I figured maybe we talk a little bit. I haven't gone back and listened to them, but I don't know if we've really discussed like any of the history and stuff. We could just do a very brief. You almost certainly have, but that's... But I think it's fine if we keep it somewhat brief, because for sure we've talked about, you talked about whatever, you know, Olaf the Eighth or whatever that was started the thing or, you know. There you go. Some generic German name. Olaf. Sounds more Norwegian. Yeah, I guess. T'was the Vikings who came down to Bavaria. My biggest takeaway from some of the stuff I've listened to or read recently is how Bavarian Oktoberfest is. So I think us Americans just throw around the word German, and they'd kind of be like, no, that's- Yeah, right. Like I've heard Bavaria referred to as like the Alabama of Germany or something. It was pretty funny. I can't remember what state they said, but like some southern state. The Florida Panhandle. Right. So I was listening to some stats or something, and like the number of people from Germany who attend the Munich Oktoberfest who aren't from Munich is like 9%. Right. Well, as we always say, right, that it's hyper local drinking in Germany and culturally. This should be no surprise. It is interesting that as of late, it seems like more people are wearing dirndls and lederhosen, I guess, to it. Speak for yourself. And they're they're still remain offended if people wear like costume shop because they're like, this is, you know, our official dress. We wear this like weddings and sure. So they don't want you to show up with like. I was under the impression you had to wear that stuff if you go like. And you're you're really you look down upon if you're not wearing early. I didn't hear that. That's pretty I mean, that's a big ask if that's the case, because they cost a lot of money. I mean, I got in a lot of trouble for going to German Valpergasnacht in a Halloween costume witch outfit. So it was pretty uncool. I don't know what's happening anymore. You're listening to Barrel to Bottle, The Binny's Podcast. We're back in your feed with a special Oktoberfest edition of the podcast. The annual tradition. With me today in the room, we have... I'm Chris, I do wine, drink a lot of beer. Hey, I'm Pat, also overindulgent beer. Yes, we're having another Oktoberfest podcast, but Oktoberfest remains our most beloved of all the beer seasonals. I've often joked that it's the one time when it's cool to drink something that's not hoppy, and everyone rejoices in that they can talk about something that's not an IPA. Coupled with the fact that lagers are continuing to have this resurgence, and more and more people are curious about lagers, we're seeing the most interest, more interest than ever for this season. As Brophy will bemoan, it also gives me a chance to explain the difference between a Märzen and a Fesbier. And there's some craft people that are making this confusing. They're not following the rules. Cut it out, craft people. We're going to taste through a bunch. Nobody gives a sh** about the rules. We're going to taste through a bunch today, both Märzens and Fesbiers, and try to bring some stuff that we, most of what we're trying today, we have not tasted on previous podcasts. So let's just begin our discussion of Oktoberfest. If you're completely new to Oktoberfest, or maybe the only thing that you've ever had from Oktoberfest is Sam Adams, which is at one point was the most, they produce more Oktoberfest beer than anyone in the world. We also have them to thank for the fact that we start seeing Oktoberfest in July. So refreshing. I've often joked in the beer buzz about how it's Augustfest or Septemberfest. So why is it called Oktoberfest if it's not in October? The very first Oktoberfest celebration, it was a festival that started in 1810, and it was to commemorate the marriage of Prince Ludwig to Princess Trace. To King Olaf. And it took place in October, but they realized that the weather was nicer in September. In the subsequent years that followed, they ended up celebrating it in September. So, it starts in mid-September, and then it ends at the very beginning of October. And now they realize they really love that August weather. So. The festival has changed a little bit over the years. Now, it's definitely become this extravaganza with, you know, complete with like festival rides. There's roller coasters and stuff. But of course, what you often see in the depictions and what people talk about are going into the giant beer tents. At the festival, there's six breweries that are allowed to serve at the Munich Oktoberfest. So we've definitely talked about them in the past. Yeah, the only ones in Munich. Right. So Augusteiner, which ironically, we do not have an Oktoberfest from them. They only ship out their Helles and their Doppelbach. They recently created a new Helles. It's kind of like how Weinstefanner did. So we have three beers, but still no Oktoberfest from them. So get with the program here, Augusteiner. You could sell a lot of your beer. Hofbrau, so the Hofbrau House. Some of you may have visited the locations and places like, there used to be one in Rosemont, there's one in Vegas, Cincinnati. Spaten, so Spaten often talked about on the podcast for how innovative Spaten was. They were actually the ones that first created a Märzen style, what has become known as kind of the Oktoberfest style. And then they also were the first ones to then lighten that up and create what is now referred to as a fest beer. People go visit and actually go to the Munich Oktoberfest, and a lot of Americans are puzzled by the fact that none of the beer that's served looks like what we're used to for Oktoberfest. So the American craft industry has always done a good job at reviving old styles. IPA was non-existent in England at the time when we started making them here in the US. Märzen was kind of the same deal. It was a historical beer style that was very malty, used Munich style malts. So it has kind of that Caramel-y richer taste. But then we also kind of Americanized it and really made it our own, and especially Sam Adams made this very Caramel-y interpretation. So a lot of people took their cues from the Sam Adams one. Like I said, they've produced more Oktoberfest than anybody. It's been fun to see in the more recent years, lots of local breweries are starting to make their own versions, and they're doing both the old time-tested Märzen, but then they're also making these more modern ones. So since the 90s, they've been making this golden Lager, which doesn't have as much of that caramel, bready, bisquey character to it, and then there are different levels of hopping. Over there, it's not necessarily a very heavily hop beer by any means, but some of the American breweries that are doing that are definitely hopping it. They're turning it into a lager with some hop character, which is cool. Make it your own, make it something that's a little different. Yeah, you ain't from Munich. All right, let's start with some Märzens. So let's start with these guys. And I'll let Chris pronounce this. Oh, gee, thanks. Our first beer is gonna be from Urban Chestnut. Chris is a big fan of St. Louis, goes down there. It's El Katzelschwaaf. El Katzelschwaaf, yeah. Or Schwof. Schwof? I don't know. Pretty bizarre story with this. Their logo at Urban Chestnut is a squirrel, and this word is the German or Austrian. I get it mixed up. It's one of those words where you can tell where someone's from because they can't pronounce it correctly. El Katzelschwaaf? Yeah. So they've realized that this kind of dumb idea makes it impossible for people to know and ask for their Oktoberfest. So now people just call it, Oh Katz, which they actually put on the can now. But Urban Chestnut, they do a great job with all their beers. Their Brewmaster, root all over the world and they have a very dialed in brew house. They always do a really nice job with their stuff. So definitely one to seek out. When we're talking about Märzens and Fest beers, the ABV on Märzens was on the higher side. So that's one of the things with Fest beers, that they're a little lower in alcohol. But this is another thing that I feel has kind of gone down over the years. People want to be able to drink a lot of Oktoberfest. It's often served in these big liter mugs. So when you have one like the Hofbrauhaus one, that's like 6.3% alcohol, people get pretty tanked very quickly. So a lot of the Americanized ones, I would say, are much closer to traditional 5%, somewhere around like 5.5%. So that'll be one of the differentiating things here as we taste the beers. So this is 5.4% ABV, it's made with Munich and Pilsner malts, and then very traditional German hops in here. This is Perla, Hallertauer, and Mittelfrue. This is really nice. Yeah. Delicious. I love the balance here. I think it has a little higher hopping rate for bittering hops than you'd expect from a German one. But there's nice caramely malt to it without being particularly sweet. Yeah. It does have like a toasted caramel kind of note on the back end. But you're right. It isn't sweet. This is beautiful. It's nicely balanced. I mean, this has been an absolute banger for years. Yeah. It's been a while since I had it, but it's really good. They got it dialed in. And this is only $9.99 a four pack. Yeah. Their pricing is very solid. So they offer not just great beer, but at a really good price. $22 IBUs. So you did pick up on that. Yeah, it definitely has a little more pronounced hop character to it, which I enjoy. I think that that is what caused some people who have had Oktoberfest and it's not for them is when they're too sweet. So it's been nice to see. Even Sam Adams, I think, has pulled back a little bit. I would agree with that. That used to be so rich and carmely and the last time I tried it, I was like, hmm, that's different. I think they realized that the drinkability on it was kind of auto-balanced to the point where people- They want to sell more beer. Yeah, right. One, delicious. Two, I don't think so. Yeah, or drinking an entire liter was very difficult. Let me just point out that we're drinking scale models of liters here. Like one-thirty-third of what I should be drinking. But yeah, really nice balance. I think this is one that you could actually enjoy by the leader. I agree. Delicious. So Urban Chestnut, Old Cats, tried and true perennial favor from us. Here's another one. Continues the Märzens here. This is from Local Illinois Brewery. This is Pollyanna's Fruehauf. This actually won a medal at GABF in the Märzens category in 2016. What have you done for me lately? Yeah, right. Pollyanna. Shout out to Brian, Pollyanna's brewmaster. He had brewer, I don't think he'd call himself a brewmaster, but he did attend brewing school. I think it shows in the quality of the lagers coming out of Pollyanna. They've won quite a few awards. They won for their Vienna Red Lager, which is a really solid one. They've won for their Light Thinking, which is their homage to hams. It is delicious. A lot of people don't necessarily think of Pollyanna as a lager brewery, but they do some really excellent lagers. We've done some collaborations with them and Goldfinger that have turned out great. I always look forward to having their Oktoberfest. A little lighter than the Urban Chestnut, just in mouth, feel, and body. I like that because obviously I can have a few of them. Nice firm bitterness though on the finish. I was going to say that you're right, that it's a little bit lighter, but I think they're aiming at the same balance as Urban Chestnut. It has that slightly higher hop bitterness. It's well-balanced and refreshing. I get a little more like toffee caramel out of this one, and you can tell in the color-wise, it's like a little more tiny bit darker, but really nice balance of the, has some of those like toffee, honey notes. Yeah. The first thing I thought when I smelled it was toffee including the nutty element of the toffee. Yeah. This may sound weird, but I almost like conjured up sea salt in my mind too, like a salted toffee. Yeah. Or like caramel corn. Yeah. Something that has some savory and sweet at the same time. Exact same ABV as Urban Chestnut at 5.4, and basically the same IBVs too. It's 23. Well, there you go. Aiming at the same balance. It does seem a little more attenuated though, slightly. Yeah. I feel bad not having more to say about these, but so far they're just both delicious, pretty textbook margins. It's just highly drinkable versions of them too. I think this is the key so far that we're seeing with what these American brewers are doing, is creating this slightly more balanced approach, not leaning too sweet with a little more hop cut. Without the hops being too prominent in the nose though, is it not? No. The hops were more pronounced, I feel, on the chestnut actually. This one, I think, is a little more more forward, even though they're like the same ABV. I definitely feel like you tasted more of the hops than the other one. Märzen, by the way, if you're curious, it means March beer, and it refers to the 1553 decree by Duke Albrecht V, who forbid brewing between April 23rd and September 29th. Before they even knew what microorganisms were, they knew that during the summer months, beer would spoil much faster. Put in that edict banning brewing between those months to avoid sour. So every once in a while, you'll see these breweries that will make an Oktoberfest and lager it throughout the entire summer. Goldfinger does that, Dovetail had in the past. So anyway, that's where we're getting the term Märzen from. Good old Duke Albrecht, so ahead of his time. All right. All right, what's next? Next, we have Arttoberfest, one of Brof's haunts that he goes to quite a bit. We are big fans of art history brewing. This is their Oktoberfest, and I think it's tasting better than ever. Did give them some guff because they wrote fest beer on here. It's not in the modern style. This is a traditional Märzen, but I told them next year they should brew both. That's what a lot of breweries are doing, is they're brewing both a fest beer, the more modern interpretation, as well as a Märzen. This is pretty light in color for a Märzen. Yeah, but not as light as a fest beer. I confirmed with Greg though that he, you know, he's like, yeah, it's a fest, served at a fest, it's a fest beer. I was arguing with my dad about that over the weekend. I was trying to explain the difference with him. And he was like, no, fest beers are Christmas beers. And he lived in Germany in the 70s. And back then, the only thing that was called a fest beer was around Christmas time or something. Oh, OK. Yeah, I mean, it definitely again, I think more breweries are adapting their Märzen recipes to make them more drinkable anyway. But, you know, some people just really dig. I would argue in general, more people are curious about lagers and enjoy drinking lagers. And as we've often said, Pilsners are the driest, hoppiest lager. So I think for the reason Fespiers have appealed to people, this more modern reiteration, is that it's a golden lager that's not as hoppy as a Pilsner, and it has some nice small backbone to it. So you're starting to see more Hellas lagers. I've always advocated for more people making dortmunders. Great Lakes has, you know, always been kind of holding up that tradition, but very few people, other people make them. Like, I think that's a very underappreciated lager style. Because again, you know, it's not, Pilseners are like a beer geek kind of beer. They're super hoppy and they're really dry and they're not for everybody. Something like that. It doesn't help the issue that most macro brews, like, you know, Miller Lite calls itself a Pilsener. Yeah, yeah. So then there's that too. Yeah, people are like, oh. How dare you question Miller Lite? I'm just saying, you know. It kind of muddies the waters when it comes to the style. And then, you know, if you really want to geek out on it, you have your Czech style Pilseners versus your German ones. And some of the German ones are even drier and hoppier. But even a Pilsener or a Cal, I mean, we've tried that on the podcast. That beer is crazy hoppy. It's staunchly hoppy. So I think there's some there's you're going to start seeing more and more lagers that aren't Pilseners. And that that's a good thing. And I think Fest beer, that's part of the reason that they continue to be brewed and why people like them is that it's something that looks like a Pilsener but isn't as dry, isn't as hoppy as one. This Märzen from Art History, 5.8% ABV, so a little bit stronger, 22 IBU, that seems to be one of the... A bit of a trend here. Yeah, yeah. It's interesting. This is made with Munich and Vienna malt and then Hallertown Middle fruit hops. It's pretty good. It's got a bit of more of a floral hop character, I find. I was going to say, I haven't thought that the hops stood out in the nose and anything so far particularly, but here I definitely get flowers, little herbs, maybe even a little citrus note, more like orange peel than anything to me. One thing I would definitely note is the mouth feel is fantastic. Yeah. It's just got a really silky feeling in the mouth. Without decoction too. I totally think I could agree with all those descriptors. I think for me, sage in particular, with a lot of German hops, I've always used the word herbal or herbaceous. I've been trying to really suss out specific herbs when I can. Here, I feel like it really definitely has a sage note, which is again, just like how hops are the spice of beer, that's what can make them so great with food and beer pairing. So think of what you use a lot of herbs on. This would be one of the most famous dishes at Oktoberfest is their roast chickens. This would just be so great when you think about how sage is used a lot. It's in dressing and poultry and stuff. Yeah, for sure. I think you nailed it. I think you're right. Roast chicken. Roast chicken, you say. I think this is the most dialed than it's ever been. I think you definitely has that floral-ness that Middle Fru is famous for. It's really nice here. There is enough bittering hop. I mean, it really backs it up pretty well too. So you get aromatics and you get a firm bitterness on the finish. Good job. Good job, our history. Yeah. As usual. Yeah. And also delightfully nutty and caramely too. Again, none of these have had really any of that over the top Munich malt sweetness yet. Yeah. That's why I feel like we were so used to that for so many years. These are all way more drinkable than we usually give them credit for. Yeah. Well, I definitely picked out some of the ones that I thought did a nice job. There are some of those big Carmel bombs out there, but... Not that that's all bad, but this is definitely a departure from a lot of things. Definitely makes it harder to... A lot of these, if you go to your local Oktoberfest, they're still usually serving you beer in either a half-liter or a liter mug. So the thing about those real Carmel-y ones is a liter of very Carmel-y beer is not really fun. Here's 33 ounces of Carmel. Awesome. Next up, we have Central Waters. So Central Waters, pretty carmely. You definitely get, they're renowned for their stouts. Their barrel age program is phenomenal. We've done some collaborations with them that I thought turned out fantastic. They have their barley wine aging in some of our barrels right now. So great brewery, at least here in the Chicagoland and Illinois. You mainly just see their BA stuff, but they do a nice Oktoberfest. So I wanted to try that as well and shine a little light on them. It's 5.5% ABV. Malts and hops in here? They didn't, nothing was listed. Undisclosed. But yeah, I'm thinking a lot of Munich malt. This is the Carmeliest of the Burj. This is a Werther's Original. Yeah, yeah. Dry hopped with Werther's Original. Yet I don't think it tips into the very sweet. No, it's not overly sweet. It's interesting. This is an interesting one. I can tell it's very well made. It's just not quite as drinkable as some of the previous ones. Yeah. Don't forget it's Wisconsin. They love sweet stuff between their Kringle and their old fashions. I sent you guys when I was in that supper club this weekend, the nine different ice cream drinks on the menu. Well, we're going to make all of them, aren't we? Yeah. We're going to have to. The thing that I like about this is that the caramel flavor is there, but it's not overly sweet. I mean, it's well attenuated and this is a well-fermented beer, so it delivers that caramel flavor, but it's not overly rich. Totally agree with that assessment, spot on. And I think that may be the key to all of these is attenuation, not leaving a lot of residual behind, but still getting those rich Munich malt flavors. Most of these that we've been trying thus far were in four-pack, 16-ounce. This one is in six-pack, 12-ounce. So if you want the old school tried and true 12-ounce beer, bring home a sixer of this for $11.99. Yeah. Six-packs. What year is it? I thought beer only came in four-packs now. You know, it's interesting. Some breweries are start. It's all, you know, we talk about this a lot, how everything tends to cycle back and forth. No way. Are 12-ounce trending? Some of the breweries are starting. I think the breweries that are most interested in exploring it are people that have built like a second facility or like a bigger brew house. And, you know, it makes more sense for them to want to move more volume and maybe offer that to, hey, some of it's that some of these original craft drinkers are getting older and they have kids and, you know, so like Half Acre, for example, they're Really? Oh, yeah. I mean, the 12-packs. Like their Oktoberfest is, which we talk about all the time, how great it is, so I didn't bring it this time, but that's in 12-ounce cans this year. In six-packs or 12-packs? Six-packs. Is it more economical for a brewery to can in a bigger can? I mean, does a can cost that much more than a 12-ounce can? No, it's cheaper in that if you're using blank cans and then labeling them, that's expensive. The only thing that it's good for is that it's nimble to do all these little releases because then you're just buying labels and you're using generic can stock whereas buying the printed cans, they're less expensive but you need to usually commit to a really big load of them so it doesn't really lend itself to small batches of things. I see. I mean, there's a lot of reasons why we've theorized why four pack 16-ounce really caught on. I think it definitely lends itself to trying more beer. I mean, people, even though you look at the math of a four pack versus a six pack, if people really want to try something new, they only have to have three left after they try one. Honestly, some of these are a big gamble, and I've joked that you want to not be stuck with five of something instead of three. It definitely lent itself to being able to try more beer because I think people don't really break down the ounces. They're just thinking of it as like, I have three more beers left as opposed to five. Then the biggest thing is the old expensive six pack. When I mentioned Augustin, no one knows them here because they've always been in six packs and they always look like- For 18 bucks or whatever. Yeah, the crazy expensive import. Are you kidding me? A six pack for their 18.99 now, but for years they were like 15 bucks a six pack and no one would touch them. It was ironic because they would buy the single bottles of German beer for like $4. They'd buy the half liter bottles from people like Weinstefanner and Einger and nondex without batting an eyelash, but then they look at the six pack Augustiner that's actually cheaper per ounce and they're like, that's a rip off. So good old Americans are not good at math. No. I like to think about what I pay for a beer at home as opposed to enjoying a pint out and nobody would bat an eye spending that much money on a beer in a bar. Yeah. But you'd bring it home and it's like, oh my God. Yeah. It's unfortunate with the imports that are expensive because then there's not good turnover. A lot of them are pasteurized and filtered, so you get longer shelf life on them than like local craft. But I'm very happy to see that some of the imports are canning now, so we're seeing some better import pricing. Hofbrau, for example, they put their Octoberfest in four packs for the first time. Really? It's definitely bringing some of the- we tried that Flensburger recently. That's a classic example. Their six packs are like 19 bucks and the four pack of cans. We had on sale for $9.99 too. Yeah, because we were sold out at Lincoln Park. I was going to pick some up. So, next up, we have a beer from Cincinnati, one of the largest Oktoberfests in the United States. Huge German-American community. And this brewery's name is actually an homage to that. This is Rheingeiss Franz. Never had this beer. I think it is really interesting. I've described it as having kind of one toe in the new fest beer traditions, because it's really well fermented, but it still has some caramel character to it. Very herbal hop character. Rheingeist really doesn't get enough attention. I think they make great beer. Yeah, their beer is good. I think their logo is a little silly. It probably doesn't appeal to lots of people, but they're making some really, really solid beer. So Truth IPA, if you want an old school IPA with a good malt backbone, that's kind of the beer that they're most well known for. It's an awesome IPA. But Franz is, I think, one of their solid offerings. And again, this area, they're in the old, one of the old Christian Moorline buildings. Really? I mean, Cincinnati was such a huge beer town. That's a huge facility, right? Didn't Sam Adams was in part of it? I think so, yeah. And then, I mean, I've been there, but it's been a million years, and Sam Adams had taken over a big part of it. But then there's a loading dock on the other side where you could just walk up and buy things like Christian Moorline. Oh, no. Yeah, this is like one of the outer buildings. Is Moorline still in business? I think so, maybe, or maybe it's being contract brewed at a different brewery or something. I think they might have revived the name, but I think the original company doesn't necessarily exist. I'm not sure. I would have to look that up. We've never carried it here. This is 5.4% ABV. It's also in a six pack, and it is also 11.99. We're going to try any German beers today, Roger? What the hell, man? No, I mean, again, I wanted to make sure that in this episode, we weren't doing just a bunch of overlap, and we've tasted most of, I think, every German one pretty much. I brought one German one for you. I have a German dog. I should have brought my dog to adelaide of Authenticity to our podcast today. We should have really- Just to sit in the corner and growl at me. We should have brought some sausages. She tried to kill the Amazon man right before I left the house. She really was out for blood. Interesting. This is a dachshund. Just kidding. I have a giant Schnauzer. All right. That was the one I wanted to conclude the Märzens with because I feel like it has a little bit more. I don't have an IBU on this, but you definitely- Transitory Märzens. Yeah. You definitely see a little bit of this Vespierre flair. That was really good though. Good job, Ryan, guys. What's that, like 12 bucks or something? Yeah, 11.99 for a six-pack. But did they use any Grungeist in there? Reinkiest. All right, so now we go to the Germany for Hofbrauhaus, but not Munich. This is a different Hofbrauhaus. This is Hofbrauhaus Friesing, which is located just outside of Munich. Werboten. This is their Festbier, which they very smartly write golden Lagerbier in the bottom, so you know it's the more modern interpretation. It is 6.1, though, so hello. What? Well, the Hofbrauhaus one, the other Hofbrauhaus, the Hofbrauhaus Munich, is 6.3, so that was kind of our first taste of Festbier. They were the one that sometimes customers would be perplexed, and, you know, before there were more Festbier offerings, they were like the lone wolf who made this golden Oktoberfestbier. I can't believe they get away with two different Hofbrauhauses. Absurd. So these guys, they traced their history back to like old monastic brewing all the way back to like the 1160. So in some capacity, there's been a brewery there for, you know, centuries. Their current brew house is from 1912, so. A baby. No IBU on this. Definitely not as hoppy as some of the ones we... This beer is great. Very hams reminiscent. Well, I was going to say the first thing I thought upon smelling it is there is an essential lager aroma here. It smells just like lager. Like Saccharomyces pastorianus? Yes. Exactly. Interestingly, though, on the palate, I get a little fruitiness, which you don't always expect in lager all the time. It is delicious. Yeah, it's definitely lighter than I expected. It doesn't seem like it has the body of a 6% beer. No, this is sneaky if it's actually 6%, which they're not lying to you. This one will sneak up on you for sure. Because this is the most drinkable thing we've had so far. It is incredibly drinkable. Crushable, as Greg might say. It definitely has that sweetness that you were saying, like with hams, that I equate with corn as an adjunct almost. Yeah, I'm reading it as fruity, but I know exactly what you're saying. There is a genuine sweetness on the tip of the tongue, just a little bit. To me, it strikes me as a little fruity, but yeah, I can see it being reminiscent of an adjunct. Yeah, interesting beer. This is great. What do we charge for this? Also 11.99. A six pack. Yep. Comes in the goofy European bottle, of course. 33 CL bottle. 11.2. Well, I mean, you pour three of those, you got a liter. All right, we go from Germany to Chicago. This one is from Maplewood. This is their Festbeer. Fascinating how there's so much crossover color-wise, because this is billed as Festbeer, but some of the Martens were no more dark than this, really. Yeah, I think some breweries are really just, again, I don't know that the information is out there. You just wanted to hear a bitch about this one more time. This is pretty golden. I mean, that's not amber, especially if you hold it up to the light. Yeah. Well, pour something from the first round and compare it. I don't think it's... Yeah, I mean, it is definitely golden. It's a burnished gold. Burnished. Oh, there's definitely a difference there. Yeah, you poured the darkest one. Yeah. I don't think I didn't think he did that on purpose. All right. So Maplewood, there's some nice small complexity here. For being lighter in color, I'm still getting some nuttiness. Yeah, absolutely. A little bit of honey. Very drinkable too for another 6% alcohol beer. Yeah. This would be very dangerous. Easy to drink. Kind of bready, kind of honeyed. Yeah. I like the honey call out. It definitely has a honeyed malt character. Hop's definitely kind of in the back seat though. Maplewood makes some sneaky good loggers, and I think this one is really on point. This is a good one. I think the theme this year for everybody making these is drinkability. Yeah. I mean, if you had asked me before this, would I think that all of these would be so crushable, I would say hell no. Yeah. I definitely, and again, I think that is why people are starting to gravitate towards the Fesper style is that, they ask people that aren't believers in Oktoberfest and don't get really excited about it, and usually the feedback is, oh, they're too rich. Yeah. Not the kind of thing that I can drink much of, but these are proving that when they do it right, these can be, these are the kind of beers you can drink a liter of. This, I think, passed the liter test big time. For sure. Is it literable? That is in a four pack, 16 ounce can for 11.99. 11.99 seems to be the magic number here. Pretty much whatever you can class. Up next, we have another perennial favorite. They didn't make it for a couple years, or they didn't send it out here, and it's pretty bummed out. It's back, it's in cans now. It's also, I think, as dialed in as it's ever been. This is Firestone Walker's Oaktoberfest. Gets its name from the fact that it is lagered in California wine barrels. We couldn't get Matt back here to talk about this. I feel like every other month or so, we should be here. Really interesting malt bill here. They're using the Viomann malts. Pilsner, Vienna, Munich, Carahell, and Caramunic. Then this is hopped with Tradition, which is a Hallertower variety and Spalt. Spalt or not, one of the classic noble hops that you don't hear about as much. But 5.2 percent ABV, so this is, I think, the lowest ABV of the bunch, making it very sessionable, 20 IBU. What's the deal with the oak here? It's an homage just to their background and everything, and the Firestone Walker Union system that they use to make DBA. They logger this in California wine barrels. I think neutral, essentially. I was going to say, it's not necessarily there to give it any- Yeah, they don't want a wine characteristic, it's just to pick up some oak. There is a little oak flavor on the back end, it really hangs around. It's a very good-looking beer. The head is super dense and creamy-looking, which I always appreciate. It is just unbelievably bright and clear. The hops are definitely pronounced, I feel like, especially compared to some of the other offerings, like it has a nice big- I haven't had this beer in a long time. This beer is great. Yeah, I'm a big fan of this. 11.99, the magic number. Six-packs, 12-ounce cans. This is a crazy example of, they really stuck to their guns with their bottles a lot longer, and I think they especially figured like, this is a lager, the lager crowd tends to, a lot of them, or at least Oktoberfest people, older crew and everything, and people would just avoid it then, for as much as some really old-timers are can-averse, then younger people are bottle-avers. This beer got under-appreciated for a few years because it was only available in six-pack glass. Come on, people. Drink your beer out of glass anyway. You should be pouring your beer into a beer glass. Yes, please. To fully appreciate the look, the aromas. You're really doing yourself a disservice. If you're treating yourself to a really well-made beer, you should be fully experiencing it. So it shouldn't matter. You shouldn't be drinking it directly out of the can or the bottle. This is another one that I think is really beautifully balanced and it has a great mouthfeel. It's creamy. Yeah. It's delightful. This one too, I think with that balance, you could just, this is leaderable for sure. You wouldn't be in as much trouble because it's 5.2. We're gonna conclude with another beer from California, but kind of the opposite. This is not as much about balance. I feel like they really went for it on this one. This is a pretty wild one. This is Sierra Nevada's Oktoberfest. Look, they put both on there, Oktoberfest and Fest beer. It is served at a fest, after all. Sierra, after a couple dark years where they didn't do it, their Oktoberfest program is back in action and still a collaboration. Yeah. Partnering with different German breweries. This year's is Gutmann. They're not distributed here, but they're famous for their wheat beers, for Weiss beers. In a nod to that, they use some wheat in this. Interesting. Mixture of Munich malt, Pilsner, two-row pale and wheat. For me, the standout in this beer was the hops. It's hopped with Hursbrucker, Laurel, Saffir, and Spalter. We've got three traditional German ones. Well, Saffir is newer German hops. You have three German hops and then Laurel is a new variety from the US, which as the name would imply, has a big florality to it. I was about to say, I mean, it's the most hop forward in taste, maybe not bitterness, but it's that big floral hop character. Holy cow. Yeah, I've never even heard of Laurel. Stone helped finance its development. There was a period where every single stone beer was made with Laurel. When you use Laurel, stone, of course, is heavy handed with any hop addition. In my opinion, Laurel should be used sparingly. It's like a very interesting accent hop. But when Stone was making these beers, it was just like drinking a florist shop. I was going to say, even this though, the perfume is in the mouth. There's really a floral side to it. I think there is a Bayleaf-like element to it too. Yeah, it's an intense hop. So it's something that can add a fun element. But when it's the highlight of the show, it was really something I didn't care for. But I think here, it's part of the team of hops, and it's adding that florality, which is interesting. The bitterness here is definitely more pronounced. This would be a bit of a head scratcher if you're expecting a Märzen and you tried this. golden color, definitely bitter. Yeah. The more I smell it, the more that florality just is popping in my face. Wow. It's like perfume almost. Yeah, it's a bit overblown for my tastes. You taste the wheat too. I mean, the wheat is definitely there and that's something different that I think is interesting. Yeah, that's definitely spin. How much wheat is there? It doesn't give like a percentage or anything, but I think they wanted it to be enough that you'd actually tell. And I feel like you can. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting though. Definitely the most off the beaten track version that we've had today by far. Oh yeah. This one is the deal stand out here. So this comes in 12 packs for $18.99. We've had it on sale for even lower. So excellent value as always with Sierra Nevada for the quality of beer you're getting. Pricing is very good. So, that was our tour of some Märzens and Fest beers for 2024. Some newer stuff, some tried and trues. Really great to revisit that urban chestnut and the Firestone. I haven't had the Firestone in a while. What a great beer. I agree on both of those. And really a surprising departure from some previous years, where I thought I understood this style pretty well. Yeah, like we said, breweries are wisely using this newfound, more people are talking about Lager, more people are making them. And I think as this proved, there can be really nice balanced Oktoberfest. I don't think as many people are looking at just Sam Adams as the archetype of what Oktoberfest is. And like I said, even them, I think they've kind of dialed back the Caramel too. But this is only, we've just scratched the surface. There's so many Oktoberfest options in our stores. So stop by, ask one of our beer consultants what they've had lately that they've liked. Check out the Beer Buzz. I love this time of year. I love shining a light on different Oktoberfest and writing about them. So there's so many interesting options. There's some great values out there to be had. Goose 12-packs, founders 12-packs are bonkers cheap. Yeah. And we're looking at, well, never mind. So, yeah, always a great time of year. Stock up also on your Oktoberfest stuff early. I always try to reiterate this in the Beer Buzz, but it's not up to us when we start receiving these, and every year it's earlier and earlier. So, yeah, I don't really want to drink a Märzen in July either, but the distributors run out of them and then we run out of them. So, buy them now. These aren't IPAs. These are the kind of things that from breweries like this or the breweries you can trust, these things will last for a while. So, if you want to be able to drink one in October, maybe buy it now. A crisp fall day with the smell of dry leaves on the ground. I mean, the food pairing with Oktoberfest is off the charts. I mean, when you think about so many of the things we like in the fall, like that we were talking about the fruitiness in some of these, like pair so well with apples and apple dishes and anything off the grill, pretty much these are great with grilled veggies and meats. And even then, of course, the richer Oktoberfest type stuff. If you cook German stuff, we have some excellent recipes on our website. You can check out. Good with pumpkin pie, too. Yeah, for sure. All right. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review. And until next time, I'm Roger. I'm Chris. I'm Pat. Keep tasting.