Yankee Brew News Archive

Tasting Panel: New England-Brewed Oktoberfest and Fall Seasonal Beers

Originally Published: 10/97

By: Gregg Glaser

The following reviews list the results of a tasting panel of Oktoberfest, Fallfest, Harvestfest seasonal beers -- both ales and lagers -- produced by New England breweries and brewpubs that package in bottles or growlers. Micros that only keg their beers, and the majority of brewpubs that don't bottle, were not included. All beers were shipped directly by the breweries, insuring the freshest possible product.

The format was a blind tasting, with the panelists knowing only whether the beer was an ale or a lager. The members of the panel included Peter Reid, Editor of "Modern Brewery Age"; Steve "Dr. Pivo" Victor, BJCP beer judge and general bon vivant; The Naughty Nurse, occasional YBN contributor; and Gregg Glaser, YBN Associate Editor. The reviews, listed in the order they were tasted, are a distillation of the four panelists' comments.

Old Nutfield Brewing

Derry, New Hampshire

Nutfield Harvest Ale

A very English ale aroma with a wonderful balance of bright hops and sweet caramel -- it smells a bit like a lot of things, but not a lot like any one of them; a gorgeous, freshly polished amber color; a delicious, well-balanced blend of malty nuttiness and caramel sweetness with just the right touch of hops; very fresh; is this an Alt Fest?

Mugs: 4

Otter Creek Brewing

Middlebury, Vermont

Oktoberfest Autumn Ale

A very low presence of malt sweetness or hops in the aroma; a lovely light amber color; a bit vegetal in the taste and astringent in the finish; watery and thin.

Mugs: 1-2

Mass. Bay Brewing

Boston, Massachusetts

Harpoon Oktoberfest (lager)

A rich, malty, sweet, toasty, wonderful aroma; a beautiful deep amber color; tastes of full malt sweetness and toastiness, just slightly subdued by hops; perhaps a bit too much hops in the flavor and finish.

Mugs: 3

Catamount Brewing

White River Junction, Vermont

Catamount Oktoberfest

A peachy aroma with earthy hops; a pretty and very pale amber color; an extremely light malt flavor with a short hop finish; watery and thin.

Mugs: 2

Boston Beer Company

Boston, Massachusetts

Sam Adams October Fest

A strong, wonderful malty sweetness and toastiness in the aroma; a beautiful rich amber color; a candy-like opening taste, full of rich malt sweetness and toasted grains with the hops appropriately subdued.

Mugs: 3

Fall seasonal beers (bottled) not available for tasting at the time the panel met also come from the following New England craft breweries. If you know of any we missed, let us know.

New England Brewing Co., Norwalk, Connecticut

Wachusett Brewing, Westminster, Massachusetts

Mill City Brewing, Lowell, Massachusetts

Pilgrim Brewing, Hudson, Massachusetts

***Sidebar to Tasting Panel***

An Oktoberfest Style Primer and History

By Gregg Glaser

Yankee Brew News Staff

The famous German Oktoberfest beers have their roots in Vienna, Austria. It was 1841 when the Viennese brewer, Anton Dreher, began brewing an amber-colored lager beer, very different from the dark ales common at the time. Dreher's beer eventually became known as the Vienna style, and it's still known by this name today. Over in Munich at the same time, Dreher's friend, the Spaten brewer Gabriel Sedlmayer, took a cue from Dreher and also began using lager yeasts to develop a new style of beer for his customers. This beer evolved into the Oktoberfest style, but we're not there yet. Hold on.

For centuries, brewers in Bavaria and nearby areas would end their brewing season in March, brewing big, flavorful, slightly alcoholic beers known then and now as Märzen beers. Brewing during the summer months was impossible. The hot weather was a natural breeding ground for beer-spoiling wild yeasts and bacteria. As time progressed, brewers realized that they could brew an extra large amount of beer in March and store it in the cold, icy caves of the Alps, keeping it away from the hot summer weather. They would gradually draw upon this stock during the summer months, finishing the supply in September or October.

The tapping of the last of these casks became a good excuse to throw a big party. It also coincided with many harvest festivals and the celebrations at the time of the year when cow herds were brought down from their Alpine pastures to spend the winter in the lower villages. Munich's Märzen beers, originally top-fermenting ales, eventually became amber-colored lagers, due to the pioneering work with lager yeasts done by Gabriel Sedlmayer.

The story now brings us to Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria, later to become King Ludwig I of Bavaria, and his 1810 wedding feast in beautiful downtown Munich to Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. The feast was huge and lots of fun. So much so that the townspeople decided to revive it year after year. Thus was born the Oktoberfest. A wonderful celebration needed an equally wonderful and special beer. Here the story gets a little murky. The Spaten people tell the story that in 1872 Gabriel Sedlmayer created the style now known as Oktoberfest beer, specifically for the town's famous festival.

Legend also has it that Sedlmayer's so-called Oktoberfest beer that year was actually an experimental batch that was rushed to the festival site when the regular beer ran out. Another version of the Oktoberfest story, told by beer writer Michael Jackson, has it that the first Oktoberfest beer was brewed in 1871 by Sedlmayer's brother and competitor, Josef, the brewer at Munich's Franziskanner Brewery (now owned by Spaten). Munich's Hacker-Pschorr Brewery also lays claim to brewing the first Oktoberfest beer. Take your pick. The end result is that the Munich Märzen beer was the base from which the Oktoberfest style developed.

Today's German Oktoberfest beers, the standard for the style, are slightly stronger and maltier versions of the everyday Vienna-style and Märzen lagers. Oktoberfest beers are amber to deep coppery orange in color and have a high degree of malty sweetness with a trace or more of a toasted malt aroma and flavor. The hopping rates are low in the bittering, aroma and flavor uses of the hops, and the beers have a medium body. Most Oktoberfest beers run between 4.8 to 6.5 percent alcohol by volume.

In Germany, only the six Munich breweries (Spaten, Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr, Hofbräuhaus, Löwenbräu and Augustiner) are allowed by law to use the Oktoberfest name on their beers. However, this law doesn't apply to German beers labeled for sale in the U.S. or, of course, for American brewers. New England craft-brewed Oktoberfest beers may be either lagers or ales, and they may be called by another name, such as Fallfest or Harvestfest. It's simply a good time of the year to release a specialty, seasonal beer for many breweries.

***Sidebar to Tasting Panel***

Corrections and Additions to Past Tasting Panels

Missing from the stout tasting panel was Ox Pull Stout (a dry stout) from Tunbridge Quality Ales/Jigger Hill Brewery of South Royalton, Vermont.

Missing from the brown ale tasting panel was Telemark Ale (an English-style mild ale) from Tunbridge Quality Ales/Jigger Hill Brewery of South Royalton, Vermont.

Incorrectly tasted and rated as a brown ale: Auburn Ale from Old Nutfield Brewing, Derry, New Hampshire. The brewers tell us this beer is not brewed as a true brown ale.