The Munich Oktoberfest is like no other celebration. First, there’s the method of dispensing beer.
“They don’t use kegs. They use tankers, like milk trucks,” says Nick Kirbabas of importer Paulaner-North America in Englewood, Colo. Then there’s the peculiarly German concept of gemutlichkeit, which is a general feeling of fellowship.
“You see skinheads and older people sitting around the table, singing the same songs,” Kirbabas says.
No one doubts that the oceans of golden beer consumed from 1-liter mugs contributes to that feeling of fellowship. (Today 6.5 million people down 3 million liters of beer in 16 days.) But the original style of Oktoberfest beer is hard to find at the festival nowadays.
“When I went there I was really bummed,” say Kirby Nelson, brewmaster at the Capital Brewery, Middleton, Wis. “It’s unbelievable. At Oktoberfest you don’t get true Marzen beer.”
That’s too bad, because Marzen, named for March, when it was traditionally brewed for fall consumption, might be the perfect cool-weather beer. Its amber color matches autumn leaves. It’s smooth, rich, caramelly and spicy–perfect for warding off a fall chill. It’s not too strong, so a person can down a couple of mugs, especially if one couples the brew with a brat or a weisswurst. (In a less traditional vein, beer expert Michael Jackson suggests in his “Beer Companion” that these lagers match the cooked-tomato sweetness and basil spiciness in pizza.)
The good news for stateside drinkers is that several imports and domestic microbrews supply reasonably authentic versions of the original brew.
Oktoberfest originated in October 1810, when Ludwig I, crown prince of Bavaria, married Princess Therese of Sax-Hildburghausen. The happy couple invited Munich’s residents to a celebration that evolved into Oktoberfest.
Oktoberfest kicked into high gear in 1896, when Munich’s brewers displaced small beer vendors with huge tents offering an amber lager that displayed a delicate balance of malt sweetness and hop bitterness. Such a beer is scarce at the Oktoberfest today; consistent with the trend in Germany toward lighter brews, the standard at the Oktoberfest has evolved into a gold-colored fest beer.
Marzen beer and the original Oktoberfest quaff are descendants of the original Vienna lager made by that city’s famous brewer, Anton Dreher. In 1841 Dreher and Gabriel Sedlmayr of Munich’s Spaten brewery started working with the new lager yeast that would profoundly change the beer landscape: Cold fermentation produced beer that tasted mostly of malt, not the aromatic compounds common to room-temperature ale brewing. Within a few years, Dreher had developed the copper-colored Vienna style that would propel his brewery’s sales. Sedlmayr developed a Vienna-style brew when he realized that Dreher’s Vienna malt was ideally suited to Munich’s alkaline water.
From Dreher’s Vienna lager evolved two additional sub-styles, Marzen and Oktoberfest. Vienna is an everyday beer with about 5 percent alcohol by volume; its slightly stronger cousins were served at festivals. Today the three styles are quite similar. A beer with any of these names is likely to be a copper-colored lager with about 5 to 6 percent alcohol by volume.
Sedlmayr named his beer “Marzen” because it was made in March and lagered, or cold-aged, all summer in preparation for fall festivities. The Spaten Oktoberfest beer you buy today is called “Ur-Marzen,” “Ur” connoting “original,” just as the “Ur” in Pilsner Urquell distinguishes the Czech brew as the original pilsener.
Goose Island Brewing Co., 1800 N. Clybourn Ave., has brewed an Oktoberfest annually since 1988, but doesn’t package it for distribution. “The customers love it,” says head brewer Greg Hall. Goose Island brewed 60 barrels (1,860 gallons) of Oktoberfest this year. “It’s hard to make enough,” says Hall, who predicts the beer will be on tap into mid-October. If you miss it this fall, stop by in March, when Goose Island serves the same beer, calling it Marzen.
Hall brews his Oktoberfest from American malts and German hops. The beer lagers for six to eight weeks. “It’s a pretty malty lager. It’s bigger than a Vienna, but not really like a bock,” Hall says. The beer contains about 6.3 percent alcohol by volume, compared to about 5 percent in a typical beer.
The Capital Brewery released its Oktoberfest in mid-September. “It’s far and away our most popular seasonal beer,” says brewmaster Nelson. “It’s a wonderful style, with a pleasant malt warmth.” Those who want serious malt warmth should look for Nelson’s Autumnal Fire, a doppelbock based on the Oktoberfest style that also appeared in mid-September. It contains close to 8 percent alcohol by volume.
Some American Oktoberfests fail to capture the character of their German counterparts. American versions tend to miss the mark to one side or the other, being too hoppy or exhibiting a bocklike maltiness. This doesn’t mean the Yanks are making bad beer, but they’re often brewing a different beer.
Compare for yourself. Germany is well-represented by Paulaner Oktoberfest, Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest, Spaten Ur-Marzen, Wurzburger Fallfest, Beck’s Oktoberfest and Ayinger Oktober Fest-Marzen. From the U.S., try Samuel Adams OctoberFest, Capital Oktoberfest and Pete’s Wicked Oktoberfest. Leaning to the lighter side are Augsburger Oktoberfest and Leinenkugel’s Autumn Gold. From Mexico, consider the Vienna variants Dos Equis and the darker Negra Modelo.
