Oktoberfest Special

September 21, 2020 Mike

This episode we had friend of the show Jerry on with us, and he brought his brother Steve along. Steve is visiting from Maryland and was nice enough to join us. Although we’re covering the Oktoberfest / Marzen style, there’s a lot of chit chat about everything from the new open container area downtown, and local events, among other things.

Marzen is BJCP Category 6A, and we didn’t go over all the details, but the overall impression is:

“An elegant, malty German amber lager with a clean, rich, toasty and bready malt flavor, restrained bitterness, and a dry finish that encourages another drink. The overall malt impression is soft, elegant, and complex, with a rich aftertaste that is never cloying or heavy.

The style is a favorite of ours, and whoever wrote the style guidelines must have really liked them too, because they used elegant twice 🙂

There was some discussion about the differences between Vienna Lagers and Marzens, according to Beer and Brewing Magazine:

The Vienna is lighter (in body, color, and ABV), slightly more bitter (or at least seems so), and lands in a place where it’s toastier than the pale German lagers but nowhere near the caramel and melanoidin-heavy richness of “modern” Oktoberfest.

Typical recipes for both styles usually contain Munich malt.

The examples that we’re tasking this episode are:

Paulaner Oktoberfest – 5.8% ABV – The commercial style example from the BJCP Guidelines.
Coroebus – Pikes Peak Lager House – Colorado Springs, CO – 5.7% 20 IBU
Oktoberfest – Bells Brewing – 5.5% ABV
Wibtoberfest – Wibby Brewing Longmont CO – 5.36% ABV
Ok2berfest – Two Roads Brewing Stratford CT. – 5.8% ABV
Hoss – Great Divide Brewing Denver CO – 6.2% 27 IBU
Oktoberfest – 4 Noses Brewing Broomfield CO – 6.1% ABV 25 IBU

We’re being a little nitpicky about how the beers compare to the Paulaner, but that’s really only style related. They were all very tasty and drinkable.

If you have a favorite Oktoberfest / Marzen beer that’s a favorite, make sure to let us know. Just leave a comment below.