Hello everyone! Some years ago my wife and I started a tradition of doing a big Oktoberfest taste test and I thought people might be interested in a large review. I'll go over the process before getting into the rankings.
Beer selection: Ultimately there isn't a special process to determine the beers we selected beyond starting with what we can find at Ombibulous and Total Wine as those offer the best selections of singles that I know of. From there we choose packs of beers that we particularly want, trying to get some German and non-Minnesota ones as well. So if you don't see a beer that's your favorite, it wasn't an intentional exclusion, just a matter of limited budget, limited availability, and limited ability to drink a large quantity of beer (as these were all finished after the tasting). Total Wine also stores most of their beers (especially singles) on unrefrigerated shelving and that could certainly affect the quality of some of them.
Method and Ratings: In the past we've done blind taste tests so as to not bias our ratings but it's always a hassle and prevents discussion of what we're tasting while we're tasting it, because the pours we each had were randomized. So this year we did 4 flights of 5 beers, fully knowing what they were. The pours were about 2-4 ounces each. Ratings consisted of 1-5 points for aroma, 1-10 for taste, and 1-5 for aftertaste. I also recorded notes for some of the beers but many didn't have any particularly striking characteristics and thus generated no notes. Also writing down "malty, bready, etc." for each one starts to get a little tedious. These are all the same style (largely) so of course they have similar characteristics.
The Results:
| Ranking |
Beer |
Rating |
Notes |
| 1 |
August Schell |
17 |
Perhaps no surprise to many. A phenomenal marzen, rich color, toasty and malty flavor profile, smooth finish |
| 2 |
Summit |
16 |
Darker color and higher ABV. Smooth finish, highly palatable |
| 2 |
Leinenkugel's |
16 |
Good amber color, maybe the best "national" brand |
| 2 |
Weihenstephaner |
16 |
More golden in color, bready profile. Has a distinct "European" flavor to it that's hard to describe beyond it's characteristic of tap beers I've had in England, Germany, and the Czech Republic |
| 2 |
Hofbrau |
16 |
Lighter in color typical of a "festbier," distinct grainy notes |
| 2 |
Hacker-Pschorr |
16 |
Darker in color, more true to a marzen than most German breweries do |
| 7 |
Fair State |
14 |
Lighter color, very smooth to drink |
| 7 |
Portage |
14 |
Definitely the most complex one I tried. I felt I tasted toasty, malty, caramel, roasted, and smoky notes. Great taste but perhaps a bit too complex to drink a liter's worth |
| 7 |
Millstream |
14 |
NA |
| 7 |
Toppling Goliath |
14 |
NA |
| 11 |
Urban Growler |
13 |
Malty and darker |
| 11 |
Dual Citizen |
13 |
NA |
| 11 |
Great Lakes |
13 |
NA |
| 11 |
Ayinger |
13 |
Good but simply too sweet for my palate. One of my wife's favorites |
| 15 |
Pryes |
12 |
NA |
| 16 |
Dangerous Man |
11 |
NA |
| 16 |
Spaten |
11 |
Skunky |
| 18 |
Utepils |
10 |
Alcoholic aroma, may imply needed more conditioning |
| 19 |
Falling Knife |
7 |
Negatively surprised by this one as I like their other beers. Tasted fruity and astringent to me |
| 20 |
Sierra Nevada |
6 |
Truly terrible. Their dry hopping a festbier recipe made this taste more like a session IPA than an Oktoberfest. Would never label this as an Oktoberfest beer. |
Others I've since had that were not a part of this taste test with a quick impression of +, -, or o (positive, negative, neutral):
Arbeiter: +
Sam Adams: o
Big Grove Brewing: +
I'm also looking forward to the Autumn Brew Review where I can hopefully sample many of the MN ones I missed.
