The Session 127: A Feast of Oktober

This month's Session is hosted by, well, me. My theme for this month is Oktoberfest lager, and I have had a few well meaning people ask me why I chose the theme of Oktoberferst for the September Session. It's quite simple really, Oktoberfest begins in the middle of September, that and the fact that given the weirdness that is American brewing's obsession with having season beers in the shops well before a season actually starts, the shelves of supermarkets and bottle shops are already groaning with Oktoberfest style lagers, so why not drink a load of them?

In my original announcement of the theme I said:

"Feel free to dress up for your tasting, dirndls, lederhosen, that Australian backpacker outfit you keep in the back of your wardrobe for special occasions. Hire yourself an oompah band, play the birdy song, and generally get into the spirit of celebrating for the 117th time the marriage of Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese. Whip out the grill and buy all the bratwurst you can find, proper bratwurst that is, from Germany. Shout "O'zapft is!" at the top of your lungs...you get the idea."

Well, sadly I don't have any lederhosen, or an Australian backpacker outfit, nor to I have a thing for the birdy song. I do however love German sausages and mustard, so I gleefully paired my tasting of Oktoberfest lagers with a plate of bockwurst, fried potatoes, and Dusseldorf mustard...

This though is a beer blog, so on to the beers themselves, of which there were 5, said 5 being:

• Leinenkugel's Oktoberfest
• Blue Mountain 13.5 Oktoberfest
• Great lakes Oktoberfest
• Otter Creek/Brauerei CAmba Oktoberfest
• Sierra Nevada/Brauerei Miltenburger Oktoberfest

How were they? Let's find out shall we?

Leinenkugel's Oktoberfest

• Sight - copper, small white head that vanishes quickly
• Smell - some bready malt, lightly spicy in the background
• Taste - very lightly toasted bread, slightly grassy, crisp finish
• Sweet - 1.5/5
• Bitter - 1/5

So yes, Leinenkugel's is a MillerCoors owned brewery, but I really couldn't give a rat's arse about that, this is a beer blog not a corporate structure blog. The beer is pretty light bodied, but not thin, it just lacks the heft I have come to expect from American Oktoberfests. It's a pretty inoffensive, perfectly well made beer, something that would be fine to drink on a night out, though the lingering sweetness in the finish would get tired after a while, I like my beer bitter and my lagers clean.

Blue Mountain 13.5 Oktoberfest

• Sight - deep burnished copper, half inch of linger white foam
• Smell - noticeable noble hop character, floral, citrus, some toffee
• Taste - lightly toasted bread, a very subtle smokiness, bit of a metallic tang
• Sweet - 2/5
• Bitter - 2/5

The local beer in my selection, Blue Mountain being about 20 miles from my house here in Central Virginia. 13.5, the number of degrees Plato that is the starting gravity for this beer, is very much the archetypal American made Oktoberfest lager. It has a nice smooth finish that isn't so sweet as to be cloying, but I find it has a slightly odd bite right at the end and lacks the clean snap I would expect from a Central European lager. Still, a decent beer for an afternoon in their brewpub, preferably in the rain, but I am weird that way.

Great Lakes Oktoberfest

• Sight - dark honey (thanks Mrs V for that description!), voluminous slightly off white head that lingers for the duration
• Smell - fresh scones and a floral meadow in the height of summer
• Taste - caramel and toffee up front, bready backbone, malts definitely the star of the show
• Sweet - 3/5
• Bitter - 1.5/5

I quite like Great Lakes beers, in particular their porter, but this beer just didn't do it for me. It has a distinct lack of bitterness to balance out the sweetness of the malt, and the finish was oily sweet, not the clean snappy bite I expect from a lager beer. Not so much bad as misguided.

Otter Creek/Brauerei Camba Oktoberfest

• Sight - rich golden, white head that disappears pretty quickly
• Smell - saltine crackers, floral hops, lemongrass
• Taste - fresh bread, some yeastinessm abd a good hop bite in the finish
• Sweet - 2/5
• Bitter - 2.5/5

I don't recall having an Otter Creek beer before, but this collaboration was one I really enjoyed. It has the expected lager snap that I love, and it very nicely balanced so that drinking it is an absolute pleasure. I may have mentioned this before, but I find myself liking the more modern paler interpretations of Oktoberfest lager than the darker sweeter efforts that seem to be the norm over here. More breweries should work with German/Central European breweries for their collaborations.

Sierra Nevada/Brauerei Miltenburger Oktoberfest

• Sight - golden honey, firm white head
• Smell - black tea, bread, and hay
• Taste - sweet doughy malt, floral hops, quite grassy, juicy (not in a ridiculous NE "IPA" way though)
• Sweet - 2/5
• Bitter - 3/5

I really am biased toward this beer, I am sorry, but these annual collaborations are becoming the highlight of my drinking year. This year has a fantastic firm bitterness that scrapes the palette and makes you want another mouthful. The beer is hefty enough to be interesting without being overwhelming, and it has that perfect clean finish that I want, it is delish. End of story. Keep on doing this Sierra Nevada!

So there we go, five Oktoberfest lagers, all of which worked fine with my bockwurst, kartoffeln, und senf...and I am pretty sure it won't be the last time this autumn that I pull a package of German sausages from the freezer, fill up my 1 litre glass with lager, let's be honest it'll be Sierra Nevada's until the shops run out, and pay homage to my Germany ancestors and my own Germanophilia. Prost!