed it for the big party on Saturday.

 

Maybe they'll can it next year...

 

The last time I did a big tasting for myself was when I did a comparison of the Summit Boundary Waters box beers against others of the style, including European standards of the style.

I came up with my own ranking system, rather than using a LSTFO points system like for reviews. If I wanted to do that, I'd just rank them by my individual reviews. Instead, I wanted to rank them by how they stacked up side-by-side.

So, I came up with a system to just rank them (1, 2, 3, 4, ...) according to 1) style, 2) do I like it (regardless of style - more to American tastes), and 3) for the Boundary Waters box, I ranked them by how they filled the bill as a hot weather crisp and refreshing beer (since that was the purpose of the Boundary Waters box.)

The final ranking of the Boundary Waters box was a straight-up unweighted sum of the 3 rankings (to style, enjoyment, hot weather beer) for each of the 4 styles in the box.

For ME, I thought it worked out pretty well. This one will be smaller than that one was, but I'll do something similar, I expect.

The first two translate well for this tasting. Maybe the final ranking will be by drink-ability at a festival... something easy and enjoyable to drink several of at a festival. This would perhaps reward easy-drinking and clean-tasting over something more sticky or sweet... I don't know... Still thinking about this.

 

I will throw a few odd balls into the mix.
Leinenkugels Anniversary Lager
Leinenkugels Big Eddy Über-Oktoberfest, retired or out outta production it appears. I always thought it was a good beer but overpriced.
Capital Autumnal Fire. Kinda of a oktoberfest - doublebock hybrid, Great beer but hard to find and very expensive

 

I am a big fan of Big Eddy Über-Oktoberfest but isn't the Anniversary Lager a hopped up amber lager brewed in collaboration with Hofbräu? I enjoyed the 6pk I picked up but did not think it tasted much like an Okto but I see you're talking about similar flavored beers rather than just märzen proper.

 

True to style discussion aside, I used to love Autumnal Fire. I'll have to seek this out again.

 

What's the story on the Big Eddy line of beers? anybody know? is it dead forever? Yes Leinenkugels Anniversary Lager is an collaboration with Hofbrau. I just threw this one in the mix for the fun of it after reading comments on the board about how American O-fest beers are too heavy, too sweet, don't finish crisp enough etc, well maybe they should give Leinenkugels Anniversary Lager a try

 

I really enjoyed Lupine's Oktoberfest. Think Schell's O-fest for comparison. I had a sample of Schell's a week ago and it seemed a little drier than I remember.