Oktoberfest is Here - what's your favorite thing about Fall & favorite Oktoberfest Beer


 

John K BBQ

TVWBB All-Star
Autumn is my favorite time of year. Although I like spring and summer, and winter has it's moments, and I'm getting tired of raking leaves, but autumn is still my favorite because of the fall colors, football, MLB playoffs, and the normally mild temperatures in the midwest (warm days, cooler nights, and lower humidity). AND Oktoberfest BEER.

So far I've had 5 different ones... 2 local to St. Louis area and 3 others. Here's how I rank them #1 Urban Chestnut, #2 Breckinridge CO, #3 Shinerbock, #4 Schlafly, #5 Sam Adams.... To be fair (and thankfully) I didn't try all of them the same night, but I did have the Urban Chestnut and Breckinridge in the same day and it's really hard to say which is better. Urban Chestnut is a bit lighter/more crisp, and Breckinridge has a few more malty/sweet notes. Both are very good. Shiner and Urban Chestnut are quite similar. I didn't enjoy Schlafly as much and didn't like Sam Adams much at all. It sort of tasted flat and didn't do much for me.

What is your favorite thing about Fall? Do you have a favorite Oktoberfest beer?

Here's a little time lapse photography for inspiration
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Fall in south Texas isn't much different than summer. But the temps do start to fall a little lower and that is always a good thing for me.

I do look forward to marzen/festbiers and will always try it when a brewery is brave enough to make one. Hacker-Pschorr is probably my favorite if you can get it fresh and here in Texas there is a brewery in Fredericksburg that makes fantastic lagers called Altstadt. We stopped in while on vacation and I was very pleasantly surprised. So their Oktoberfest is a nice one as well. Prost!
 
Fall in south Texas isn't much different than summer. But the temps do start to fall a little lower and that is always a good thing for me.

I do look forward to marzen/festbiers and will always try it when a brewery is brave enough to make one. Hacker-Pschorr is probably my favorite if you can get it fresh and here in Texas there is a brewery in Fredericksburg that makes fantastic lagers called Altstadt. We stopped in while on vacation and I was very pleasantly surprised. So their Oktoberfest is a nice one as well. Prost!
I would really like to visit Central TX again sometime but I see nothing but Houston in my future (work trips). Nothing against Houston but I would really like to revisit some of the smaller towns outside of Austin.
 
I completely failed to mention, I've only been there once, but the Gerst Haus restaurant in Evansville IN, is a fantastic place to visit for German Food, and Bier.... they had the elusive 3 Floyds Oktoberfest on tap and it was northing short of WONDERFUL.
 
I do like the traditional marzen....some can be way to heavy on the malts. Traditionally I am not a huge lager or heavy malt fan but some are very good. Being here up in the north the Sam Adams is basically non existent, which makes an Octoberfest Sam Adams on tap delicious. I find it way better than what you can buy in a can or bottle. Lots of local around here so there is always a new batch to try.
 
Fall has yet to arrive here in SoCal - we're currently going through another heat wave! But it is my favorite season.
Beer: The local markets generally don't stock specialty beers - other than S. A. Octoberfest, which is an ok beer. The local specialty brew store put fall beers on the shelves in August - WAY too soon! And they're usually out of stock by now which is a total bummer.
 
John, as I posted on my Octoberfest thread, we were a little late with our Octoberfest dinner. But, DH also forgot to buy some good German Beer :eek: :eek: :eek:
 

 

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