Your Top Oktoberfest Beers

Nice variety there! The Hoffbrau and Weihenstephaner are pale festbiers, Erdinger is a fest-strength hefeweizen, Kaiser is an 'imperial', and the rest are the usual amber festbiers. There is some good stuff as long as you take them all on their own terms.

 

Definites for me this year will be-
Ayinger (already had a few)
Hoffbrau (a usual case purchase for me)
Spaten

and from American brewers-
NG Staghorn (I just had one last night- very well-made beer)
Sly Fox O'fest

 

NG staghorn and Great Lakes for me. Did two mix-a-sixers last year of mostly oktoberfests and these two stood out for me. Just bought sixers of each this week.

 

My top 5 Marzen/Oktoberfest, in this order:

1) Augustiner Brau Marzen Bier (liter mugs straight from the barrel at their Salzburg beer garden)
2) Ayinger Oktober Fest-Marzen
3) Ayinger Kirta-Halbe
4) Great Lakes Oktoberfest
5) Left Hand Oktoberfest

 

I don't drink too many Oktoberfest beers, I go mainly for German style beers and the favorites drank around Oktoberfest are:

Spaten Optimator
Berkshire Brewing Co: Oktoberfest Lager
Troegenator

 

Had this on tap last night and I agree that it is a pretty great NJ product. I haven't had enough of this style to rank this against others.

 

Hofbrau
Victory Zeltbier
Paulaner Weis'n
Ayinger
Sly Fox

 

Ayinger
Hacker-Pshorr
Repeat 1
Repear 2
Repeat 1 and 2

 

Ayinger Oktoberfest
Spaten
Hacker-Pshorr
Brooklyn
Samuel Adams

I love the Marzen style, it says 'Autumn' to me even more than pumpkin beers.

 

Great Lakes
Spaten

 

1. Sly Fox
2. Ayinger
3. Great Lakes
4. Victory
5. Paulaner

 

I don't love the SA Octoberfest...does that make me a bad beer geek? My opinion looks as if it's an unpopular one.

 

That beer is more of a Mocktoberfest. It's an ale, not a lager. It's pretty decent, and I drink it, but it's not true to style.

 

Hacker-Pschorr
Ayinger Kirta Halbe
Left Hand (still amazed at how much I like this)
Paulaner
Ayinger Oktoberfest-Marzen

 

Great Divide Hoss & Hacker Pschorr Oktoberfest. I'd drink a hogshead each if I could.

 

Great Lakes Oktoberfest (cream&crisp caramel)
Goose Island Oktoberfest (hoppy, spicy, malty rye?)
Oktoberfest Revolution (hops, hops, hops)
Atom Smasher (Woody, grassy, caramel)
Afterburner (Crisp, butter, citrus)

 

Ayinger is 3.49/ bottle in CT. What a bargain !!!

 

1. Ayinger
2. Paulener
3. Hacker-Pschorr
4. Sly Fox
5. Victory

 

same here.

 

Heavy Seas makes a very fine Marzen. Devils Backbone Vienna Lager is quite tasty as well (do Vienna Lagers qualify as Oktoberfests?). Many others mentioned over and over I agree with as well.