Favorite Oktoberfest beer this year?

I've only had Sam Adam's, Spaten and Paulaner and I my favorite so far is the Paulaner. Even though I bought a case of sam adam's and a case of spaten to drink through the fall....they were $20 a case at sam's club I just couldn't pass it up.

If you are looking for fall sesonal brews, I would recomend the Sierra Nevada Tumbler. It isn't an oktoberfest, but it is an awesome "autumn brown ale".

If not, disregard post!

no i've been looking at it a lot but for some odd reason I havn't picked it up yet. I'm a huge brown ale fan and will try soon.

So far I have had Ayinger, Avery (Imperial Oktoberfest), Left Hand, and Great Lakes. By far I thought Great Lakes was the best, but that could be also that it is fresh and local for me and is on tap. So It has an advantage.

I have always liked the Sam Adams version, but this years oktoberfest by st arnolds is GREAT.

I have enjoyed Sam Adams for many years, but my favorite to date, is Still Hacker-Pschorr.

~Phillip

Germelli1 said:

If you are looking for fall sesonal brews, I would recomend the Sierra Nevada Tumbler.

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I tried one of these last week. The beer tasted fine but when I smelled it I could think of nothing other than dog poo. I am dead serious. I love SN brews but I couldn't get past the smell of this beer.

Ayinger is awesome. Had it on tap at Bavarian Lodge in Lisle, Illinois. But, still, it is the only one I have had this year. I need to get out! Sample some beer.

Gotta' say: I am not a Rogue fan, but try Maierfest Lager, if you can get it in the next month or so. It is amazing.

Again, I am NOT a Rogue fan, but this is one beautiful beer!

I love Goose Island-Harvest Ale. It's more hoppy than your standard Oktoberfest beer.

The only new one I've had so far is Flying Fish Oktoberfish - it was decent. SA is always a solid one too though I'm looking for something to really wow me this year.

I still can't get SA around me yet and believe me I've been looking. I had Weihenstephaner's Oktoberfest. I didn't really find it too great. It poured a pale yellow, thin head that disappeared quickly, no lacing, and was very crisp/fruity. I prefer a super malty, copper colored oktoberfest.

MacGruber said:

I prefer a super malty, copper colored oktoberfest.

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Like this one? MMmmmmmm......


Unfortunately I am a bit stranded in northern AB right now and I fear i will miss out on this season's bounty. Hopefully I will find some seasonals when I arrive in Singapore in a few days.

local german beer hall just recently got in some spatan oktoberfest. good stuff! also just finished a 6-pack of sam adams oktoberfest.

drinking a very good oktoberfest right now. club brew; not commercial

I really enjoyed Shiner Oktoberfest last weekend.

MacGruber said:

I still can't get SA around me yet and believe me I've been looking. I had Weihenstephaner's Oktoberfest. I didn't really find it too great. It poured a pale yellow, thin head that disappeared quickly, no lacing, and was very crisp/fruity. I prefer a super malty, copper colored oktoberfest.

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Other than for the US market, that basically doesn't exist*.

*As oktoberfest or festbier, it does as Marzen.

ThickHead, that beer looks awesome. That's exactly what I look for in a festbier. My two fav's are SA Octoberfest and Victory's Festbier.

Hacker-Pschorr makes my favorite Oktoberfest but I can't find it anywhere around here anymore My second favorite would be Warsteiner.

Shame all the oktoberfest beers come so early. I mean i'm happy I bought my couple cases to drink for awhile but I should have already session'd some marzen a couple times before august if over.

p.s. tried Spaten Marzen and it = super good.

I got my SA Octoberfest and it's just as delicious as I remembered it to be. Spaten will be my next purchase.

MacGruber said:

I got my SA Octoberfest and it's just as delicious as I remembered it to be. Spaten will be my next purchase.

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$20 a case for Spaten at sams club.

MacGruber said:

I got my SA Octoberfest and it's just as delicious as I remembered it to be. Spaten will be my next purchase.

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I finally had this years Sam Adams Octoberfest on draft last night, fantastic as always!

I wish I had a Sam's Club around me. I only have BJ's and they don't carry alcohol of any kind. I live in Philadelphia.

MacGruber said:

I wish I had a Sam's Club around me. I only have BJ's and they don't carry alcohol of any kind. I live in Philadelphia.

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Dude there are plenty around Philly! There's even one in Philadelphia. Where in the city are you?

I can tolerate Sam Adams but I truly love Berkshire Brewing Company Octoberfest. Should be out any day now.

I actually just moved outside of the city. I'm in the suburbs now, in Glenolden. Do you go to Home Sweet Homebrew on Sansom St.?

So I had Spaten O'fest on draught tonight. It was good, but not amazing. I've reviewed it on BA before and I definitely wasn't overly impressed by it. I have to imagine that drinking an Oktoberfest beer in Munich tastes way fresher than these beers.

nepatsfan1 said:

I can tolerate Sam Adams but I truly love Berkshire Brewing Company Octoberfest. Should be out any day now.

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BBC definately makes a good beer!

Noodle said:

BBC definately makes a good beer!

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And I assume by that you mean Berkshire Brewing Co. not Boston Beer Co. haha?

Boleslaus said:

And I assume by that you mean Berkshire Brewing Co. not Boston Beer Co. haha?

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Yeah that is what I ment but I'm not going to lie...... I do enjoy a Sam Adams every now and then.

Ayering and Great Lakes are two of my favorite Octoberfests

Just bought a sixer of Sam Adams Oktoberfest. I enjoyed it but I was getting a lot of 'Munich malt fruitiness' for lack of a better phrase. Also got what I think is a yeast-derived 'meaty' aroma. That aroma is something I recently encountered with the Danish Lager strain. To some degree both might be one of those desirable traits when in the right proportion, but I don't really know.

I always gravitate towards Spaten Oktoberfest for some reason. The Sam Adams seems to sweet/crystal to me. Spaten's is clean.

The new Shiner Oktoberfest isn't bad at all. Its rather normal overall with a clean crispness to go along with the crystal and munich malts.

O'fest is one of my 'top 3' favorite styles. I had SA O'fest on tap Friday night at an Applebee's, of all places. Was pretty good, but had a slight tobacco finish, most likely from dark crystal malts. Still, pretty tasty. I like Goose Island's Harvest Ale and would like to try Great Lakes, New Glarus and a dozen others, too.

But I'm too busy enjoying my own O'fest!

clickety click pic for my O'fest recipe

Rhoobarb said:

...would like to try...New Glarus and a dozen others, too.

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I picked up a 6 pack of new glarus o'fest and it is very good but nothing stand out different from spaten or SA. I've only tried 4 and so far paulner imo has the o'fest this year. I'll pick up some harvest this weekend.

BogusOwnz said:

...so far paulner imo has the o'fest this year. ...

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It's good, for sure. Believe it or not, if you can find it on tap (can't speak for the green bottle version) Beck's is surprisingly good. Not out of this world, but better than I would ever have suspected.

I was at a local O'fest a few years ago and they had four O'fests on tap, one of which was Beck's. I passed Beck's up the entire time, thinking it would be bland and thin. I decided to have one as it was nearing our time to leave and was surprised - it was the best of the four on tap that day!

Seems like all breweries put out their Octoberfest/Harvest beers at the same time. Grabbed a harvest mix-6 pack at my local bev center. Southern Tier Harvest is really good, Flying Dog Punkin Ale is good as well. Pass on anything Magic hat, they have two out right now. Pass on Weyerback(sp?) Imperial Pumpkin, way too much spices trying to cover up astringent alcohol taste.

Man had SA O'fest on draft today...ya it's really &ucking good, better then bottles.

P.s. Saw people drinking bud light wheat out of aluminum bottles.......