+1. It’s amazing that really good brewers use such a constrained stock list to formulate numerous beers across the spectrum of their portfolio. Reminds me of Drew’s Brewing on the Ones: Use a small list in different ratios to brew different beers.
I agree. It’s like ordering pepperoni pizza in Italy. They have no idea what you’re talking about.
In all the fests I’ve been to in Germany, I didn’t think twice about the beer. It’s true the beer is a central theme but it’s the tradition, atmosphere, music, and people that make it so fun. The beer is just social lubricant. The ones there for the beer usually don’t last long. They end up on the hills behind the tent passed out in their own puke and being attended to by medics.
I do consider it a privilege that we as homebrewers have access to authentic ingredients, and the knowledge base, with which to create true to style (or not, if that’s your thing) beers in the comfort of our homes.
Lest we take these things for granted.
I bought a mixed six pack of Märzen style beers at my LHBS and split it with my BIL yesterday. We ranked them top to bottom as follows:
Paulaner (German), Revolution (Chicago), Riverlands (local St. Charles, IL brewery), Haaker-Pschorr (German), Warsteiner (German), and a unique Around the Bend (Chicago) with a very light hand of “Pasilla Chili and Epazote”. All were quite delicious and (other than the Octoberfiesta by ATB) to style, FWIW.
And Saturday I brewed an American Helles, substituting Montana Craft Pils and Proximity Base Malt for German malts ….hoping it will be tasty and not entering or presenting it as true to any style, just thought I’d give it a try.
We attended Oktoberfest in Munich, quite a few years ago. Our guide advised us to go early in the morning, and leave early. Late in the day it is mostly occupied by those who have had way too much beer.
The most interesting things I remember - all beers were served in one liter mugs. Each brewery had their own tent, which was huge, nearly the size of a football field.
And each brewery had a team of horses, hitched to a beer wagon.
Yes, we took our guide’s advice, arrived very early in the day, and left early.
I guess I just drink what I like and not care about what others do. I think there is a place at the table for any well made beer and if no one likes it no one will keep making it.
Isn’t it weird to get so upset about what commercial breweries are or aren’t making when we are in a forum dedicated to the hobby where we make it ourselves? I don’t know. Maybe I’m just way out of the mainstream these days.
Paulaner Ofest Märzen is my desert-island lager. As long as I can get my hands on some in good shape, then every other brewery can brew a Carabok labeled as an Octoberfest and I could care less.
I agree, and that is why an American Oktoberfest beer is no longer purchased by us. Boston Beer Company’s Oktoberfest used to be on tap in my bar every fall. But…no more.
The beer we brew right here tastes better to us. I’ll bet this is the case for many on this forum. All of us can (and do) brew very high quality beers.
Visited my sister in Wisconsin, picked up a 6 of New Glarus Staghorn Oktoberfest. This is very well made, Dan Cary went to brewing school in Germany and apprenticed at Ayinger.
I was stationed in Italy for a year and a half while I was in the Navy. Pepperoni is an Italian-American creation. I may not look it, but I grew up in an Italian-American family. Italian-American cooking, while tasty, is not Italian cooking. Italian-American cuisine is adaptation of Italian cooking techniques to local ingredients much in the way that Pre-Pro Pils was an adaption of German brewing techniques to local ingredients. Most of the Italians who emigrated to the U.S., like my bisnonni (great-grandparents), were dirt poor Italians from the Southern part of Italy. They made due with what they could get. Several true Italian dishes made it to this country. I ate what I knew as pasta and spaghetti soup that my nonna (grandmother) made my entire life growing without knowing that it had an Italian name; namely, pasta fajioli. Pasta fagioli was peasant food. It is a complete plant-based protein source much in the way that beans and rice are a complete protein source. Americans think of chicken cacciatore when they hear the word “cacciatore,” but cacciatore is s style of cooking (a.k.a. “hunter” style). My bisnonna (great-grandmother) made cacciatore with several different types of meat. She lived to be over 100, so she was part of my life into adulthood. I am grateful for that experience.
As an aside, the beer I drank when I drank beer in Italy was of all things called “Dreher” (I did not know who Anton Dreher was at that point in time). I doubt that it was true to the Viennese style, but it was better than Bud. How is that for a twist?
One of the early brewpubs around here was opened by a guy name Theo DeGroen. Theo was Dutch by birth, but he was a German-trained brew master. While all of the beers he brewed were better than anything I could get in a bottle, his dunkel, pils, and hefeweizen were exceptional. All of the guys from Fort Meade who had been stationed in Germany loved the place. It was a sad day when Theo shuttered the Baltimore Brewing Company. Theo trained the guys who went on to found the Victory Brewing Company in Downington, PA. Victory’s number one selling beer is Belgian-style tripel called “Golden Monkey,” but they make a true-to-style German pils called Prima Pils using all noble hops and German malt.
Victory makes a lot of great beers and Prima Pils is outstanding, one of my all-time favorites. Unfortunately, I tried their Festbier last year and sadly, I wasn’t impressed.
Finally! Found a decent Oktoberfest beer, brewed right here in Texas!
By Altstadt, a brewery in Fredericksburg.
Very clean, crisp. No caramel, not overly sweet. Much like what you would get in Frankfurt, when ordering a Festbier.
Better than Ayinger, and just a tad better than Paulaner. But these two beers might suffer from transportation issues across the pond.
I’m not a great note taker, but I’m pretty sure I’ve never used any crytal malt in a marzen; usually some combination of munich, vienna, and pilsner malts.
