First O-fest I’ve tried this year, and, sad to say, it won’t be my favorite one of the year. It checks all the boxes. There’s really nothing wrong. But that’s it, like if Watson the computer wrote the perfect Mozart sonata. Then again, it is a recipe from a brewing school. Will still please a lot of people, “beer for drinking, not for thinking.”
(I rarely do get thrilled by SN’s O-fests, but really liked last year’s. Anyone recall who the collaborator was?)
Brauhaus Miltenberger was the 2017 collaborator.
Re: this year’s. It tastes fine. I am enjoying my 6-pack. But, I will say it is a bit boring compared to some prior years.
Thanks for answering my question on last year, Tommy. As for this year, yeah, boring is my only objection.
I think last year’s was better also.
I cannot say I have ever tried the Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest. I happen to be a huge fan of the Sam Adams Oktoberfest. In fact I have been working on a clone the past few years. That said, I’ll try the SN Oktoberfest just as a point of exploration.
Miltenburger is know as Faust in Germany. That didn’t appear on the label as ABInbev owns the beer trademark for Faust in the USA. AB used to make a beer labeled as Faust, and has kept that active. Beer trivia.
Now, that is appropriate; everything with ABInBev smacks of a deal with the Devil! 
I tried it.
My impressions were as follows…
“So. My take on it.
It screams ‘Merica. It’s more bitter than it should be and the malt is muted. However, with that said it’s made really well. Not my cup o tea though. I prefer the real deal.
After my second. I think it’s got hints of “boozy” as well”
To me it takes like every other beer SN makes, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as they made good beer. I just hate when American breweries try to make Marzens, ofest’s, well any German styles really. Because they all fall short in the malt flavor, and overall harmonious balance of the beer. In the American beer the malt is never soft and fresh, and lingering as it should be, so it pushes the hops forward, and throws the balance out of whack. That is always what screams, “America’s failed representation of German Beer” to me. You can use the same ingredients, but if you don’t use the same process, the results are always going to be different.
I’m the other side of the fence. I had three last night and found it delicious. Plan on at least another three today. Really got my juices flowing for O’fest beers this year.
I think it is quite malty. IMO everyone should stack it up against their favorite O’fest in a blind taste tests. Now to be fair what I am drinking was packaged on 07/23/18 and may have been made in NC as opposed to CA.
I have to say that I liked it and it’s much better than most American Oktoberfest beers (and I got it two weeks after packaging), but I REALLY liked last year’s version.
I got this instead.
Just picked up a 6 pack of the SN.
It’s looking like I’m not going to be trying this beer…when we finally got it on shelves here it was already 10 weeks past the packaging date. >:(
On that note, we FINALLY got the Guinness Anniversary beer on shelves…you know, the one they brewed LAST FALL to celebrate 100 years of Guinness in America…
Funny, I bought some yesterday as well.
I really liked it.
Yeah, it’s a classic Maerzen style Ofest.
Sierra Nevada also has a fall mix pack right now with a nice brown ale: Tumbler. I like it. I haven’t seen a commercial brown ale in quite a while.
I like Tumbler too. They used to do it as a stand alone seasonal, then I didn’t see it, glad it made it in there. They advertise that it’s made with roast malt fresh off the kiln.* “Everyone knows” you have to bin roast malt and let it mellow a couple of months before using it or the beer will be awful and acrid and burnt and nasty. So much for that. Notice a few people around here doing TX brown lately. Maybe it’s on the rebound.
*EDIT before someone catches me out, that would be out of the drum, not off the kiln.
Yeah. Based on that description, I was expecting more roast flavor. But, I was glad I was wrong. The roast flavors are very subtle.
I just keep buying 12 packs of SN Ofest at $13 each. Having a hard time finding fault with this beer.
I have been drinking the SN Octoberfest for about a month or so now. I think it is pretty good, but everyone’s palate is different. I forgot who mentioned it on this forum but the gist of it was that German versions are made to be poundable by the liter, and this one fits the bill. I had a 12er of the Sam Adams Octoberfest (my normal go to O’fest) this year and thought it was a bit too dry and not balanced enough. A friend of mine in AZ told me that I probably had the first batch and that second was spot on. I’ll have to take his word on it as I didn’t get another 12 pack pack because I liked the SN better.
BTW, we were in Asheville last week and visited Twin Leaf Brewery (among others). They had an O’fest on tap, Arkenstone Oktoberfest, that was pretty incredible. It was malty with enough hops to balance. Think it was one of the best I have ever had.