Favorite Oktoberfest?

I love this time of the year!!! :rockin:

Been grabbing a few singles from the stores lately, mostly Oktoberfestbier. So far (and in the past) I've had Oktoberfest from Victory, Bell's, Stoudt's, Hacker-Pschorr, Left Hand, Great Lakes, Paulaner, Flying Dog, and Sam Adams. I still have some Warsteiner Oktoberfest downstairs to try yet. My favorites as yet are Sam Adams and Left Hand.

How about you?

I like Left Hand and Victory the best probably. Erdinger makes a wheat=based oktoberfest, which is a nice change of pace.

I have had all the American versions of Oktoberfest that I can find here in NH. They are pretty much the same with their various spice/additives and hop flavors. But the American versions are nowhere close to the original German beers. They are actually overflavored compared to the German versions. But quite tasty nonetheless. I spent a year in Germany back in the mid 80"S. Love the local brewery aspect.

Anywhoo, just finished a sixer of Spaten Oktoberfest.

It's almost a cliche...but I like the Spaten.

yea, Spaten is, to me at least, the most typical standard Octoberfest. which makes it the best in my book.

Spatens great, but nothing touches Paulaner. That stuffs on point.
Wish I could get it here for the price I used to pay there instead of $9/6

Of all the American based breweries, I like GLBC's Octoberfest the best.

I like Spaten the best. The Erdinger Octoberfest-Weizen is really good too.

Has anyone had Blue Point Brewery's Oktoberfest? It's probably only available in the greater New York area, but my favorite American Style Oktoberfest. I'm a little disapointed about the Sam Adams Okt.

The Paulaner that makes it here is okay, but has a very slight touch of skunk to it from the trip. Hacker-pschorr is really nice, and Ayinger is even better. For American versions, my favorite is, hands down, Brooklyn. Garrett knows what he's doing, and he makes one of the truest-to-style fests in the states. I always like to have one or two of Avery's Kaiser (Imperial Oktoberfest), but it's so far from what fests are that it's kinda silly. But fun to drink, nonetheless...and will wreck your face like a 40.

Hacker-Pschorr and Brooklyn are the mutt's nuts.

You're all gonna kick me out of the club - but I like Beck's Oktoberfest the best. I used to like Sam's - but I think it's gone downhill the last 3 years. I had one this year and I'm not even interested in another.

I just realized I have never had the Brooklyn Ofest. I need to grab a pack.

But yeah, I think my favorite has to be Ayinger in the pint bottles. I would have to assume it would be even better on tap.

The thing that really makes this a tough call is the subjectivity of the style. You can find brews as light in color as a pale ale, or as dark as a deep amber. As dry as a pils, or with a sweet touch. It is a crapshoot when you just order or grab a bottle with no previous knowledge of the brewer.

So far this season I've had the following

Point Oktoberfest - Bottle
Great Lakes Oktoberfest - Bottle
Left Hand Oktoberfest - Bottle
Hacker Pschorr Oktoberfest - Bottle
Spaten Oktoberfestbier - Draft
Hofbrau Oktoberfest - Bottle
I would have to rate them as follows:
1HackerPschorr - 2GLBC - 3Spaten - 4Point - 5Hofbrau - 6Lefthand

Hopefully I got a bad batch of the lefthand, because to me it was not very good. My tasting may have been skewed because the prevalent beer at the party I had it at was the Hacker Pschorr. I brought the lefthand, and after 2 bottles switched over to Hacker. At the time, in my opinion, the HP was miles better than the LeftHand.

As someone who has attended the O'fest in Munich over a dozen times my list is simple:

Spaten, Löwenbräu, Augustiner, Hofbräu, Paulaner and Hacker-Pschorr

Löwenbräu and Ayinger. But I haven't had Augustiner's O-fest and since their Helles is the bee's knees, I'll bet their O-fest is good too.

Ive had Brooklyn's, Greatlakes, and Leinenkugels, and HofBrau so far this year. Brooklyn's was pretty good. Leiny's wasn't, which supprised me because I remember last years being one of my favorites. My favorite of the three American ones was definately Greatlakes. But the HofBrau was awesome. It was my first traditional German Oktoberfest. Very Nice!!

jezter6 said:

You're all gonna kick me out of the club - but I like Beck's Oktoberfest the best. ...

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Hey, I'm with ya! I went to an O'fest 3-4 years ago and had two local O'fest and saved the Beck's for last, thinking it would be lame. I actually ended up liking it better than the local offerings! It was on tap and that may have helped.

Now that we can get Brooklyn beers here, I'll have to look and see if the local beer pusher has their O'fest. Spaten is the standard, IMHO. So far, my fav domestics are GLBC and Goose Island Harvest Ale, which isn't relly an O'fest. It's more of an O'fest grain bill with more hops and an ale yeast. Stuff is great!

I still have to try and get more varieties. O'fests are one of my all-time favorite styles!

I personally love Capital Brewery's Oktoberfest. Their Autumnal Fire which is their Oktoberfest bumped up to Dopplebock strength is something to had if you can get it.

homebrewer_99 said:

As someone who has attended the O'fest in Munich over a dozen times my list is simple:

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I was under the impression that the majority of the beer served at Oktoberfest in Munich isn't Oktoberfestbier, but more like Helles.

spatan and or bitberger, my tongue likes both

I second, third and fourth Paulaner. None come close in my humble opinion. Every year the German Air Force guys stationed in Goodyear, Arizona throw an awesome O'fest with a truck full of Paulaner. On tap, it is amazing.

I like Bell's

Two weekends ago I fell in love with the Ofest at BJ's Brewhouse. Big, malty goodness. :rockin:

BJ's Restaurant & Brewery - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia