All right, here's your meat stick breakdown, guys. On the right is a classic Land Jaeger, then a venison summer sausage, then the classic beer stick, and then a Hungarian hunter stick. Is beer B-E-E-R or B-I-E-R? Of course it is. Which one of the last two has these things in it? I don't know. That's pieces of fat. That's in every beer stick. Jenna's meat sticks got out of order, and I don't have any meat sticks. And one fell on the floor. So, all these meat sticks are fermented and heavily smoked to get them down to a pH of about 4.8. The Land Jaeger is pork and beef. It's 30% beef, and it's spiced with salt, white pepper and caraway. That's it. The beer sticks are the summer sausage base with extra garlic and a little bit of cayenne and a little bit of MSG. He made the jus, the chef's spice. The venison summer sausage is actually made of Canadian elk and a little bit of pork. They use elk because venison apparently is too lean. Venison is too lean for venison sausage. I guess to make a stick out of like this. The Hungarian hunter has lots of garlic, lots of paprika, white pepper and caraway. It's very traditional and Germans love it apparently. Most popular German sausages are actually Hungarian, is according to my butcher guy. There's more meat, by the way. I figured it would be fun to have German fare while blind tasting Octoberfest beer. That's great. That's why we're doing this. Okay. What else do you have, Pat? What's in the tub? Oh, that's jerky dip. It is... It sounds disgusting, but it's truly incredible. It's just like a chip dip, spread, whatever you want to call it, made with like pulverized sweet and spicy jerky in it. No, it's excellent. It has a little flex of jerky. A little flex of jerky, and then it's just like sour cream and cream cheese. Yeah, it's like a ranch dip if the ranch was just a little flex of jerky. I don't know how I feel about that. So Jim's doing ASMR in one corner of the room, while Pat's talking about his meat sticks in the other. Roger, are you ready for this? Yeah, it didn't even occur to me, my brain's been a little strained the last couple of weeks, that if I picked the beers, I could then still to some degree participate blind. Yeah, because Jim can pick the order. It makes it even harder because you're going to overthink it. because you know what's on the bar and you're going to overthink it. That's what happens to me every time. Yeah. Okay, cool. Yeah, I'm ready. So I'm excited for- Do I need more cups? I'll put a pass on that. Yeah. because it's blind and we can't pour it out. I did the same thing. All right. I found a booster seat. I'm ready to go. All right. music, roll it. You're listening to Barrel to Bottle, The Binny's Podcast back in your feed with a blind Oktoberfest tasting. Do we have some tuba tracks to lay down as our intro music? I'm sure we can find some tuba music. Yeah. Don't do the whammy as a tuba. All right. So anyway. Through a happy tuba sound. Roger picked. Oh yeah. I'm Greg. I do communications at Binny's. Hey, I'm Pat. I play tuba at Binny's. I'm Jenna. I do communications at Binny's. Roger, beer and sousaphone enthusiast. Jim, dungeon master. Jim is the dungeon master. He's hiding all of the beers that were tasting blind behind a wooden box. That I use as my foot rest. All right. Chris is here. Oh, you missed so much. I'm Chris. I do wine. I'm here to drink beer and I had to do the hard work of tasting grower champagne. So I'm in late, but it was worth it. So we're blind tasting. 12 different Oktoberfest. 12 different Oktoberfest. I think we've only done this with tequila, celebrity tequila, bourbon, a bourbon a different time, vodka once, and cheap beer. So now we're doing it with our... We did a vodka one? Yeah. Remember way, way back? Yeah, sure. A long time ago. Now, remind me, the last time we did the cheap beer one. Yeah. What happened? I don't know. What happened there? Some real unsettling revelations during that recording. Pat, do you remember that one? We need to go back and listen to that. Yeah, he still always wants to do blind taste test. All right. So we're going to do blind test of all 12 different Oktoberfest you brought. Indeed. Yeah. Roger picked them out, but- Some are from the US, some are from Germany. We never do this, but Roger from the future is going to pop in and say what the beers actually are. We're not going to know what they are. We're cutting that in later. So you know what we're talking about, but we don't know what we're talking about. That's why we have a podcast. How many beers are there, Jim? 12? He's got a whole brophy of them. Oh yeah, he's opening the cans and bottles so that we can't tell which is which. Oh nice. That's smart. I guess I'm going to make my own. I guess you just open a can and then pour a bottle and you would be none the wiser. Oh, that would be. Yeah, that might be better. Four dimensional Oktoberfest chess. It's a malt fest. We're going to malt the malt. Nothing says august. Can't try this. It's a jerky dip. You never had the jerky dip? No. You could dip your meat stick in there. I guess I didn't see it. Yeah, I was going to say dip your meat stick in the jerky dip and have a jerky dip on it. A little ridiculous. All right, well, this first one looks brown. Rod, you've never had that? It's so good. just leave that down there. Rod is going to want to go back for seconds here. I'm a little disturbed by the fact that- They smush up a couple of different animals and then stick them into one encasing. just whatever. I mean, you do you. Bro, do the rundown of the sausages again. All right, we're going right to left. Is a Land Jaeger, then a Venison Summer sausage, then the Beer Stick, and then the Hungarian Hunter Stick. And you said the Venison is actually elk? The Venison is elk. Apparently, you can't turn like true Venison easily into a. And it's it's too lean to make a beer stick of the consistency they're looking for. So why don't they just call it an elk stick? It's elk with a bit of pork. Yeah. And why isn't it just an elk stick? If they're going to juice up the elk with the pork, why don't they just do that with venison? I don't know. And this is this is farm raised elk, obviously. I would think so. But why call it a venison stick? I don't f**king know. I'm going to need you to find out. You're like best friends with this guy. I assume because venison's just got cache. It's got name. It's got name. It's got more marketing power. Sounds wild. Yeah. Maybe venison just refers to all those similar species. Is this something I can drink here? I mean, an elk is. Yeah. Yeah. They all qualify. Yeah. There you go. Even toad ungulates, yeah? Even toad ungulates. I read that sentence at first says, even toad ungulates, like some kind of- Toad ungulates? Yeah. That's how I also learned it. An ungulate that is somehow also an amphibian. Get back on track. Anyway. Pat, have you not tried this yet? What are you doing over here? You're screwing up on the first one. Well, I don't know what it is. Pat, do you know what it is? Well, Roger saw. Roger is going to have to keep to himself this time. All right. Here we go. Beer number one. Let's go. Oktoberfest number one. Great Lakes Oktoberfest. Very Marzani, right? Caramelized. Toasty Caramel kind of character. Worth mentioning, this is going to be one of those things where you really need to try to suss out the slight differences. There's going to be a lot of similarity here. Not to overlap. Yeah. Number one seems crisp. It's real crisp. Yeah. You know what? For as Marzani as it smells and looks, it does finish kind of crisp. Yeah, I'm going to grab a pen. Yeah, I need a pen too. You guys didn't bring pens? No, it was stupid. The pen is necessary for this. Meat stick number three is so good. Yeah, definitely crispy, fresh. I don't know, man. You're saying crispy because you think it has a hop cut to it or? Yeah, I do. I think it has a citric bitterness. I get the, you get some alcohol, I get some booze. I get some of that bitterness in the back of my throat on the end there. No, Pat, a little bit. I think it's more of a alcohol bite in the back than a- Do you think this one's hoppy and citricy? Or do you think the cut comes from something else? Pat's doing meat stick ASMR. Roger says it's an alcoholic. I think it's a booze. Is that what it is? Yeah. I think that's correct. It hits just before the finish. There are hops here. I would say this is a pretty straight down the middle version. It doesn't seem overly caramelized. It does have some balance with hops. It's not leaning strongly in any direction. Greg, I get some citrus on the finish. Is it? I mean, right? There's both. It's a little bit there. Interesting. So do you think it's German or do you think it's American? Got to be, right? All right. Is that what we're guessing between? I agree. You can guess whatever you want. I think it's American, but I find it surprising that the malt is so restrained. Yeah, yeah. It's not pudding. It's not sweet. I'm giving this a straight up very good because I like that the malt is restrained. I don't know what that means. It's very good good. I know. How many sausage sticks does it get on the sausage sticks? I do not want to hear another explanation about how you rate things. Yeah, I wasn't offering an explanation. I'm just telling you what I rated it. Jim, you ready for beer too? Change it to meat sticks. Oktoberfest number two. Hopewell Oktoberfest Lager number two. It smells soapy. Oh, it's grainy and bitter grain on the finish. Bitter grain, though. This one also is not sweet. It's real dry and it's like spicy, like rye spice or something like that. Yeah, interesting. It is relatively dry. The body is a little creamier, but it is not super malt forward. It's also exactly as brown as the previous. It has like no nose at all. Maybe vegetation. Yeah, if you swirl it around a little, it kicks up a little bit. But yeah, the nose is a little restrained. There's almost a little bit of a green. I don't know if I'd go so far as to say it's acid aldehyde, but it's. It's very drinkable because its finish is so dry. I really feel like this is one I could house by the leader. It's dry. It's crisp. It is, but it's overall, it's pretty plain and uninteresting. I think overall, though, but like well-made, some of the most people who work in the office here. Plain, uninteresting. I mean, it does say something that I'm more drawn to the meat sticks right now than the beers. You want the spice rundown on those meat sticks? Sure. I got the whole thing from Stu last night. Send him a link. Yeah, do it last night. Let's do that later. Well, as we're passing the stuff around, we're done with this beer, right? I got nothing else to say about beer two. Yeah, this beer was boring. Let's go on the next one. They're all fermented to about a 4.8 pH, and they get lots of smoke. The Land Jaeger's Pork and Beef, 30% beef, Salt White Pepper Caraway, that's it. The Venison Summer sausage is Canadian Elk and some pork. The Beer Stick is the base Summer sausage recipe they use, but with extra garlic and a little bit of cayenne and a little bit of MSG. Good. I did it again. I applaud the use of MSG. And the Hungarian Hunter's Stick has lots of garlic, lots of paprika, white pepper, and caraway. That makes sense. Oktoberfest, number three. Spaten Oktoberfest? I know which one this is. This is a little skunky. Browner in color. I got it. It is browner in color. It's crystal clear. Wow. And it smells like mousse. It does smell like mousse. It's definitely skunked. This is imported. This is probably what Spaten. Only included because it's literally the original Oktoberfest, but yes, it's in green glass. And even though it's got a little color to it, not enough to protect it, so it's skunk. I don't feel like criticizing this beyond that because like, I don't know, it's like a cork wine. You just kind of stop. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know what else there is to say about it. It's dry. It's skunky and dry. I mean, it's hard to judge something that has a fault. I don't think it's bad. No, there's a good beer underneath here for sure. But the first thing that pops out is that that's skunk. It's worth noting the body level, because it's lighter in body than a lot of American examples. So America has definitely taken the style and run with that. Oh, it uses darker malt, so it's going to be a richer beer. Right on. I'm all for it. Yeah. This is a little leaner than a lot of the American examples. But yeah, it's a shame. just stop using green glass. We're not morons from the 50s. Not a fashion statement. Good beer has to come in green glass. Oktoberfest, number four. Sierra Nevada, Oktoberfest Fest Beer. Is this our first Fest Beer? What is that? Not Marsen? It is worth mentioning. Roger makes us do this every year. You don't remember this? No, I do. For what it's worth, there's so many Oktoberfest now that I stuck to ones that were all labeled just Oktoberfest and that short of one that did both and tried to just be like, you decide, they're all Mertzen's. They're all Mertzen's? Well, this is light on its feet for that. Yeah. I was going to say this was one of my favorites so far because it's so drinkable. It's very good. Yeah. It's well balanced. It is a bit lighter but it's not anywhere near Fest beer color. I'm giving it a very good plus. American breweries seem to just take this term and kind of do whatever they want with it. So you think this is domestic? Yeah. I bet this is the one that's labeled as both would be my guess. Domestic and imported? Oktoberfest and Mertzen. Oh, and Fest beer. Country hand blaster? I find this one to be really tasty with the classic beer stick. Oh, we're doing blind pairings, too? You're not. I continue to protest. These are fabulous meat sticks. Good. I'm glad you enjoyed them. They were adorable animals before they got turned into meat sticks. I'm glad that you enjoyed them. I'm glad. They're pretty cute as meat sticks, too, though. You know, number four is great. And it's worth noting that number four is really great. There's a spicier character to the finish that I like. Noble Hop Spicy? Yeah, I think. Yeah. Yeah. This is a good beer. Z German Hops. Yeah. Number four is leading for me so far. It slaps, as the kids say. Yes. But you guys are just saying how good it is. It's on the lean, fresh side of what we have so far. Yeah. Which there's nothing wrong with this because you could argue that the new Fest Beer style, for a little background, very truncated. You can listen to our other episode for a full explanation, but in Munich, at the tents, they basically serve a Helles as the beer because the old school Märzen is too rich and high alcohol to drink six liters of, so you could argue that- They can only have so many passed out australian tourists. Well, I would definitely say that if this is the one that's labeled ambiguously, they've done a good job because there is some multi-richness in the mouth, but it is eminently- Yeah, so what I was getting at is I think that American breweries are starting to say like, why does it have to be one or the other? Let's split the difference, combine the good parts of both, make it a little more character than like a Helles, but not as rich as a- I would call that a success if that's what they're doing. Oktoberfest number five. Half Acre Lager Town. That's a good beer. That is a good beer. That is a good beer. It's richer. Yeah. But it's balanced. But it's still light and fresh. Well, not fresh. It's got enough just drying, zippy little carbonation on the finish, keeps it clean. It doesn't cling like some multi-beers tend to do. Indeed. That's really well made. It's a little tiny bit spicy, a little bit of bacon spice. I was going to say a bit of toasted spice on the nose, but I might be smelling my beef sticks here. A little bit of, I'm not smelling your beef sticks. A little bit of pumpkin pie spice, just a hint of pumpkin pie in there. Like just a little bit of autumn. I am all for this beef stick thing, but it is f**king with my head. Yeah. I'm just eating all of my food. Listen, man, I just tried to bring fun treats, okay? Next time I won't. No, no. I mean, let's be honest, it's a huge part of the Oktoberfest tradition is the food pairings, be it pretzels, sausages. Totally agree. Where are the pretzels? This office is always so filled with pretzels. Oh, there they are. Jenna holding up the pretzels. We can't have those other pretzels, they're so loud. Oh, no kidding. We should get those hot mics. I really like this one too, man. What's your guess as far as domestic or German? I think this is domestic. I think this is German. I was going German too. Well, I'm looking forward to being wrong. Audience playing along at home already knows how wrong I am. Is this the expensive one? When it's like five times the price of other ones. It's in there. I don't think so. I think Einger tends to be a little heavier. Like Einger Martzen is pretty caramelized. I think you're correct here. This is really well made, but I don't think it has the weight of Einger. But it's been a year since I tasted Einger, so. Indeed. I always find Einger to have an incredible malt character, but more hop cut than I'm expecting. Yeah, Einger does have more hop cut. You're right. Octoberfest number six. Paulaner Oktoberfest Märzen. Another boozy boy for me. He's got a little. Are you talking about five? Six. Six. Six. I would guess is maybe a domestic. Are you saying you think domestic ones, broadly speaking, the alcohol won't be as well integrated? Correct. Yeah. It's grainy. It really has malt at the forefront. Yeah. I find the nose to be less than refined. I don't know what I mean by that, but it almost seems a bit rustic. I think it almost smells like it was fermented short. Yeah. Like under attenuated? Yeah. I don't think it left a lot of sugar to be had on the table. It just seems like almost if this was a bottom fermented, like all the off flavor didn't quite reabsorb. I don't want to call it sulfury, but it's a little tiny bit sulfury. The word skunk popped in my head for this one too. But it's not skunky, but it's funky somehow. Weird and funky somehow. It's not skunky. Yeah. I'm telling you, I think it's a bit of sulfur. You're getting grassy hops. I think it's a bit of sulfur. I think that's- Grassy hop? Yeah. There's probably, I'd say like Saz. Oh yeah, that could be. Yeah, you're right, because sometimes I just taste like, what's the stubby bottle that has the classic hops in it from Belgium? Every time I taste it- Duval, yes. Every time I taste it, I associate it with skunky, but it's not. Yeah, it's Saz. It would be my guess is what you're tasting. All right. So does that mean it's probably German? No. A lot of the American ones use some noble hops. They don't always use... They usually use at least a combination of some European and American. I think the finish is a bit just kind of flat. And just there. I don't think it's particularly interesting. Yeah. Solid beer, but like that grassiness, sulfur, I don't know. It's almost like an autolized yeast character on the nose, I think. I don't know. I don't actually know what I'm talking about. We're going to call that one mixed reviews. Yeah. Yeah, I wrote fine. Fine. It's fine. It's fine. You know what? Yeah, like you're saying a lot of science words, but it's like you could drink it. Yeah. I mean, and I will. It's a good plus. Good plus. Mixed reviews. It's fine, but it seems unrefined. Oktoberfest, number seven. Samuel Adams Oktoberfest? This one smells like a malt liquor. It's got a sharpness in the alcohol. Sure does. It has like a marmalade quality too. I mean, it's still within shades. I mean, it's still like a streamlined middle ground mid-weight beer, but it has more broad fruit flavors. Baked fruit flavors. Yeah, you get acid aldehyde on this, like a green apple. just tastes cheap. I didn't think I picked anything cheap, but unfortunately it does. So, you're guessing American Craft on this one? Oh, yeah. This gets the dreaded okay from me. Whoa, the dreaded okay. Oh my God. Would not seek out. Yeah. I don't know much to say about this. Got nothing nice to say, I guess. Pretty lame so far. Can it be brought back to life by a delicious Land Jaeger? It's surprising too, because I did not pick any outlier, weird, all respected breweries. Roger, once again, we say this every time, this is why we blind taste. Yeah. because we are honest and we are not clouded by misconceptions. It's real preconceptions. It's real. It's real. Yeah. Uncut, unfiltered, Barrel to Bottle. You all missed Chris saying that while holding a meat stick in his hand. That's right. Listen up people. Waving a meat stick. I will say, even though I'm not thrilled with the beer, it's pretty delicious with the Land Jaeger. Next one is good though. Here comes in our hero to rescue us away. Oktoberfest number eight. Goose Island Oktoberfest. That's a big boy. I can put a lot of those down. Sweet caramel on the mid-palate, zippy, finely carbonated finish that scrubs it away. I really like this beer. Delightful. Yeah, delightful beer. I mean, it's really somewhere until the last seven beers. But this is a step up. Yeah. Again, there's very a lot of nuance here, but I think Brof nailed it. That sweet caramely, sweet caramel is like what you always get with these, but this is a more refined honeyed, like not as deeply caramelized. Think honey as opposed to like caramel on the stone. You know what it is? If you've fermented those super powdery, crisp Nature Valley granola bars, those honey granola bars, if you just put those in a bucket of water and let it ferment. Those are so good. just like a wonderful velvety mouthfeel. It's plush. It's nice. Yeah. You think this one's German? I put German. What do I know? I don't know. Roger, what do you think it is? I think you have a specific brand in mind of what you think this is. Well, the only German one that it would be of the ones I picked would be Einger. It's definitely not Einger. I'm not sure that's right. No way that's Einger. Yeah. Maybe it's the best made American craft Oktoberfest available, which is from Sam Adams as you know. I hope Sam Adams is in here. Sam Adams make a good Oktoberfest. Yeah. I mean, it's sweet and caramely for sure. Number eight got my highest rating of the day so far. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Oktoberfest number nine. Eyinger Oktoberfest Märzen. This one's a little more plush and a little more spicy. A little sweeter, a little brighter. It smells maltier on the nose. It's got that caramel malt nose. Finally, something malty. God, that's pretty great. It's rich. It's creamy. This could be Eyinger. It could be. 8 to 9, head to head. 9 is much more broad. You think that's Eyinger? 9's a little sweeter. Yeah, I don't think it has enough hot cut for Eyinger, but it might be. Eyinger's pretty sweet. It is, definitely. It's delicious, whatever it is. Yeah. So does that beat out number 9 for you or is that? I'm leaving them tied for now. Until you hear what they are. I might go back and re-rate one more time. Yeah, you have done that. Re-rate? Go with your gut, man. Yeah. How many sousaphone solos does that get? sousaphone. Bro, I'm going to show up here with a sousaphone one day. Oh, no. Don't threaten me with that. I'd love it. Oktoberfest number 10. Three Floyd's Monsterfest. This smells kind of corny, like corn, and I think it's real thin. I think this one smells like a short fermentation. It's got a yeasty tone in the nose. It kind of reminds me of Seven. Seven, the one nobody had anything to say about? Yeah. A little subtle hint of anise, maybe. I don't really have anything to say about Ten either. Number 10, mixed reviews. As people start to get in the loggers, I think these are a nice example here of the whole integration, and whether or not something seems like it's sharp or if it flows. It doesn't have that nice uninterrupted mouth feel and taste. It's like, oh, kind of sharp. I agree with you, Roger, but also I'm distracted by the ASMR coming out of Chris's mouth. Yeah. What the **** is ASMR? Come on, you have the internet. Come on, what? seriously? Those videos are everybody. They're like, they're like, I'm going to lick the microphone for you and you just feel tingles. That's a thing? It's so a thing. I don't know how you don't know what that is. I know what it is, but I don't understand it. You're on Reddit. It's like a running gag. Yeah. Yeah. The people eat into a microphone. People make money doing this. Or they just take a little bit of gel and go like this. Could I make money doing this? I mean, with the right crowd. Yeah. What are you willing to show? Pat, for the majority of people who watch ASMR videos, you're not hot. I don't know. Yeah. Have we done like neckbeard ASMR where someone's like, there's a lid for every pot, baby. I'm sure. I mean, you can make money. A lid for every pot. Oh, man. Number 11. I never even gave a rating to 10. Number 11. Let's say something about 10. Octoberfest Number 11. Hocker Shore, Oktoberfest Märzen. Kind of lighter color on a lot of these than I anticipated. I agree. Also, I think that overall they're relatively lighter in body than I was expecting. So 11 seems softer and more plush, softer and easier than several that we've had so far. I think it's got an interesting spicy hop character on the nose. I think the nose is notably, for my palate of these things, slightly hoppy. I bet this is a craft, American craft. It's definitely well done. There's a broad malt character here. It's round and plush. It almost feels like there's a little lactose in there, which would be weird, but yeah, it has that. It does. It has that smoothness. Yeah, creamy. Much better said, thank you. Smoothness. It's like the worst word. Smoothness. The best word. Smoothness. We live in the best timeline. It gets a very good minus. Very good minus. I think this might be one of the really well-known ones. Yeah, I think that's pretty. Which one do you think it is, right? I think it's pretty good. I think this might be Paulaner. Really? Roger has it on Paulaner. Mark it. Octoberfest number 12. Metropolitan Afterburner Octoberfest. Now, this one has the look of an Ianger. No, too dark. And it's the richest smelling of all of them. Ianger is pretty dark, dude. This is big. It's not Ianger. Yeah, this is like the putting one. You haven't had Ianger in a while. This is way darker than this. Way darker. Well, it's thinner, too. Okay, I like this one and it's because I'm dumb. It's because I have a dumb palate and I like this big sweet beer. This is your... I don't find it big and sweet. Really? Comparatively, I think I could see that being the initial thought for sure. I mean, we're talking about a pretty narrow margin of the beer spectrum here. Yeah. This is the big sweet one of the bunch. Yes, it is. Of the bunch, yeah. It has enough hop cut though to... No, it does... . contain that in the finish. I can't believe you guys think this is big and sweet. I absolutely do not. This has sweeter beers. You've had sweeter beers here in this flight. What number is sweeter than number 12? I'm looking at my notes trying to figure out. Number one is sweeter than number 12. No way. Number one is caramel corn. Interesting. You're right. It's more toasted sugar. I don't think 12 is that bad. When you revisit it, one tastes sweet, but one is actually quite bitter. I'll never really understand any of these with the presence of meat sticks. That's all I have to appreciate. You just blown out your subtle palate with the meat stick. Yeah. It's probably the MSG. I was really tuned in tasting Grower Champagne. Why do you keep saying this? because they were delicious. It's like his Italian vacation. Yeah. Have I told you I have a vacation in small conference room one? And spend my time exclusively drinking Grower Champagne? All right, favorites real quick before we do the reveals. I mean, hang on, I'm going to taste all 12 and again. Okay, let's all taste, speed taste. One's better than I remember. Is there any possibility of more than one? Two's kind of soft. Three sucks. Two's grassy. Ah, no. Let me check. Nope. How about new? I got whatever I cut out of there. Six is good. Four is hoppy. Yeah. My ratings have been spot on so far. I've not changed the rating. I may downgrade number eight on second taste through. I gave up on accurately tasting these beers when I was drinking that fine grower's champagne. I don't know if I'm. Clearly, you swallowed some of that fine grower's champagne too. All right. I'm upgrading 10, downgrading 11. After power tasting, number 12 I think is great. I like nine, I like eight, I like four because it's an outlier and I like one. I like nine, four, and five the best. Four and five got one star and eight and nine got two stars for me. I like whatever I said before because I really can't. No, out of two, out of just. Out of two stars? Yeah. It's like you're really changing the conventional star system. She put a star on the ones that she liked and then she realized that she liked one more. She doubled up. So this is the A plus plus system. I was going off the movie rating and I'm like, oh man, they all can. Well, if we're doing that, so eight and nine got Barbie and four and five got Oppenheimer. No Barbenheimers? That's both of them at the same time. That's both of them at the same time. I know. That's the ultimate. All right. Here comes the reveal. Beer number one. Here's where we're all going to eat Crow except it turns out that they were all I eat. Jim, don't f*** this up. What do we got here? Great Lakes. Great Lakes. Very good beer. I had that very good. Great Lake Oktoberfest. Nice. In my sheet over there somewhere. I recall saying that was domestic. Or I could be wrong. Yeah. So Great Lakes uses Mount Hood hops, which I think is when you were getting it. Yeah, like an old school hop and there would be a little that, it's supposed to be European-esque, but there's some American citrus in there too, I think. Yeah. Good one. Definitely boozy. Boy, these venison sticks are the f**king bomb. So ABV on that? Does anyone remember offhand what Great Lakes is? 6.5 for that? You can crush those all day long. That's why I like it. You said alcohol, when you tasted it. Giddy up, 6.5. I think it's the strongest one of the bunch. Nice. I could drink this. It's pretty awesome with the venison stick. All right. Number two. Meat stick. Confirmed, strongest beer of the day. Hopewell. Number two is Hopewell Oktoberfest. Yeah, not good. Really? It's okay. Yeah, it's okay. It's good. It's good plus. Doesn't stand out. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Hopewell's Oktoberfest used to be, they used to call this End Grain Oktoberfest. I don't know if it's the same beer, if it's a new recipe, but Hopewell does some sneaky good lagers, so I think I wanted to give it a try. This was the first time I had had this beer this year. I think maybe it's suffering from, I get a little bit of acid aldehyde on it. What's an acid aldehyde? It's like, Chris, you want to explain it, but I think like taste it and think raw pumpkin. It's the classic flavor that you find in sherry in huge amounts. Sherry is incredibly aldehyde. It's a molecule that is a combination of acid and alcohol. Strangely enough, it's like a halfway point and it gives you lots of tart apple. You get it. Yeah, tart apple like green apple. You get it in a lot of warm, in ale fermentations that get too warm. I'm not sure how it behaves in a lager like this though. Yeah. All right. Number three. We all knew this. Spottin. Nailed that one. Skunk in stupid green grass. Skunk city. It's still no Spottin website either. It just exists in the ether. Come on, Spottin. Rod just didn't complain about that lack of website for six years. You know you're better than this. Cut it out. Included only because it's the first Octoberfest beer. That is the origin of the Märzen style. Yes, we recorded that podcast four times already. I'm just letting the listeners know. Number four. Yeah, nailed it. That's the... Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest Fest Beer. So, I loved that beer. Very good plus it got from me. It is fantastic. And it was as anticipated, this is the one where they're kind of, I think, trying to merge the styles since they bothered to write Oktoberfest Fest Beer. It's a collaboration. The last few years, well, not last year, but previously, they've been collaborating with different breweries in Germany. This is a collab with Keer Wilder, which is a newer German brewery that most of their stuff is actually American inspired, ironically. Like they're known for doing dry hop, pale ale and stuff. But it's 6% ABV, 30 IBU, uses cascade, tetanin and tradition. So it's a combo of lovely beer. 30 IBUs is high for Oktoberfest. That's pale ale high. Yeah, they're not messing around. You guys. Notably, my only empty glass. I want you to know that this is the third beer from Sierra Nevada that has blown me away on today, august 11th, 2020. Are you referring to the podcast you recorded before this one? I enjoyed two other Sierra Nevada beers on a podcast we recorded immediately before this recording. Oh, my God. Everyone's experience could be ruined now listening to this podcast. The illusion is shattered. I mean, isn't that like all the podcasts I listen to do that too? Do they? Yeah. They mention it. Well, looky here. Are we surprised the OG is drinking out something, right? I mean, come on. When they didn't brew it, this Hungarian hunter stick is so garlicky. Knock it off. When they didn't brew it on Oktoberfest, the reaction was hilarious. Everyone's like, are you kidding me? What are you doing? So I'm glad that they're back. Number five. I like this one a lot too. I guess German. Oh, it's not. Half Acre Lager Town. This is the first one notably that doesn't have the diamond pattern motif, whatever that's called. It does. It kind of does. Never mind. They all have the same stereotypical diamond pattern motif. Wow. Fooled me, man. I thought this was a German beer. I included this because they- I wrote USA just for the record. They definitely take the American let's play around with things and change things up with this. It uses rye as well as toasted rye flakes. Honey, Special B, Sea Munich Type 3. So, there's a lot of stuff going on in the malt bill, but I think it's the rye that really sets it apart. It's always made it kind of an interesting change of pace at every Oktoberfest. It's delicious. plus, there's a cool owl on the label. What is that, a barred owl? They have an owl as a thing. Yeah, the owl is like their kind of their original logo. An octopus owl. Squid owl, yeah. We haven't been talking about availability and whatnot, so this one comes in a four-pack, 16-ounce cans, $11.99. Why am I out of meat sticks? Is the Sierra Nevada coming in 12-pack? It does. So, 12-packs in cans only, which is kind of interesting. Oh, yeah. Six-packs are $10.99, 12-packs are $18.99. We've been running some sale prices too. That is awesome. Don't miss that one. Yeah. Buy that, people. It's good. Chris, that does certainly look like a barred owl on there. It does. Let's go. Number six. Paulaner. Huh. I said this one, I said sulfur, question mark, grassy, grainy, and flat-ish in the finish. Yeah, that, I'm really surprised that was. Was this last year's model? No way. Yeah, I guess as I revisit it. Yeah, it reminds me of that. I definitely guessed Paulaner on something else though, I thought. Yeah, Levin, I thought was it. Interesting. Paulaner classic to a lot of people, this is the Oktoberfest. It's so popular in America that they send it here year-round. Sometimes you'll find it at a bar just labeled as Märzen and not Oktoberfest so people don't think that's old. Made year-round, yeah. Available in 12-packs, solid price right now. It's on sale $15.99 a 12-pack, normally $19.99. At least that's affordable. All right, number seven was met with a shrug. Say them Adams. Say them Adams. Sharp, boozy, green apple, cheap. Somebody specifically called out cheap. That was Roger. I'm surprised. I always remember this as being super rich in caramel. Me too. Have they changed the way they make it? Maybe that's why we taste blind. I mean, if you're sitting at an Applebee's, sorry, if you're sitting at your favorite hot wing sports bar, and this is like the craftiest beer on tap, it's going to seem like it's rich. I know, but I don't think I could be misremembering it. Since when do we shy away from throwing shaded Applebee's? Yeah, okay, fair enough. Anyway, you're enjoying some jalapeno poppers, and you know what? That's one of the beers they have there at that place. Boy, this is a letdown. I don't remember it tasting this bad. Oh, shit. Roger, you just shit right on top of that beer. It's not good. It got my second lowest rating of the day. Why do I remember it as being rich and malty? I think they probably tried to change it some. I mean, their whole modus over there seems to be to make things more drinkable. This was definitely a more- Next year, it's going to be a seasonal twisted tea. Come on, Samuel. You are also better than this, Sam Adams. Nothing to say. Move on to the next one. Number eight. Whoa, look who came in and surprised the shit out of us. Wow. Now, for the record, I did downgrade it on the second-past tasting, but I still gave it a very good. I'm trying to backtrack once it was a macro. I like goose, dude. I will defend goose. I initially had eight and nine at the same rating, and when I went back and tasted, I downgraded eight and I kept nine where it was. A downgrade to a very good, come on, this is still an A beer. It was one of my Barbies. This is better than I remember it being. I think they maybe changed it a little. The Hallertau tradition is the hop. It's worth mentioning for the geek minute here, a lot of these beers are just called tradition. I'm bothering to say Hallertau, so you have some context. Some people aren't writing Hallertau because if you use Hallertau, then sometimes people think it's grown in the Hallertau region. Yeah. So this is probably, that's why you'll sometimes see Hallertau, Hallertau and you're like, that sounds ridiculous. That means it's Hallertau hops grown in the Hallertau region. Who do they think they are? Wine? Well, as opposed to Hallertau Middlefrew, right? Right. Okay. But this is awesome. Very good. Hands off and you can get this super cheap. I'm sure you can get a 12-pack for like 10 bucks. 12 bucks on sale. 12 bucks. The next time that any Chicago team plays any Boston team, let's point out this pairing. Yeah. This matchup. Number nine. Hey, you guys guessed it. Number nine is indeed Eyinger, apparently the expensive one. My favorite of the day. That's good. How about Goose giving it a run for its money? Yep. Honestly. So Eyinger by comparison costs $13.99 of four pack. What? No way. Who's cost $11.99 of 12 pack? I might get some of that Goose Island. I got to get a 12 pack of that. Man, Eyinger really is the king of the Octoberfest. I will still be buying some, but yeah. Also check out the new Goose Island packaging, the little goofy pretzel walking down the street. Got his little German hat on. Yeah. Very great. Now, Eyinger was great, but actually a little sweeter than, I might actually prefer the hop element of Goose. All right. We were shaky on this next one. It's number 10. How's that? Three Floyd's? Three Floyd's Monsterfest. God, that label, that is so crowded. Yeah, right. It's busy. It's very busy. You can't even identify anything from over here. The only reason I knew who it was is because it was so busy, but I can't actually see anything out there. I gave it a good plus plus. I thought it was yeasty and thin-ish, but solid flavor. Yeah. It is yeasty. I remembered this having more, I don't know, hop character. Most of their beers have more hop character. More hop character. Not normal. I don't know. I guess they do list this at 20 IBUs. It's 6.2, so it's one of the boozier ones, and I think especially as it warms up here, you can taste that. Yes. Salad, but definitely want it colder. Not enjoying it as much as it warmed up. Number 11, Hocker Shore. Hocker Shore. In Munich, there are six breweries that are allowed to actually be at Oktoberfest and serve beer. Hocker and Paulaner and Spaten are three of those six. Einger, notably not allowed. Yeah, not in Munich. The other ones being Lohenbrau, augusteiner, both of which are not available here. And then Hofbrau. I did not choose Hofbrau because their Oktoberfest is a Fesbier and would be very different than all these. Number 12, Metropolitan Afterburner. I really like this one. Always one of my favorites for Oktoberfest, especially domestic-wise. This very, I think, well-thought-out. Toasty grain, round and easy. It's got Vienna, Munich, Pilsner, Biscuit, and roasted barley for the malt bill. Topps are Horizon, Mount Hood, and Hallertown Middlefrew. Yeah. The yeast is actually from one of those breweries I just mentioned in Munich. It uses supposedly the augustiner yeast strain. Nice. Solid beer. Yeah, very solid beer. I like the flying robot on the bottle, or on the can. That's what they do. Roger hates the flying robot. He thinks it's a queen album. Man, that's a lot of malt. Tis the season. So which fest is best? Which fest is best? Eyinger. I mean, the standout surprise has got to be the Goose Island. Yeah. Goose Island, unbelievable. Especially, I mean, they're giving it away. Yeah. It's a 16.99, 12-pack, which is a good price to begin with. And then right now, we're running it at 11.99. I mean, that's the no-brainer. How can you afford not to drink it? Einger's still best in show, but that is impressive. Still props to Sierra Nevada and props to Metropolitan. Oh, yeah. The new Sierra Nevada is a must try. And then I think props to Half Acre for, again, approaching the style a little differently. I get the desire for some of these American craft breweries to just do a very traditional take, but it's cool when people really thoughtfully try to make it their own. And I think Half Acre's really did theirs well. Yeah. Iyanger, Goose Island, Half Acre, and Sierra Nevada are my favorites. Same. Also, honorary mention to Reem's Meat Market. Oh, that's just beef steaks, meat steaks. And Jerky Dip. And Jerky Dip. Roger's concern every year in covering Oktoberfest is don't do it too soon because they arrive in the middle of July. Don't do it too late because they sell out. Folks, these will sell out. Maybe not Goose. That'll probably stick around for a while. Worth mentioning that when it comes to craft beer, we're so used to you got to buy the beer and drink it as soon as possible. These beers are built to last. Märzen's get the name because they're literally kept all summer long before they're enjoyed in the fall. You have no problem getting 90, 120, even longer depending on the brewery and Oktoberfest beer. So buy them now. You can enjoy them well into winter. Totally. Raj, thanks for grabbing them. Jim, thank you for being MC, DM, Dungeon Master. Get out and drink them folks. Barrel the Bottle, Binny's Podcast. Back in your feet next week. Something great. I'm Greg. I'm Pat. I'm Jonah. I'm Chris. And I'm Roger. Keep tasting.