Blue Point Oktoberfest (NY)

This is apparently the first year this Long Island brewery has produced (or maybe just bottled) an Oktoberfest. 5.0% ABV, 28 IBUs.

It pours a clear copper with a lame lager head. No surprise that this is malty, particularly upfront, but it isn't caramel-ish. This shouldn't be surprising ("noticeable caramel or roasted flavors are inappropriate" -- BJCP style guide), but a lot of American Oktoberfests seem to taste of caramel. Or maybe that's a problem of perceptions. Blue Point's hops come through at the end to dry it out, but I also detected a somewhat ale-ish aspect to it. Butter? Oak? (Chardonnay? No, that's not it.) The body is medium-light and pretty heavy on the carbonation.

So not a bad beer, but not a great one. Looking at my photo, the empty body seems to exert some sort of force bending the glass toward it, which is kind of neat, but I still haven't tried an Oktoberfest that really blew me away.

Update: A Joe Sipxack column from the Philadelphia Daily News describes the conflict between the BJCP Oktoberfest style guidelines and what's currently served in Germany. Interestingly, it's the current German brew that is "dumbed down":

The big Munich breweries still export their familiar dark version, including the original Spaten Ur-Märzen. But the variety they pour at the festival is closer to a much lighter Dortmunder or Helles style, experts say.

Oktoberfestbier "has evolved into a ubiquitous light lager," Brewers Association president Charlie Papazian wrote in an online column, "light on hop character and, I think, dumbed-down to appeal to the masses."

Dundee Oktoberfest (NY)

A couple of months ago, The Session topic was anti-seasonal beers. I didn't participate because I don't often drink out of season. Maybe I should have written about that. I try to eat seasonally as well, but the reasons are different. With beer, a local stout in summer is more environmentally friendly and fresher than a German hefewiezen, but I'd still rather drink the latter. Some of this is due to weather, but even then, I could just sit inside turn on the air conditioning. Ultimately, I just like the idea of drinking different styles during different times of year. It's a bit like sports. In early August, I'm sickened at the sight of pre-season football on TV. Once September hits, however, I'm ready to go. So it goes with beer. Dundee Oktoberfest is my first autumn beer of 2008.

JW Dundee's Honey Brown Lager may have saved Genesee Brewing Co. in the 1990s. Now the brewery is named High Falls, the sub-brand has dropped JW and 's, and the bottle label has been smartly redesigned.

The Oktoberfest pours clear copper which the label brings out as a matching orange. "Be full-bodied," the neck label says, but this is quite light. It's also highly fizzy, which gets in the way of the flavor. It's mildly sweet with a slight twangy quality coming through at the end. Not a poor tasting beer, but not satisfying (maybe you have to drink 3 or 4). I kept trying to suck more flavor out of it.

I'd guess the rollout of the new Dundee has bumped sales temporarily. Will it last? I wish them the best, but it's tough now that the really big boys are trying to enter the market as well. Dundee is competing with Saranac, not with Ommegang, so they don't need to be world class in quality. Instead, they need good distribution and marketing.

Mahr's Brau Jubelfestbier (GER)

"The only true craft beers imported from Germany come from the tiny Mahr’s brewery in Bamberg," says the Shelton Brothers website. If it's true that it's a bit late to be drinking festbiers, it's also true that this isn't an ordinary festbier.

This offering comes in one of those elaborately capped 500 ml bottles and gives a good pop when opened. It's translucent but very dark brown, the darkest of any Oktoberfest lager, perhaps. So is this a schwarbier? Well, it doesn't have the same level of porter-like roasty coffee or chocolate. That's there in smaller doses. The hops are noticeable, adding an earthiness and slight bitterness. Overall, it's pretty balanced between malt and hops, and finishes fairly dry and crisp. The body is a tad too light I think, and there's fairly active carbonation (thus, the initial loud pop).

At 4.9% ABV, it would be very drinkable but for the price ($4+). No doubt, this would be better in Franconia, and maybe even a little fresher in the bottle a few months ago. As a festbier, it's an interesting change of pace, but no law says you can't drink the tastier and more affordbale Sam Adams Black Lager or a nice dunkel for Oktoberfest. Still, this is good enough that I'll want to try others from the brewery.

Left Hand Oktoberfest Marzen Lager (COL)

In the glass, this is clear copper with a fluffy, white-tan head that lasts. Much of the expected from this Oktoberfest brew: toasted malts, caramel, toffee, and so on. I'd say this is a bit richer than most others of this style that I've tried. Sweet. The carbonation is also a definite plus for me, with very fine, soft bubbles against a medium body. Very smooth to drink. A few hops jump in at the end, but ultimately don't really balance out the malts. It isn't exactly a clean finish. I was slightly disappointed in the aftertaste, which is a bit messy.

All told, this is an above-average bottled Oktoberfest/Marzens. Still, I don't think this transcends the style, whatever that would mean.

Samuel Adams Octoberfest (MA)

We still haven't seen fall weather yet, but all I have in my refrigerator are autumn seasonals or heavier brews. Sam Adams Octoberfest seems to have a pretty good reputation. But would this prove to be merely an ordinary, "accessible" festbier?

Well, maybe a little. It looks nice, crystal clear amber with plenty of bubbles bouncing around. The body is medium with lively carbonation. I think the flavor is pretty well-balanced between caramel maltiness and some hops to cut the sweetness. It's flavorful, but there's a slightly metallic aspect to it. So this is a good Oktoberfest, but nothing that bowled me over.

Of the five autumn seasonals I've reviewed here so far, I'd still rank Victory Festbier at the top.

Saranac Octoberfest Lager (NY)

To me, there's something compelling about the stories of mid-tier and regional American beer brands: Piels, Hamm's, Schaefer, etc. These unpretentious brewers couldn't keep up with the big boys in our globalized, ad-driven marketplace, but were also ill-suited to meet the needs of the beer connoisseurs. Some went bankrupt, some were bought out, some survived through contract brewing or new products.

Matt Brewing Company, in response to declining sales of both Matt's and Utica Club, boldly gambled its future on Saranac, and won. I don't think anyone considers Saranac a top-drawer craft brewery, but they are decent beers, affordable and available.

Saranac Octoberfest has the same light blue and white diamond theme as found on Victory's sleeve (Google shows me this is the Bavarian flag). The beer pours golden-amber with a nice beige-tinged head. Not a big aroma, but what's there is predictable for the style. The taste, however, caught me by suprise. I didn't get much caramel or toastiness out of it. Instead, it's grainy and fairly bitter, with a pop of citrus and spritz of mineral water. This isn't a bad lager (though not a really good one either), but to me, it just doesn't fit the season.

Erdinger Oktoberfest Weizen (GER)

I bought this expecting something similar to an oktoberfest lager. My mistake. This is an ale that is much closer to an ordinary hefeweizen than to a standard oktoberfest brew.

In many respects, this is a lot like Erdinger Hefe-Weizen: cloudy yellow, a bit orange-ish, nice white head, light-to-medium body with pop-rocks carbonation. It's refreshing. The taste is neither hefe banana nor festbier caramel (or maybe it has tiny amounts of both). Certainly, its much more sweet than bitter, although there are a few hops present, plus some toastiness.

It's an okay beer. I would have liked for it to drift further away from hefeweizen and a bit closer to an oktoberfest. 50/50 would suffice; this is more like 70/30.

Spaten Ur-Marzen Oktoberfest (GER)

Back to autumn. This is considered one of the classic beers of the style, but I'm left feeling I didn't get a fresh bottle. It pours amber, a bit lighter than Victory Festbier. The head doesn't last at all. It smells malty, of course, and a bit spicy. Like Victory, its on the dry side, not too sweet, but it doesn't seem to have as much depth of flavor. I don't detect toastiness to the malt, and its only faintly if at all hoppy. In addition, the palate is on the thin side and slightly over-carbonated (I seem to say that a lot).

Not a terrible lager, but nothing special by any means. I can only guess how much this is attributable to the vagaries of shipping.

Victory Festbier (PA)

This is my first Oktoberfest beer of the season, and the first of anything I've had from this well-regarded Pennsylvania brewery. The label text ranks beer as one of the three keys to any festive event (along with friendship and camaraderie), but it also works for un-festive occasions such as watching the Bills lose.
It pours a nice clear amber, though the head could be better. The aroma is primarily of caramel, but I think it tastes drier than it smells. Not that it doesn't have any malty sweetness to it -- I detected something bready or biscuity. But it also has a nice "kiss of the hops," as the label says (an homage to Schlitz?). Overall, the flavor is nicely balanced, and the aftertaste lingers. The one disappointment is that the body is not as full as I'd like, and I would prefer a little less carbonation.

All told, however, this is a fine, easy-drinking Oktobefest brew.