Was at Public yesterday and they had both Sam Adams and Yuengling's Octoberfest in the cooler.

Its still too hot for for it now and by the time the weather turns cooler here you won't be able to find it anymore.

Are they in a race to get the beer out first? its a seasonal beer so it is not like we won't get around to drinking it all.

Of course I bought some. This weekend I will have to go do the local distributor and buy a couple of cases to store until the weather turns.

I have noticed this the past few years; reminds me of coffee shops' rush for all things "pumpkin spice".

I usually try to wait to enjoy Sammy October until October when it goes with the weather, but last year by the time I got around to looking for it (mid-late Oct) it was actually hard to find. I saw more winter beers out by then.

Might have to pick up a case and tuck it in the back of the fridge for later.

It's not officially Oktoberfest until a forum member posts pictures of his garage stocked to the ceiling with beer.

quote:

Originally posted by SpinZone:
Its still too hot for for it now and by the time the weather turns cooler here you won't be able to find it anymore.

Beer keeps for 6+ months, easily.

Buy some now. Store it somewhere inside your house, away from sunlight. Drink it in a few months.

I buy a stockpile of various Octoberfest beers in August/September, and drink it in October-March.

quote:

Originally posted by ChicagoSigMan:
It's not officially Oktoberfest until a forum member posts pictures of his garage stocked to the ceiling with beer.

I'm actually debating whether to place an order this year.
My forge has rendered my shop a bad place to store beer now that it gets so hot in there...
We'll see !
I'm not known for my restraint when SA OctoberFest is involved.


As for coming out earlier each year, I won't be happy until it's available all year.

I would be happy if they did Oktoberfest beers year round.

quote:

Originally posted by SIG4EVA:
I would be happy if they did Oktoberfest beers year round.

Spaten has started offering their Oktoberfest year-round, as of a year or two ago.

It's not the absolute best Marzen, but it's above average. And they're one of the six "official" Oktoberfest brewers allowed at the Munich fairgrounds.

They want to make profit sell beer now and Augustfest just doesn't sound right.

Intrestingly enough in Germany (where I am stationed) the fest runs from 22SEP-8OCT.

We're still doing the summer wine fests.

quote:

Originally posted by Eponym:
They want to make profit sell beer now and Augustfest just doesn't sound right.

To clarify, "Octoberfest beer" denotes a certain style of beer. Namely a Märzen lager. It doesn't have to be served just during the Octoberfest festival, or just during the month of October, although that's what it's most commonly associated with.

It's just that most American beer drinkers have heard of "Octoberfest" beer, while most have not heard of a "Märzen" beer. So everyone labels them as "Octoberfest" beer, even when they're not being sold/served during Octoberfest.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by Eponym:
They want to make profit sell beer now and Augustfest just doesn't sound right.

To clarify, "Octoberfest beer" denotes a certain style of beer. Namely a Märzen lager. It doesn't have to be served just during the Octoberfest festival, or just during the month of October, although that's what it's most commonly associated with.

It's just that most American beer drinkers have heard of "Octoberfest" beer, while most have not heard of a "Märzen" beer. So everyone labels them as "Octoberfest" beer, even when they're not being sold/served during Octoberfest.

Slight correction.

The Germans stopped serving Marzen style beer at the Oktoberfest some years ago. Link: Oktoberfest switch from Märzen to festbier in '90s

quote:

Whatever the reason, they started experimenting, searching for a style of beer that was still reasonably malty, but less heavy and lighter in color than Marzën; a more quaffable, easy-drinking alternative. Festbier was their answer and since the 1990s, it’s been the only beer poured at Oktoberfest.

Today there are only 6 breweries given the honor of pouring at Oktoberfest; Paulaner, Spaten, Löwenbräu, Augustiner-Bräu, Staatilches Hofbräu-München, and Hacker-Pschorr-Bräu. All pour Festbier. Though most of them do still brew and bottle an example of Marzën.

Here, the US market hasn't moved to the current style and pretty much stuck with the old Märzen as, which, while it is not served in the Oktoberfest tents it still is known to be darned good beer.

Knowing there's demand for Märzen in the US, the German brewers still make Oktoberfest-labeled Märzen and ship it here. The US brewers do the same. There is a boatload of Oktoberfest-labeled Märzen here in the US.

If you want what they actually serve in the tents in Munich, you'll want to go with 'festbier' style rather 'Märzen' style, whether or not the Märzen is labeled "Oktoberfest."

Paulaner ships "Oktoberfest Wiesn" here, which is festbier style, along with their Märzen Oktoberfest, but the Weisn is much harder to find. I generally get about 8 cases of the Weisn and make that last the year till they ship more Weisn in, the following August. It is worth the trouble to find.

For comparison, here's a photo showing a current Oktoberfest festbier on the right, and the darker Märzen style on the left.

Sam Adams started this whole ridiculous arms race.

We understand that the beer itself is brewed in the summer, but there is no reason it's hitting the shelves in early August like this other than brewers like Sam Adams wanting to be FIRST!

As Oktoberfest in Germany is traditionally from late September to early October, this beer really SHOULD be hitting store shelves in early-mid September or so.

It's skewed the whole seasonal beer thing so badly, I was at a Wegmans Pub a few years ago and they were serving Sam Adams Spring beer...in February.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by SpinZone:
Its still too hot for for it now and by the time the weather turns cooler here you won't be able to find it anymore.

Beer keeps for 6+ months, easily.

Buy some now. Store it somewhere inside your house, away from sunlight. Drink it in a few months.

I buy a stockpile of various Octoberfest beers in August/September, and drink it in October-March.

Some beer stores well but not all. Fortunately marzens are a style that does. First sighting of an Oktoberfest beer on a list I read was fourth week of July.

quote:

Originally posted by GrumpyBiker:



I'm actually debating whether to place an order this year.
My forge has rendered my shop a bad place to store beer now that it gets so hot in there...

Clearly, the forge has to go!

St. Louis Costco now has both Paulaner and Hofbrau Oktoberfest beer. The Hofbrau was $24.99/case & the Paulaner was $23.99/case.

PROST!

quote:

Originally posted by joel9507:
The Germans stopped serving Marzen style beer at the Oktoberfest some years ago. Link: Oktoberfest switch from Märzen to festbier in '90s

Great info. Thanks!

I was under the (mistaken) impression that Märzen and Wiesn were sold side-by-side at the real Oktoberfest, and that Märzen was still king to the upstart Wiesn. I didn't realize that Wiesn had completely supplanted Märzen there.

Personally, I greatly prefer Märzens over Wiesns. So I guess it's a good thing that American beer drinkers are still bitterly clinging to our Märzen Octoberfest beers, so I can still have a large supply.

Everything seems to come around more quickly. This year's Summer Solstice seemed only a couple of months after last year's party.

My (then seven year old) niece summed it up best a couple of years back: (paraphrased) Each day and week seems longer to me because it is a greater percentage of my entire life so far.

quote:

Originally posted by joel9507:


The Germans stopped serving Marzen style beer at the Oktoberfest some years ago.

Well that explains a lot. When I was at Oktoberfest in 2011, the beer I drank seemed too light to be a Marzen. I had to try 5 steins, just to make sure. That year was also an uproar, because they no longer served 1.0L steins, but 0.9L steins.

Picked up some Yuengling Oktoberfest last weekend. Good stuff there!

It's like Xmas in July.