Rating the Oktoberfest beers found in Houston
It’s the season for Oktoberfest, that famous beer festival in Munich, which runs from late September into early October, inspiring breweries in Munich, elsewhere in Germany, and across this country to produce a slate of copper-colored, medium-bodied beers of the same name. The style most commonly known as Oktoberfest is Märzen, a lager that is clear and amber-hued featuring a smooth, malty taste and a slightly dry finish buttressed by a judicious use of classic German hops. It was introduced by the Spaten brewery in 1871-72, derived from a style of lager beer created in Vienna a few decades earlier. This is a style of beer I've really enjoyed over the years. I wrote about a tasting of these a decade ago, and thought it was about time to update it.
Märzen is March in German and was the last month in which brewing was possible because of the wild yeasts that quickly propagated during the warm days of summer in the time before refrigeration. The beer was stored in cold cellars – to “lager” in German – and drank during the course of the summer. The last of the beers, usually a little heavier and deemed more special, were consumed by the end of the September and early October for the festival and its predecessor fall festivals. The long storage ensured an especially smooth and flavorful beer. And it always is from the remaining six Munich brewers.
There is some confusion with the Oktoberfest name for beers, though. Beginning in the mid-1970s, the dawn of the age of light beer, Paulaner introduced the Festbier, a lighter beer than the Märzen to serve at the festival. It was similar if a little more alcoholic style of the brewery’s main beer, Helles. The other Munich breweries followed suit at the festival over the next couple of decades. So now for consumers here, Oktoberfest can mean either a Märzen or the broadly Helles style when labeled “Festbier,” or really some interpretation of either. When looking for the classic malty, darker beer look for both “Oktoberfest” and “Märzen” on a label.
Those traditional versions from Bavaria are smoother, more balanced between the slightly sweet taste of malt and a long, dry finish and, most significantly, without the flaws, the harsh notes often found in beers from the small domestic breweries, which are more also more alcoholic. Tasting for this proved again to me how difficult it is to make flavorful lager beers, especially those lightly hopped.
The ratings below are done in a hybrid of my copy of Michael Jackson’s Pocket Guide to Beer (signed by the author himself) and the New York Times wine scores, 0 to ****. It is mostly Märzen but the Festbier style, or name, is too common to ignore. The beers are listed in order of preference from the Oktoberfest beers I could find in Houston. The progenitor of the Märzen, Spaten, is not to be found here now, sadly.
Originally published on September 21, 2024.
Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest Märzen ***
Balanced flavor with malty aroma that extends to the slightly sweet taste with a bit of dryness at the end and very smooth throughout, it is cooling autumn Munich in a glass: expectedly very well-made, hearty, alcoholic and lending itself to some buzzy fun. Really easy to drink. 5.7% alcohol by volume; 21 IBUs
Paulaner Oktoberfest Märzen ***
An welcome nose of sweet dark malt and then a malty, smooth taste and a long finish that is an exemplar of the Märzen style. Excellent. 5.8% alcohol by volume; 20 IBUs.
Ayinger Oktober Fest-Märzen ** ½
Sporting a slightly malty aroma with a hint of nutmeg has a very long, extremely smooth and malty taste with a welcome touch of sweetness that makes it an easy beer to enjoy, if not quite as outstanding in the past. From one of the world’s greatest breweries. Just a little drier on the finish than its Bavarian brethren. 5.8% alcohol by volume; 23 IBUs.
Altstadt Okt Oktoberfest ** ½
Amber color in the glass and malt nicely on the nose from a combination of almost traditional Pilsner, Vienna and Munich malted barley leading to a plush mouth feel and a just little sweetness in this Märzen-style lager. Its fairly clean finish stands out among small domestic breweries. Quite nice and quite easy to imbibe and doing Fredericksburg, Texas proud. 5.9% alcohol; 16 IBUs.
Samuel Adams Octoberfest **
Slightly malty aromas were followed by a appropriately malty taste. Smooth and hearty if without the complexity of the Munich beers. Made in the traditional style, Sam Adams has been making this beer for a number of years and knows what it is doing; among the best of the American versions. 5.3% alcohol; 16 IBUs.
B52 Brewing Festbier **
Golden-colored and featuring a different, almost-fruity aroma, this is dry and properly quite pleasant, Bavarian-inflected, well-rendered effort from this Conroe, Texas brewery. 5.8% alcohol; 22 IBUs.
Warsteiner Oktoberfest * ½
A yeasty aroma and lighter color for a Märzen, and not officially one, shows that this is a little different for the style. Smooth and soft-tasting, without much noticeable malt on the palate and a drier finish. 5.9% alcohol; 24 IBUs.
Karbach Karbachtoberfest * ½
Lighter in color than nearly all of the others and the most effervescent, this had a long taste that was not nearly as malty or strong as the typical style, and less flavorful. Quite pleasant, if not delicious. Maybe authentic, but this is the Crawford Bock version of a traditional Märzen: something you know that this skilled brewing team with roots in Munich with which it can doing better. 5.5% alcohol; 25 IBUs.
Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest Festbier Gutmann Collab Effort * ½
Tastes like a Sierra Nevada with a hoppy finish and less malty profile than the other beers of this season. Different than what you might expect with Oktoberfest on the label, though lighter-colored like a Festbier. Smooth. Yet another high-quality product from one of the country’s best that is easy to enjoy even with the slightly elevated alcohol. 6.0% alcohol; 30 IBUs.
Bell’s Oktoberfest * ½
This Märzen offers a some malt and finishing dry and bit metallic; not as robustly flavorful as the best versions. Maybe not in this lauded Michigan brewer’s wheelhouse, it does come across as quite a well-made beer. 5.5% alcohol; 24 IBUs.
Galveston Bay Brewing Oktoberfest * ½
Smooth with evident maltiness and largely clean-tasting throughout, this is a satisfying, hearty lager. 6.5% alcohol; 22 IBUs.
Southern Star Oktoberfest *
A bit malty, largely smooth but with a metallic aftertaste; better than most area versions. 6.3% alcohol; 25 IBUs
Saint Arnold Oktoberfest *
Actually an ale, like Shiner’s version, but both looking the Märzen part in a glass. This is maltier and tastier, if not nearly one of Saint Arnold’s best beers, as it has a thin and metallic finish. More alcoholic than it once was, which might be appealing to some. 6.6% alcohol; 18 IBUs.
No Label Oktoberfest Festbier *
Deep golden-colored, this is a richer beer for the style without the dryness or complexity of the Munich-brewed Festbiers but cleaner-tasting than those from most small breweries. 6.0% alcohol; 21 IBUs.
Spindletap Festbier ½
Not much on the nose. Dry finish, mostly smooth. Austere, even for the style. 4.2% alcohol; ~20 IBUs.
Eureka Heights Von Wolfhausen Festbier ½
Bronze-hued, crisp and dry, it is generally inoffensive, if a little unpleasant at the end. 4.5% alcohol; 15 IBUs.
Shiner Oktoberfest ½
Odd with a hint of soapiness then metal. Thin for the style – that it is an ale not a lager might be a reason – and tasting fairly cheaply rendered. Mostly disagreeable. 5.7% alcohol; 18 IBUs.
Manhattan Project Beer Co. Oktoberfest ½
A light brown color is the first hint that this is in the Märzen style as a brief taste of malt that leads to a too-thin and unpleasant, slightly metallic aftertaste. From Dallas. 5.5% alcohol; ~20 IBUs.
903 Oktoberfest ½
Identified as a lager and Märzen and with a proper amber color, this Sherman, Texas-brewed beer has somewhat of home-brew aroma and some maltiness on the palate but then to a bit of a rough, dry taste that stays on the tongue. 5.4% alcohol; ~20 IBUs.
Texas Leaguer Mr. Oktoberfest Märzen ½
Amusingly showing current Astros assistant Reggie Jackson in his Yankee days after a big swing (and probably a miss). Nice malty aroma, but with a thinner-tasting than hoped for and a mostly tinny aftertaste. Mo City, Texas. 5.7% alcohol; 21 IBUs.
Urban South Oktoberfest ½
Sporting a pumpkin hue and emitting a home-brew aroma leads to an initial hint of malt but then to a harsh taste that lingers for this can labeled as a Märzen Lager. 6.2% alcohol; ~20 IBUs.
Equal Parts Oktoberfest 0
Dark orange-colored, almost there, but it’s the highlight; a DYI homebrew aroma and a rough taste follows. Even salty snacks won’t encourage you to drink much of this. 6.1% alcohol; ~20 IBUs.
Paradigm Oktoberfest 0
Unpromising nose then thin and soapy on the palate. Ugh. Appealing clean can design for this lager, though. Tomball, Texas. 5.4% alcohol; ~20 IBUs.
Oktoberfest beers from Karbach and Paulaner, respectively, at the dearly departed Ginger Man back in the day.
Märzen is March in German and was the last month in which brewing was possible because of the wild yeasts that quickly propagated during the warm days of summer in the time before refrigeration. The beer was stored in cold cellars – to “lager” in German – and drank during the course of the summer. The last of the beers, usually a little heavier and deemed more special, were consumed by the end of the September and early October for the festival and its predecessor fall festivals. The long storage ensured an especially smooth and flavorful beer. And it always is from the remaining six Munich brewers.
There is some confusion with the Oktoberfest name for beers, though. Beginning in the mid-1970s, the dawn of the age of light beer, Paulaner introduced the Festbier, a lighter beer than the Märzen to serve at the festival. It was similar if a little more alcoholic style of the brewery’s main beer, Helles. The other Munich breweries followed suit at the festival over the next couple of decades. So now for consumers here, Oktoberfest can mean either a Märzen or the broadly Helles style when labeled “Festbier,” or really some interpretation of either. When looking for the classic malty, darker beer look for both “Oktoberfest” and “Märzen” on a label.
Those traditional versions from Bavaria are smoother, more balanced between the slightly sweet taste of malt and a long, dry finish and, most significantly, without the flaws, the harsh notes often found in beers from the small domestic breweries, which are more also more alcoholic. Tasting for this proved again to me how difficult it is to make flavorful lager beers, especially those lightly hopped.
The ratings below are done in a hybrid of my copy of Michael Jackson’s Pocket Guide to Beer (signed by the author himself) and the New York Times wine scores, 0 to ****. It is mostly Märzen but the Festbier style, or name, is too common to ignore. The beers are listed in order of preference from the Oktoberfest beers I could find in Houston. The progenitor of the Märzen, Spaten, is not to be found here now, sadly.
Originally published on September 21, 2024.
Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest Märzen ***
Balanced flavor with malty aroma that extends to the slightly sweet taste with a bit of dryness at the end and very smooth throughout, it is cooling autumn Munich in a glass: expectedly very well-made, hearty, alcoholic and lending itself to some buzzy fun. Really easy to drink. 5.7% alcohol by volume; 21 IBUs
Paulaner Oktoberfest Märzen ***
An welcome nose of sweet dark malt and then a malty, smooth taste and a long finish that is an exemplar of the Märzen style. Excellent. 5.8% alcohol by volume; 20 IBUs.
Ayinger Oktober Fest-Märzen ** ½
Sporting a slightly malty aroma with a hint of nutmeg has a very long, extremely smooth and malty taste with a welcome touch of sweetness that makes it an easy beer to enjoy, if not quite as outstanding in the past. From one of the world’s greatest breweries. Just a little drier on the finish than its Bavarian brethren. 5.8% alcohol by volume; 23 IBUs.
Altstadt Okt Oktoberfest ** ½
Amber color in the glass and malt nicely on the nose from a combination of almost traditional Pilsner, Vienna and Munich malted barley leading to a plush mouth feel and a just little sweetness in this Märzen-style lager. Its fairly clean finish stands out among small domestic breweries. Quite nice and quite easy to imbibe and doing Fredericksburg, Texas proud. 5.9% alcohol; 16 IBUs.
Samuel Adams Octoberfest **
Slightly malty aromas were followed by a appropriately malty taste. Smooth and hearty if without the complexity of the Munich beers. Made in the traditional style, Sam Adams has been making this beer for a number of years and knows what it is doing; among the best of the American versions. 5.3% alcohol; 16 IBUs.
B52 Brewing Festbier **
Golden-colored and featuring a different, almost-fruity aroma, this is dry and properly quite pleasant, Bavarian-inflected, well-rendered effort from this Conroe, Texas brewery. 5.8% alcohol; 22 IBUs.
Warsteiner Oktoberfest * ½
A yeasty aroma and lighter color for a Märzen, and not officially one, shows that this is a little different for the style. Smooth and soft-tasting, without much noticeable malt on the palate and a drier finish. 5.9% alcohol; 24 IBUs.
Karbach Karbachtoberfest * ½
Lighter in color than nearly all of the others and the most effervescent, this had a long taste that was not nearly as malty or strong as the typical style, and less flavorful. Quite pleasant, if not delicious. Maybe authentic, but this is the Crawford Bock version of a traditional Märzen: something you know that this skilled brewing team with roots in Munich with which it can doing better. 5.5% alcohol; 25 IBUs.
Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest Festbier Gutmann Collab Effort * ½
Tastes like a Sierra Nevada with a hoppy finish and less malty profile than the other beers of this season. Different than what you might expect with Oktoberfest on the label, though lighter-colored like a Festbier. Smooth. Yet another high-quality product from one of the country’s best that is easy to enjoy even with the slightly elevated alcohol. 6.0% alcohol; 30 IBUs.
Bell’s Oktoberfest * ½
This Märzen offers a some malt and finishing dry and bit metallic; not as robustly flavorful as the best versions. Maybe not in this lauded Michigan brewer’s wheelhouse, it does come across as quite a well-made beer. 5.5% alcohol; 24 IBUs.
Galveston Bay Brewing Oktoberfest * ½
Smooth with evident maltiness and largely clean-tasting throughout, this is a satisfying, hearty lager. 6.5% alcohol; 22 IBUs.
Southern Star Oktoberfest *
A bit malty, largely smooth but with a metallic aftertaste; better than most area versions. 6.3% alcohol; 25 IBUs
Saint Arnold Oktoberfest *
Actually an ale, like Shiner’s version, but both looking the Märzen part in a glass. This is maltier and tastier, if not nearly one of Saint Arnold’s best beers, as it has a thin and metallic finish. More alcoholic than it once was, which might be appealing to some. 6.6% alcohol; 18 IBUs.
No Label Oktoberfest Festbier *
Deep golden-colored, this is a richer beer for the style without the dryness or complexity of the Munich-brewed Festbiers but cleaner-tasting than those from most small breweries. 6.0% alcohol; 21 IBUs.
Spindletap Festbier ½
Not much on the nose. Dry finish, mostly smooth. Austere, even for the style. 4.2% alcohol; ~20 IBUs.
Eureka Heights Von Wolfhausen Festbier ½
Bronze-hued, crisp and dry, it is generally inoffensive, if a little unpleasant at the end. 4.5% alcohol; 15 IBUs.
Shiner Oktoberfest ½
Odd with a hint of soapiness then metal. Thin for the style – that it is an ale not a lager might be a reason – and tasting fairly cheaply rendered. Mostly disagreeable. 5.7% alcohol; 18 IBUs.
Manhattan Project Beer Co. Oktoberfest ½
A light brown color is the first hint that this is in the Märzen style as a brief taste of malt that leads to a too-thin and unpleasant, slightly metallic aftertaste. From Dallas. 5.5% alcohol; ~20 IBUs.
903 Oktoberfest ½
Identified as a lager and Märzen and with a proper amber color, this Sherman, Texas-brewed beer has somewhat of home-brew aroma and some maltiness on the palate but then to a bit of a rough, dry taste that stays on the tongue. 5.4% alcohol; ~20 IBUs.
Texas Leaguer Mr. Oktoberfest Märzen ½
Amusingly showing current Astros assistant Reggie Jackson in his Yankee days after a big swing (and probably a miss). Nice malty aroma, but with a thinner-tasting than hoped for and a mostly tinny aftertaste. Mo City, Texas. 5.7% alcohol; 21 IBUs.
Urban South Oktoberfest ½
Sporting a pumpkin hue and emitting a home-brew aroma leads to an initial hint of malt but then to a harsh taste that lingers for this can labeled as a Märzen Lager. 6.2% alcohol; ~20 IBUs.
Equal Parts Oktoberfest 0
Dark orange-colored, almost there, but it’s the highlight; a DYI homebrew aroma and a rough taste follows. Even salty snacks won’t encourage you to drink much of this. 6.1% alcohol; ~20 IBUs.
Paradigm Oktoberfest 0
Unpromising nose then thin and soapy on the palate. Ugh. Appealing clean can design for this lager, though. Tomball, Texas. 5.4% alcohol; ~20 IBUs.
Oktoberfest beers from Karbach and Paulaner, respectively, at the dearly departed Ginger Man back in the day.