Oktoberfest is the time when all craft beer drinkers turn to the stein, and fill it with a plethora of seasonal marzens, or as we probably refer to it, Oktoberfest Ale. The Brit headed to a a local store and selected a 6-pack of readily-available brews from 6 different breweries, and put them up against one another in a taste challenge. Providing their personal preferences to those beers are co-host Chuck Fort, Illinois beer historian John Bittermann, and tavern owner John Karwoski.
There was some thought to the matchups, but really this episode is to find out if there are any brews that standout based on what my local store had to offer. We have 3 preliminary rounds followed by a 3-way final tasting. Which comes out on top? You should listen to the podcast to hear the conversation and reasoning behind our choices, but SPOILER ALERT, here are the results, with winners bolded:
Round 1
Erdinger Oktoberfest, Germany 5.7% vs Schlafly Oktoberfest, St. Louis MO., 5.5%
Round 2
Left Hand Brewing, Oktoberfest Marsen Lager, 6.6% vs Sam Adams, Boston MA., Octoberfest, 5.3%
Round 3
Bells, Comstock MI., Octoberfest, 5.5% vs Pollyanna Brewing, Lemont IL., Fruhauf Oktoberfest Lager, 5.4%
Final Round Winner: Schlafly Oktoberfest, St. Louis MO., 5.5%
Bonus Beers:
Schlafly Imperial Oktoberfest, 8.0%
Victory Brewing, Down
ington PA., Festbier, 5.6%
Play the show from our player below, or from SoundCloud…
