This year’s is made with help from Bitburger, and the results are one of the best widely available Märzens on the market. Hacker-Pschorr’s is a legally proper Oktoberfest, made within the Munich city limits and served at tents at the Wiesn to throngs of revelers. Removing the ice crystals (alcohol solidifies at –173°F, compared with water's 32°F) creates a more concentrated beer with a burlier body, amped maltiness, and elevated booze. If you’re a St. Louisan, there’s a good chance you’re already singing this beer’s praises, and maybe even going to check out Oktoberfest at the brewery itself. San Diego, CaliforniaDistribution: Nearly every state… use their beer finder tool hereTaking a page out of the Trader Joe's playbook of changing the brand name to the culture it's homaging -- something that seems charming here or when it's "Trader Giotto," but extremely cringeworthy with "Trader Ming's" -- AleSchmidt has all the hallmarks of a classic Märzen: It's toasty, with a malt-forward profile and slightly sweet profile that all but demands to be drank on a crisp fall night to the soundtrack of clanking steins and accordions. As Oktoberfest winds down, so does the drinking public's infatuation with German beer. Authentic German Octoberfest Items! Munich, GermanyDistribution: Available nationallyJust because the idea of planning an entire trip to Munich may feel like such an ordeal doesn’t mean you can’t drink like a festival goer. The eisbock is a rather literal style. For an appealing riff on wheat beer, try the Wiesen Edel-Weisse. So, of course, when a crown prince just happens to call a massive party in the last week of September, the beer you’re going to have the most of on hand is the stuff that’s been literally chilling all summer. But lest you forget this is from the west coast, there's a little extra hop bitterness to goose you on the back of the palate. This year, for obvious reasons, Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, has been … At Cologne’s Freigeist ("free spirit"), the duo are driven by the notion of resuscitating the country’s bygone quaffs such as the eastern-German wheat beer known as Lichtenhainer. is made by caramelizing the wort (the sugar-rich broth that becomes beer) with white-hot rocks and fermenting the beer in granite troughs. Stratford, ConneticutDistribtuion: Available nationallyAthletic Brewing has completely changed the non-alcoholic beer game, so naturally, it only makes sense that they've come up with a perfect non-alcoholic beer to celebrate Oktoberfest. (You don’t want lingering yeasts to muck up flavors.) Brauerei Pinkus's version is a brisk, fruit-forward, and malty exemplar of the style. (Trust us, you'll want to taste them.) Try the beguilingly sour 1809, which blends a sparkling pop with hints of pears and lemons. One notable exception is the hazy, unfiltered kellerbier ("cellar beer"). (The nutmeg and clove–nuanced Schneider Weisse Original is a total treat.) In a process dubbed fractional freezing or freeze distillation, brewers send a stronger lager into deep freeze. It’s an incredibly drinkable version of one of the world’s most drinkable styles, which by our measure makes this a double success. Their Oktoberfest stands out as one of their best: The nose and the palate both boast malt richness, but like some other domestic takes on the style (thanks mostly to local tastes), this one has a slightly hoppier finish with perceived noble hops. All rights reserved. Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest: Sierra Nevada’s beer is brewed in the Festbier style, which gives you a … This beer pours a slightly hazy amber-orange with brighter bready notes on the nose, where carbonation levels are just right to make it smooth on the palate without filling the belly, and German noble hops weaving through the dry finish that’s on the subtle pleasingly bitter side for the style. The brewery's name should be the first clue that Sebastian Sauer and Peter Essel are not boring German beersmiths. This is done largely to protect the locals from outside infringement and large sponsor overkill. Of course, it’s got those flavors toasty bread crust and rich malts, but like all great Oktoberfest beers, it stops short of sweetness, making it easy to sip on for hours. Such is the case with perennial Midwestern darling brewery, Half Acre whose Märzen bravely flies under the radar by simply dubbing itself a “lager” first and an “Octoberfest beer” second. A lot has stayed the same, although they did drop the horse race a while back. It’s remarkably smooth and medium bodied on the palate with biscuity malts, and although slightly floral, it’s truer to traditional Märzens than other domestic versions. Fear not: We’ve picked a few of our favorite true-to-form examples that should be relatively easy to find in most corners of the country. This take is appropriately built upon Munich and Vienna malts and noble-hopped to create a dry, bready finish that makes that third stein feel like you’re just getting started. There are a lot of fugazis out there. Well, a lot of times, it means you're about to get disappointed: the domestic market tragically is flooded with a ton of beers that may say “Oktoberfest” on the label but are really just overly sweet amber lagers that would make a Münchner weep. In Germany, strict trademark rules dictate that only beers brewed by the six breweries located within the Munich city limits can use “Oktoberfestbier” on their labels and ship it to the tents: Augustiner, Hacker-Pschorr, Hofbräuhaus, Löwenbräu, Paulaner, and Spaten (all of which are available in the US, though some are hard to find). In contrast to wheat-driven hefeweizens, roggenbiers contain up to 50 percent rye—a spicy element that jibes with hefeweizen yeast's notes of cloves and bananas. The ale flies in the face of Germany's Reinheitsgebot purity law—as a regional specialty, it's exempt—presenting a laser-like tartness and a low ABV (4.2 percent) that makes Ritterguts a great workday brew. This is an impressive reentry into the lager world for a brewery that has avoided making them for a few years, with the sturdy malt frame you’re looking for that finishes with a refreshingly dry kick. Sign up here for our daily Thrillist email and subscribe here for our YouTube channel to get your fix of the best in food/drink/fun. So instead of saying auf wiedersehen to German brews, take these foreign styles for a spin. Of course, none of this applies to the United States, where we laugh in the face of German trademark laws and slap Oktoberfest on literally any beer we want. Only beer from Munich breweries may be served on the Wiesn, as custom dictates. During their 19th-century maraud across Germany, Napoleon's forces stumbled upon a tart, effervescent German ale that soldiers called the "Champagne of the north," a more fanciful term for Berliner weisse. The base style is known as Märzen, which translates from German as “March.” This is because Germans are super literal, and this style of beer was typically brewed in March, just before the weather became a little too warm to make beer without risking spoiling, bacterial infection, or risk of fire from boiling the wort. It started back in 1810, when a popular crown prince chose to forego a stuffy, noble feast and turn his wedding celebration into a massive public festival. Their Oktoberfest is American by country of origin only, using German hops, malts, and a long lagering period to create a nod to the Old World styles that rarely get recreated with such finesse. These lagers should be amberish-copper in color with rich malt-driven flavors of bread crust and vaguely toasty notes with a nice, dry finish. But it wasn’t until 2010 that they entered the brewing game, where they take on traditional German styles with touches of American influence has garnered a lot of attention. Of course, not being brewed within Munich, the beer itself is a domestic homage to the great party barely 20 minutes down the road, but that shouldn’t bother you. Oktoberfest is one of the world’s largest beer celebrations. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. Oktoberfest and your simple guide to German beer By Daniel Goh, September 18, 2020. As Oktoberfest winds down, so does the drinking public's infatuation with German beer. While Germany is known for its lagers, some brewers were not so quick to bid goodbye to ale yeast. In fact, some of the best festbier-appropriate contenders are available more times of year than just a short window that starts in early September. The country's canon of beer styles shoots far and wide, veering from crisp, bright lagers to hefeweizen's cousin roggenbier and the sour, smoky Lichtenhainer.

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