This post was written during a power outage. Please forgive the poor quality of the pictures. 

Here we are on the last day of Oktoberfest. I wanted to see the month off with an official Oktoberfest lager but I couldn't find any I hadn't done before. So, we're left with something else from Germany. That's fine, though. Germany knows how to make beer.

That something else is Hofbrauhaus Freising's Festbier. Let's see how this German-brewed, unofficial Oktoberfest-style lager's drinking!

Before anyone says otherwise, I am doing a Märzen this Oktoberfest season. Hell, that's this post is about! See? Last time I said I was more of a Märzen guy, so here it is. Märzen.

The specific Märzen we're looking at today is Wolf's Ridge's Oktoberfest. It's been a few years since they've graced the blog. I know they can do great stouts. How do they handle this fall staple?

Who'd've thunk that the second post of Oktoberfest season '24 would bring the second Festbier of '24? I know, I know; it's wild. I'm more of a self-professed Märzen man (they're more complex and offer me a little more if I sit with them and mull them over), but I'm finding singles of new Oktoberfest-style lagers to be more and more challenging to come by.

Which isn't to say at all that I don't like Festbiers! They're a great alternative to their typically heavier Oktoberfest cousins. Despite their relative lack of complexity, they're still fun to drink. And, you know, there can often be beauty in simplicity. Let's see what beauty we find in today's beer: Eredità Festbier.

It feels like fall now. Monday (which was Labor Day here in the US) was our farewell to summer. Michelle and I started decking our halls for Halloween. We took our toddler to his favorite splash park for the last time this season and shut the place down. The mornings have been cooler and darker, and we're looking at low temperatures in the 40-degree range this weekend. Yeah, autumn's arrived (I don't care that it's not technically autumn until later this month--we're on my blog).

What better way to welcome fall and September than by beginning the blog's official Oktoberfest season? Let's do just that. Today, we're doing something a little special with Modist's The Time Is Nigh. You'll see what I mean.

In München steht ein Hofbräuhaus: Eins, zwei, g'suffa!

Da läuft so manches Fäßchen aus:

Eins, zwei, g'suffa!

Da hat so mancher brave Mann:

Eins, zwei, g'suffa!

Gezeigt was er so vertragen kann

Schon früh am Morgen fing er an

Und spät am Abend kam er heraus

So schön ist's im Hofbräuhaus.

 

Today's beer is one that I've wanted to get around to for some time. See, Listermann's a brewery whose name always grabs my attention. This means that I've been bummed when I see their Oktoberfest out in the wild because, historically, it drops just after I cement my Oktoberfest lineup for the blog.

Ah, Christian Moerlein. I've had more than a few of their beers and can't say I particularly care for what they do. The only one I've done up on the blog was their Glier's Goetta Lager, which landed squarely in the "okay" range. Anything else I've had from the brewery unfortunately ranks lower.

I'll tell you now that the only reason I picked up this beer was because it was the first Oktoberfest available at my local Kroger this season. I've had it and have already formed an opinion on it (you might be able to read between the lines of the above paragraph for a spoiler) that I hope to get down in type today. Buckle up; it might just be a rough ride.

Today's post is something of a rarity around these parts: A non-alcoholic beer. The last one I drank for the blog was in February '20, just before the pandemic hit the US. If you'll recall, I enjoyed it.

It's hard to fathom the year's moved so quickly, yet, somehow, Oktoberfest season has come to the blog. The evenings are growing cooler and the mornings darker. It's the time to be outside, drink malty beer, and listen to oompah music.

This is it: The official end of the blog's Oktoberfest season. It's become something of a tradition in recent years to see September off with an actual German Oktoberfest. 

To that end, we have Hacker-Pschorr's Oktoberfest Märzen today. This is one of the few beers you can get at the true Oktoberfest celebration (the one in Munich). Only six breweries--all Munich-based--are allowed to serve at the festival. Let's get the cap off my bottle and see what all the German-inspired fuss is about.

We have, after nearly a month, now arrived at the penultimate Oktoberfest 2022 post. When I wake up now, the temperatures are in the 40s (that's Fahrenheit, mind you). Soon enough, there'll be dawn frost, the trees will finally don their autumn's best, and Michelle and I will be carving our little family of Halloween Jack-o'-lanterns. 

But, before we get to all that, we have to run out September and the final few Oktoberfest-style lagers. So, today we're doing the single can I bought of Toppling Goliath's entry into the canon. How's it drink?

The sun's out and shining. A lone cricket's playing somewhere in the shade of the trees by my house. Sure, today's in the 70s but there's still a certain autumnal quality on the breeze. It's a damn fine day for another Oktoberfest-style lager.

Who am I to turn down such a fantastic experience? I have just the beer stashed in the fridge for a day like this: North High's Oktoberfest. Let's see how its drinking.

This one's something special. Off Color is one of those few breweries who seem to craft magic whenever they put malt, hops, and yeast to water. 

When they announced Waddle's distribution range this year, I knew that I'd be able to secure a can: It's available in Chicago (and, most likely, the rest of Illinois), Missouri, and Michigan. Guess whose parents were in Michigan in time for the drop? Yeah, that's right. This one's for my mom and dad.

The sun's out and shining in a bright blue sky. Sure, the temperature's high, but there's a subtle chill in the light breeze. I just got back from a short run and am nearly ready to settle in for the new Rings of Power episode but, before I do, I want to take some time and celebrate the cooling weather with another Oktoberfest.

Up today is Country Boy Brewing's aptly-named Oktoberfest. I've had one of their beers before (Cougar Bait, back in 2017) and was duly impressed. Let's see how their Oktoberfest drinks.

It started out as a chilly, rainy day here in my little east-of-Cincinnati hideaway. While the nation's winding down from its holiday weekend and summer's last hurrah, I have both feet planted firmly in "it's fall now" territory. And, thanks to the drizzly weather this morning, it really feels like Oktoberfest season has officially arrived.

That last Oktoberfest post was just a warmup. Today, we're diving into the rest of the glorious season with Third Eye's Drittes Auge. Let's see how she's drinking.

Today's the official start of John Likes Beer's Oktoberfest season extravaganza! Sure, I've been drinking Oktoberfest-style lagers since they first hit the market in July (don't judge me too harshly--I'm always in a rush to get to fall), but I've been a benevolent blogger and kept my Märzen- and festbier-related hijinks away from the site.

Until now! See, the page on the calendar turned overnight and we've landed squarely in September. Munich's big Oktoberfest is two weeks and some change away. I'm not holding back anymore. Let's get my meager celebration started immediately and kick it all off with Platform's Brauraiser.

Prost! We come now, at last, to the end of our Oktoberfest 2021 journey here on the blog. It's been a wild month, with a ton of great beer (although, admittedly, some were better than others. You'll have that). It's finally time wrap it up and get ready for the beers October has in store (namely, pumpkin beers, a lot of pumpkin beers).

To see the season off in style, I've tracked down another official Munich-approved Oktoberfest lager. Last year, I tackled Paulaner's Oktoberfest Bier, a traditional staple of the festival. Today, I'm breaking into the brewery's Oktoberfest Märzen. 

Today's the 22nd of September--a Very Big Day. Not only is is Hobbit Day. Not only is it the (fictional) birthday of both Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. It's also, most importantly to me, the first official day of fall. Finally.

Fall 2021 fell with an nearly-audible thud. Seriously, three days ago it was pushing 90° and now I'm sitting on my front porch in a hoodie and sweats because (get this) it's 55°. But that's a-okay megafine by me. Just makes it all the more appropriate to drink another Oktoberfest-style beer.

Slated for today: West Side's Oktoberfest. How's it drinking?

It's suddenly hot again. Why? I mean, it wasn't exactly chilly when my last post went up but today it feels like we tripped into some weird time vortex and wound up in mid-August. Which is fine--I don't harbor any particular ill-will toward summer--but I've already mentally shifted into my fall space.

It's good that I had today's beer stashed in my fridge. I was planning on drinking it regardless of how the day's temperatures turned out. Now that I'm breaking into it, here's hoping that Narragansett's Fest can help me regain that bit of fall that I've lost so abruptly.

The cool weather just keeps on a-coming! This morning when I came out to read on my porch (I'm working on Rateliff's The History of the Hobbit) I had to throw on a long sleeve shirt to stave off the bite of chill in the air. It was great. I knew from the exact moment I sat down to open up my book that I'd be tackling the next Oktoberfest post. Sometimes things just fall right into place.

Luckily I had the second beer of the season in my fridge already, just waiting for the moment I'd need it. That beer's Brink's Brinktoberfest. Let's see how it's drinking on this fine late-summer evening.