This is definitely our favorite season and our fridge has been consistently full with beers we've been collecting for us to try. This has been a pretty big project for us and unfortunately the pandemic has made it difficult for us to acquire beers, mostly because of availability. We haven't been straying too far away from our house, as we have family members that are high risk - so travelling out of our county has not been possible. All the beers we've purchased for this list have been available locally to us in the Groton/New London area.
Instead of rating these individually, we decided to just list our 10 favorites. So without further delay... here are our top 10 Oktoberfest beers!
Killihump-toberfest!
Our notes: Velvety soft with a strong caramel malt backbone. YUM! Definitely pick this one up!!
Description: This is the darker Märzen beer sold in the US and elsewhere as Spaten Oktoberfest Ur-Märzen. This is NOT the golden Festbier sold at in Munich as Oktoberfestbier.
Our notes: One of the older and best traditional Oktoberfests - considered the oldest recipe of this style. It's malty, flavorful, an easy drinker and consistent every year which always brings us back again. Always one of our favorites!
Description: Our FestBier is a deep golden color with beautiful bready malt aroma and flavor. This traditional fest beir is brewed with German pilsner, vienna and munich malts to provide a layered malt character.
Our notes: Blonde/golden in color, definitely "bready" as it describes; flavorful and well balanced malts, sweetness on the finish - light and refreshing - super easy drinker!
Our notes: Blonde/golden in color, definitely "bready" as it describes; flavorful and well balanced malts, sweetness on the finish - light and refreshing - super easy drinker!
Description: A blend of Munich–Style malts produces the light amber color and slight sweetness complimented by noble hops. Our version of Oktoberfest is fermented with German Ale yeast.
Our notes: This one surprised us - solid! Malty, smooth, has a nice mouthfeel and dig that froth!
Description: balanced and drinkable
Our notes: Dark amber caramel color, classic malt character, hint of sweetness, medium body, well balanced; good amount of fizz/carbonation; we always look for this one every year - good stuff!
Description: Modeled after the classic “Marzenbier” (pronounced “maer-tsen beer”) Octoberfest style that was traditionally the beer served at the Munich Oktoberfest. This is the classic amber lager.
Our notes: This is an absolute "go-to" for us when it's Oktoberfest season... and we always look forward to the Two Roads Oktoberfest celebration every year. This is just a solid brew - full of malty sweet goodness.
Our notes: This is an absolute "go-to" for us when it's Oktoberfest season... and we always look forward to the Two Roads Oktoberfest celebration every year. This is just a solid brew - full of malty sweet goodness.
Description: This amber beer was brewed in March (\Marzenbier\") and left to age in cool lagering caves during the heat of the summer. Our rich and satisfying Bavarian-style OctoberFest comes from a special blend of imported German malts that creates a full-bodied brew and stresses a malty flavor and lingering aroma. Gently hopped and delicately balanced
Our notes: Nice dark rich amber color; full bodied - hearty; rich; nice blend of malts.
Description: This is our take on an Oktoberfest Märzen Lager that features the finest German malts and hops. The result is a full-bodied but sessionable beer perfect for football-viewing needs and keeping lookout for Trick-or-Treaters.
Our notes: Up front malts, slightly roasty, full bodied and sweetness on the finish. Definitely an easy drinker.
Our notes: Blonde in color - clean, crisp, refreshing and light; pilsner character; very drinkable!
Description: Light-medium bodied lager with notes of toasted grain and moderately malty. Prost!
Our notes: fizzy, well balanced brew. Lingering sweetness on the end.
Honorable Mention:
Description: German Casual is a combination of our ultra soft water, floor malted Bohemian Pilsner, Munich and Vienna malts. We then layer it with the subtle notes provided by Tettnang, Mittlefrau and Sterling hops.
Our notes: We absolutely LOVE this brew! We've actually been drinking this beer for the better part of the summer and it was widely available in our area during July and August. It's slightly harder to find in your local packy now, which is why its our honorable mention, but it may still be available if you visit the brewery. This is a highly drinkable brew with well balanced malts. We drink a lot of this brew and if you see it out, make sure you try it!!
Other beers we tried:
Fox Farm Tines 6%
Queen City Oktoberfest Marzen Style Lager 5.5%
Sam Adams Octoberfest Marzen 5.3% (Boston, MA)
Brooklyn Oktoberfest 5.5%
Goose Island Oktoberfest 5.7%
Erdinger Weissbräu Oktoberfest / Festweißeb 5.7% (Erding, Bayern Germany)
Yuengling Oktoberfest Marzen 5.4%
Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest Festbier 6% (Chico, CA)
Zero Gravity Oktoberfest 5.4%
Shiner Spoetzl Oktoberfest Marzen 5.7% (Shiner, TX)
Wormtown Octoberfest Marzen 5.6% (Worcester, MA)
Narragansett Fest 5.5%
...but wait... there's more!
A few years back in 2018, we did a post with our top 10 pumpkin and oktoberfest brews... you can read that here.
Also, stay tuned... our 2020 top 10 pumpkin beers are coming soon!!