Written by Brandon Marcus, Christopher Birtch, and Julian Dahl
This Week’s Brewery:
This week, instead of focusing on one brewery, we are trying something new. Currently in the midst of fall, we are going to spend a couple weeks focusing on seasonal beers produced in-state. This week we will review solely Oktoberfest-style beers, all brewed in Colorado. Next week, we will stick to the fall seasonal theme by reviewing beers with pumpkin flavors.
Fun Facts:
Oktoberfest is the world’s largest beer festival, taking place every year in Munich and Bavaria. This year’s festival started Sept.17, and finished early this week on Monday, Oct. 3. The event sees between five and seven million visitors annually. The event is free, although the beer is not. Other event attractions include rides and local German music. Beer enjoyed at Oktoberfest is closely tied to German beer history. For example, the ‘Reinheitsgebot’ is known as the German Beer Purity Law in common English. This law dates back to the 16th century, and limits German beer producers to three ingredients: water, barley, and hops. The other influential part of this history and beer style is origin of the term ‘Marzen.’ Marzen beer is Bavarian in origin, and dates back to pre-16th century, when brewing was only allowed to occur between September and April. Marzen was brewed in March, (Marz in German), and uses a different yeast than other beers that takes a longer time to ferment than traditional lagers. Thus, when a new brewing season began again September, people would clean out their cellars of the last beers from March, just in time for Oktoberfest. This is why Marzen-style beer dominates at Oktoberfest festivities.
This Week’s Picks:
Topher’s Pick: Octoberfest Marzen – Lefthand Brewery
Our first beer is an Oktoberfest marzen-style lager brewed by Lefthand Brewery out of Longmont, Colo. Lefthand was founded in 1994 by two college friends with a knack for homebrewing, much like our own Julian Dahl. Over the past 20 years they have grown and evolved with the local environment and have made some very notable beers. This Oktoberfest has a clear, rich, copper appearance which is extremely enticing, by golly, get me a stein of this beautiful beer! This beer has mild IBUs common of marzen-style lagers, coming in at 22. Aromas of fruit, malts, and bready grain are emitted from the glass, furthering Left Hand’s unique approach to this beer. The taste, proving multidimensional, has an initial malt flavor followed by a nice bready taste with hints of fruit, and a late bitter finish, causing a nice sensation. This Oktoberfest also has a nice medium body feel in the mouth. With an alcohol percent of 6.6 percent by volume, I could enjoy this beer all day. Other Left Hand beers to check out are the Nitro Milk Stout, the Sawtooth Ale, the Good Juju, and many other seasonal and limited release brews.
Julian’s Pick: Oktoberfest Marzen – Prost Brewery
Prost Brewery, a very young brewery out of Denver, produced a nice fall seasonal marzen-style Oktoberfest as well. Prost was founded by one of Dry Dock’s head brewers, Bill Eye, with the goal of creating quality german style beers to serve the front range. Resembling the Left Hand Oktoberfest in color, but a slightly lighter copper, this beer is equally fitting to the marzen-style Oktoberfest mold. This beer smelled bready and malty, with a little underlying sweetness, somewhat lacking depth. The taste reflected the smell, not having exceptional or sophisticated flavor, except that of some tasty malts. The most promising taste aspect was the full body feel satisfying the mouthfeel and causing it to be quite refreshing. This Oktoberfest also finished clean and dry, very nice on the palette. Coming in at 5.8% alcohol per volume and a 24 on the IBU scale, this beer is an average marzen Oktoberfest. Definitely worth trying if you want to taste a well produced American take on the marzen style Oktoberfest. This beer is simple, yet quite enjoyable. Prost also brews a few other spectacular beers to check out, namely the Pils and the Kolsch.
Brandon’s Pick: Dry Dock Docktoberfest
The last of the Colorado Oktoberfest beers we tried was the Dry Dock Docktoberfest. Dry Dock is another newer Colorado brewery opening its doors in 2005, but very quickly expanding. From 2012 to 2013 they nearly quadrupled their production from 3,200 barrels a year to nearly 12,000, so keep your eyes peeled for more delicious beers out of this booming company. This is another standard marzen-style oktoberfest beer. It resembles the prost in color with a dark orange hue. The aroma greets you with a very prominent yeast smell, but also some malty scents. It is a smooth drink yet lacks a ton of flavor. It is strongly carbonated, has a very bready texture, and has a medium body. It ranks a 22 on the IBU and is 5.6 percent by volume. This was our least favorite of the three yet still a quality example of the style. Dry Dock does make some other exceptional beers, a few we would recommend include the Sour Apricot, the Apricot Blonde, and the Vanilla Porter.
Where to Buy:
These beers should be available at many liquor stores in the Springs, yet remember seasonal beers are a limited release. So if you don’t hurry up and try these out they may no longer be on the shelves. We recommend celebrating the end of the festival and getting out there while supplies last!