Last week in New Beer Thursday I brought up Oktoberfest beers without actually reviewing one of the style. So this week and next the New Beer Desk is going to take an in-depth look at the style.
First, it's time for a quick lesson on the history of the Oktoberfest beer. As I said earlier, the classic beer drunk at Oktoberfest is a Märzen, which is typically a darker copper color with a mild hop profile. Märzenbier is malty and relatively strong. This is because they started brewing it before refrigeration. Back then, law declared that brewing stopped in late April, but the beer that would be drunk at the end of the summer would be brewed in March or Märzen, to take advantage of the last of the lake ice to keep the beer cool in while it lagered over the summer. However, they made sure to put lots of germ-killing alcohol and hops in it so it wouldn't spoil (a similar story to the IPA, but less extreme.) Anyway, people finally got to drinking this stuff around August or September and they would finish it up in October.
Now two hundred years ago—October 12, 1810 to be exact, marked the very first Oktoberfest. The party was held in honor of the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig and his bride and namesake of the future festival grounds Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen—who was Napoleon's number-one crush the year before. She was upheld as the ideal queen, showing grace, tact and a fantastic love for beer that would inspire generations of Germans to drink liter upon liter of rather strong brew.
As the festival grew and more foreigners decided they enjoyed drinking outside in early autumn, the beer tents started serving lighter brews to satisfy their guests. This new style is what us Yanks call Oktoberfest beer.
Anyway, back to the beer of the week. All the way from Kalamazoo, Mich., comes Bell's version of the Oktoberfestbier. Most of us Union Terrace regulars know Bell's Brewery for its famous—or infamous, depending how much you drank—Two Hearted Ale. Oktoberfest is like Two Hearted, but with much milder hops and a sweeter taste. I was looking for some of the same dryness that I loved in Two Hearted, many of the other Oktoberfests I have drunk or last week's Dortmunder Gold (the beer that inspired my Oktoberfest kick). But I just don't feel the same way about Bell's Oktoberfest.
I guess I really should be judging this beer against itself:
It is very ... erm, nice. It pours a rather transient one-finger head, which looks fantastic atop the rich copper-golden beer. A quick-deep gulp is no way to drink this beer, because it will taste like Pabst Blue Ribbon if you rush when you should savor. Breathing in as I drink, I can taste the mild hops and a delicate tension between creaminess and dryness. Unfortunately this is a beer that should be drunk fairly quickly, as the optimum carbonation—like the head—fades fairly quickly, and leaves an aftertaste that mildly reminds me of the first time I caught a whiff of my uncle's ""special glass."" Light-beer drinking relatives aside, Bell's Oktoberfest can be a great beer given the conundrum of drinking it fast enough while savoring the subtle flavors. It just needs the right conditions. Drunk cool out of a cool stein on a cool day, this beer will warm taste buds, but it won't wreck them. At 5.5 percent ABV, relatively low for its style, Bell's Oktoberfest is drinkable without fear of becoming a bierleichen (German for beer corpse).
Regardless, here at the DC New Beer Desk we think its subtlety is mostly lost on our pedestrian palates—and our wallets. Bell's $9.99 price tag is worth it for some of their selections, but the Oktoberfest is iffy. If you have the patience for flavors that don't come out and wallop you, then this brew is right up your alley, assuming you can't wait until next week when we bring out the big guns.
What are we going to review next week? Well, we have a special surprise for you. Instead of a review of one beer New Beer Thursday will review some of the best Oktoberfest themed brews you can get in Madison.
