Spaten Oktoberfest

Hello fellow snobs!

This evening I am continuing the Quest for the Best Oktoberfest with a brew that people keep telling me I need to try. However, let’s review our current standings first:

#1) Ayinger Oktober Fest
#2) Sam Adams Octoberfest
#3) Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest

Yep, that’s right, Ole Sam Adams is hanging tight in the #2 spot. However, tonight I’m going to switch back to a Munich beer – Spaten. With a name like Spaten, how can you not feel manly just saying it? Honestly I feel like a bit less of a man as I haven’t had ANY of their brews. Perhaps it’s because Spaten sounds a lot like Spartacus and we all know how awesome he was. So I’m going to up my manliness this evening with a Spaten Oktoberfest.

Now, like I said above, several people have told me about this brew as I’ve ventured on my Oktoberfest Quest. So this is obviously a beer people associate with this style of beer – and time of year. This particular example came from our friends at The Westland Market and Beer Gallery and according to Spaten’s website, this was the first Oktoberfest beer.

This beer pours with a nice two finger head and a nice amber color – maybe the lightest of the Oktoberfest brews I’ve reviewed thus far but still a nice rich hue to it. I’ve got to admit, on first whiff I immediately got some skunkiness but backed away for a second and came back. I smell some yeast and a subtle sweetness and still some skunkiness – odd. On the tongue there is a mild sweetness to the brew, some breadiness and some evidence of hops as noted by the bitter finish. This may have the most bitter finish thus far in the series. This beer almost seems heavier than the other ones as well. This beer clocks in at 5.9% ABV and is the largest thus far. While it is the same style as the others, it’s a bit different – wouldn’t classify this as a “hot day” beer but one that I’d probably enjoy in the dusk of a cool evening. While I didn’t get a lot on the nose this beer has opened up as I’ve enjoyed it and it seems to have gotten a little sweeter on the front. There just seems to be a quality about it.  It’s a good beer and a nice example but I don’t think I’d want more than one of these in a session.

Final Snobs: An excellent Oktoberfest example – I’d certainly start my festivities with one of these but I’d probably move to something else afterwards. I can see why people pointed me to this brew – it’s definitely high quality, but in this ranking, Sam and Ayinger are still safe in their current positions.

Cheers!

Current Standings:
#1) Ayinger Oktober Fest
#2) Sam Adams Octoberfest
#3) Spaten Oktoberfest
#4) Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest