Sam Adams Octoberfest

[beernut]

Originally Posted by Bubba -NJ

I haven't had the Sam Adams yet but I have had the Victory Festbier and the HofBrau Oktoberfest and bith were real good with the edge going to HofBrau . Bought a bottle of Dogfish Punkin Ale and a Harvest Moon along with some Dunkel Weisen .

Just finished a sixer of Hofbrau O-fest, tasty as always albeit on the very light range of the style. Haven't seen Victory's but now I'll have to go find it, Victory does good work.

By the way, what dunkel weizen was it? Iv'e been in the mood for some good dunkelweizen for a a while now, just never get around to picking any up.

[ky toker]

Originally Posted by AAlmeter

I'll try out Spaten's Oktoberfest tonight!

One of my favs.

I really miss being in Munich for the Oktoberfest. The size of this event is just hard to image. I hope, and bet, Löwenbräu is still rolling wooden barrells off the back of their trucks while many of the others had switched to kegs.

[beernut]

Has anyone had Stoudt's Oktoberfest this year? Or better still, does anyone in central Ohio know where I can find some? This was high on my list to try last year but sold out everywhere before I bought any.

[boonedoggle]

Just had a sixer of SAO the other day. Man, that is good stuff. The bottle is great, but Draft is unreal! I think I still have one more in the fridge!

[AAlmeter]

Originally Posted by ky toker

One of my favs.

I really miss being in Munich for the Oktoberfest. The size of this event is just hard to image. I hope, and bet, Löwenbräu is still rolling wooden barrells off the back of their trucks while many of the others had switched to kegs.

I'll let you know. My buddy has tickets for the Lowenbrau tent. I'll be sitting here drinking Bud

[macjoe53]

Just back from the store:

1 6 pack Sam Adams Octoberfest
1 6 pack Harvest Moon
1 6 pack Abita Pecan Harvest Ale

and since October is approaching, 1 6 pack Beck's Dark.

Going into New Orleans tomorrow and stopping at the two stores there that carry a lot of the European and small brewery brands.

[awsmith4]

Tonight we ate out again (need to stop this as it eats into my cigar budget) and I had the Sam Adams Octoberfest and it was rather good, I liked the Dogfishead better but it was still good

[NJ Stogie King]

Originally Posted by macjoe53

Just back from the store:

1 6 pack Sam Adams Octoberfest
1 6 pack Harvest Moon
1 6 pack Abita Pecan Harvest Ale

and since October is approaching, 1 6 pack Beck's Dark.

Going into New Orleans tomorrow and stopping at the two stores there that carry a lot of the European and small brewery brands.

I just got back from the store as well!!

1 6 pack Post Road Pumpkin Ale
1 6 pack Harvest Moon
1 6 pack Harpoon Octoberfest

Fall is HERE!!!!

[Slick26]

I had a Sam's Ofest earlier for dinner. Then had a good long smoke and now I'm winding down with a Summit Ofest. The Sam's was smoother, the Summit has more zing.

[white_s2k]

Just stopped and got a 6 packer on the way home from class.

Fryin' up some wings right now

[MikeyC]

Originally Posted by beernut

I, and several friends felt the same way, it might not be quite as good as in years past. But it's hard to say for certain seeing as it's been a year since we last had it. In general, I think Sam does a great job with it's lagers, including this one, though not so much with ales.


Octoberfest beer, or Marzen, is a lager not an ale. I only point out the distinction because it seems that some people confuse, or even equate Octoberfest and pumpkin ale, when in fact, the greatest similarity the two styles bear is that they come out around the same time of year. I've never heard of a Marzen made with spices, fruits, or vegetables in it, and hope that I never do.


I've not personally had it, but I'm not surprised it's good, Post road is made by Brooklyn Brewery, which is in my opinion one of the best damn breweries around. Brooklyn's Octoberfest is also excellent, though it too may have been better last year.

As a fun side gig, I work part time in the Boston Brewery giving tours and I can confirm that Octoberfest is in fact a Lager and not an Ale. It's a style of German Lager known as a Marzen which you already pointed out. Marzen is a traditional style of German Lager brewed for the Octoberfest celebration which originally came into being as a celebration of the marriage of a member of the German royal family. Also, there are absolutely no spices or fruit added to this beer. What does add a lot of flavor to this style is the four different types of malted barley used. One can detect a definite roasted caramel sweetness and toffee flavor when drinking this beer. It would taste even sweeter if it were not tempered by the subtle flavor of the hops used. This being said certain strains of yeast have been known to create fruit flavors in beer. We recently had a Belgian style Ale on tap in the tour center that the brewers were playing around with and it had distinct notes of banana in the flavor profile which was created by the yeast. No banana or banana flavoring was ever added to this beer. However, I have been drinking this beer on a regular basis over the last month and can say I have experienced no fruit or spice notes in the flavor.

As to the "this year's was better/worse than last year's" discussion I would just like to point out that Sam Adams beers are brewed with all natural ingredients. So, there is some variation in the flavor of crops used in the production of the beer from year-to-year. However, the brewers go to great lengths to insure that flavors are consistent from year to year. All seasonal beers are pre-brewed and tested over and over again before they are released to the public. Often recipes are adjusted to account for variations in the flavor of the crop. For instance, the lemon zest in this year's Summer Ale came from a different source than years past (prior source went out of business). Many new lemon zest suppliers were tried and many batches of test beer were brewed and tested before a new lemon zest supplier was chosen.

[Darrell]

I'll be taking a 12 pack of SA Octoberfest to tail gate with at the Niners game this Sunday, with Bobarian.

[Mark C]

Originally Posted by NJ Stogie King

1 6 pack Post Road Pumpkin Ale

Good call! Post up your thoughts when you've had a few. I've already seen a few new ones in the stores... call me weird but I'm waiting until October. At least that's what I say now, historically I have no patience when it comes to booze.

[BigCat]

Originally Posted by MikeyC

As to the "this year's was better/worse than last year's" discussion I would just like to point out that Sam Adams beers are brewed with all natural ingredients. So, there is some variation in the flavor of crops used in the production of the beer from year-to-year. However, the brewers go to great lengths to insure that flavors are consistent from year to year.

It is funny you should mention that. SA Boston Lager is my every day beer and I notice that its taste can vary from 12 pack to 12 pack. Sometimes I get one where the flavors are muted and other times it is more bold. I haven't had any Oktoberfest yet, but will pick some up soon.

[beernut]

Originally Posted by MikeyC

As a fun side gig, I work part time in the Boston Brewery giving tours and I can confirm that Octoberfest is in fact a Lager and not an Ale. It's a style of German Lager known as a Marzen which you already pointed out. Marzen is a traditional style of German Lager brewed for the Octoberfest celebration which originally came into being as a celebration of the marriage of a member of the German royal family. Also, there are absolutely no spices or fruit added to this beer. What does add a lot of flavor to this style is the four different types of malted barley used. One can detect a definite roasted caramel sweetness and toffee flavor when drinking this beer. It would taste even sweeter if it were not tempered by the subtle flavor of the hops used. This being said certain strains of yeast have been known to create fruit flavors in beer. We recently had a Belgian style Ale on tap in the tour center that the brewers were playing around with and it had distinct notes of banana in the flavor profile which was created by the yeast. No banana or banana flavoring was ever added to this beer. However, I have been drinking this beer on a regular basis over the last month and can say I have experienced no fruit or spice notes in the flavor.

Originally Posted by MikeyC

As to the "this year's was better/worse than last year's" discussion I would just like to point out that Sam Adams beers are brewed with all natural ingredients. So, there is some variation in the flavor of crops used in the production of the beer from year-to-year. However, the brewers go to great lengths to insure that flavors are consistent from year to year. All seasonal beers are pre-brewed and tested over and over again before they are released to the public. Often recipes are adjusted to account for variations in the flavor of the crop. For instance, the lemon zest in this year's Summer Ale came from a different source than years past (prior source went out of business). Many new lemon zest suppliers were tried and many batches of test beer were brewed and tested before a new lemon zest supplier was chosen.

That's pretty much what I attributed it to, crop variation and tweaking to compensate.