September 26, 2025 • 39 mins
The line between tradition and interpretation blurs when American breweries tackle the iconic Oktoberfest beer style. After recently sampling authentic German Märzens and Festbiers, we now turn our attention to seven American interpretations to see how they measure up to the originals.
What we discover is both surprising and revealing. While German Oktoberfest beers demonstrate remarkable consistency in their rich, malty profiles, American versions showcase wildly varying approaches—most falling short of capturing the essence that makes the German originals so special. The appearance might be there, with appropriate amber-to-copper hues, but the flavor profiles tell a different story.
Our journey begins with disappointment as the first three American offerings (Lakefront, Schell's, and Raised Grain) present appealing aromas but deliver minimal flavor, scoring in the low 2.0 range. The middle entries introduce more character but veer off in unexpected directions, with Sierra Nevada's collaboration with German brewery Störtebeker leaving a peculiar dryness that departs from tradition.
Only when we reach the final two entries—Lake Louie and New Glarus Staghorn—do we find American interpretations that begin to approach the authentic Oktoberfest experience. The Staghorn, with its smooth finish and balanced malt profile, earns our highest score at 2.7/5, yet even this falls significantly short of the German originals that scored up to 3.6/5.
What becomes clear through our tasting is that brewing an authentic Oktoberfest isn't simply about matching color and alcohol content—it requires a deep understanding of the malt balance and brewing techniques that German brewers have perfected over centuries. While none of the American versions are bad beers per se, they often miss the mark on what makes an Oktoberfest truly special.
Whether you're a seasoned Oktoberfest enthusiast or new to the style, this episode offers valuable guidance on navigating American interpretations. If you can't find German imports, New Glarus Staghorn and Lake Louie represent your best options for experiencing something close to the real thing. Listen in as we analyze each beer's strengths and shortcomings, and gain a deeper appreciation for this classic autumn style.
Thank you for listening to The Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast. If you have a question, comment or would like us to review your beer, please feel free to contact us at northbeerguy@gmail.com.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Grab a beer and pull up a chair.
Welcome to the Northwoods BeerGuy Podcast.
It's making me thirsty.
Hello there, my name is JasonFabus and this is my polka band,
(00:43):
West Coast Prost.
We're going to do a littlenumber for you that I think you
might know, so if you're sittingat home, sing along with us.
Here's the Beer Barrel PolkaReady boys.
Oh yeah, One, two.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
One, two, three.
Now, if that doesn't get you inthe mood, Mike, nothing will
Nothing will.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Hey, you are correct.
Hey.
Hey, ladies and gentlemen, andwelcome back to the Northwest
Beer Guy podcast.
This is Mike, the NorthwestBeer Guy, and, as always, I'm
joined by Jim.
Hey, buddy, how are you Doinggood?
How about yourself?
Another fine day in paradise.
Well, I'm not going to lie, I'mpretty intrigued today, again,
just because you know, a coupleof weeks ago we did the German
Oktoberfest.
Yes, we did, and I think we cansafely say they tasted very
(01:29):
similar.
I mean across all three.
You know Oktoberfest, festbierand Marzahn, if you want to say
that, you know, I know that'stypically your Oktoberfest, but
they were very similar in taste.
Color they were different, butthey were similar in taste.
Right Now we're going to visitthe American versions.
Yes, I am pretty sure it'sgoing to be.
They look similar and tastevastly different.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
I think, you're right , I'm going to take your word on
it just because we have triedthese in the past years but, I
thought it'd be good to maybecircle back around again.
Oh yeah, because I know tastebuds kind of get what's a good
word overtaxed by some of thebeers we've tried.
So now we've got a clean slate.
We've tried some GermanOktoberfest, now we can try some
(02:12):
American, and now we're goingto be able to tell all the
listeners exactly what's thebest and sort through all this.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
There you go, yeah, and these are again the 2025
versions, and now there could bea couple maybe I'm not sure
that we haven't had.
I know there's some we haven'thad on the podcast before.
Okay, yep, but yeah, I'mthinking it's going to be
interesting, you know, becausejust thinking back, like I said
to the germans, they were allvery I don't want to say in the
box, those people, they're allin the same lane.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yes, so as far as flavor went, and but I think how
that helps us, those that setthe bar for us, because those
are from germany and that isexactly how I think the original
makers of the beer wanted theirbeer to taste, correct.
So now we're going to be ableto see did they meet that bar or
did they fall a little bitshort?
Speaker 1 (02:57):
yeah, see how they tweaked it.
Yes, in the right and wrong way.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yes, let's let's hope in the right way.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Well, the thing I'm noticing too.
Remember then we had a numberof them that were in bottles and
then like one can, where thistime they're all cans except one
bottle right, oh, so good,catch right off the bat too.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Yeah, kind of interesting.
I don't know if you see theabvs too.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
I mean, we're all oh once again they're within, you
know, 0.6 of each other, right,all seven of them, all seven
them.
So that's kind of interesting.
So at least they're that part,they're staying together.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yes, and I think they're the overall, because I
think when we did the research,between five and 7% and these
all are so, at least for thefirst check in a box, there were
then They've met that yes.
Because this does not include.
The one that we keep lookingfor is the Marzon, that's
bourbon barrel aged.
Yep, exactly that might be on afuture episode.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Yeah, we got to keep looking see what we can come
across.
I'm hoping like crazy we canfind the same one we had last
year.
Yes, we had two last year, sohopefully we can find them both.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Right, it'd be nice if we found three or four, but
two would be fine.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Fine, we're not asking for much right, exactly
all right.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Well, what do we got?
Speaker 1 (04:05):
first, let's get going.
So the first one we have is bylakefront brewing out of
milwaukee miliwake, miliwake,and this is their octoberfest
marzon lager lager.
Amber, red color and multi-bodymakes this an excellent german
style lager.
And this is 5.6 percent abv andit's got a guy and lady dressed
(04:29):
up in their lederhosen andtheir dirndl I believe is how
you say the dress.
And again, the blue and andwhite diamond pattern, which is
synonymous, synonymous withoctober fest I think our next
beer actually has that same itemat the top too, with the can.
So that's a good sign.
Yeah, you know, that's kind ofone of those.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
They're getting a .10 or .1 for following in line
with the German style, so that'sa good sign.
It seems like yeah at leastthat carried over, so that's
good.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
All right, so let's pour this out here.
We're back to our Prost tasterglasses.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Yes, that's post All right.
Well, it looks like beer.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Yes, it's not quite as dark as I was expecting.
Yes, I mean it is kind of areddish color, I guess, but it's
darker than some of the Germanones were.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Yes, that smells like an American Oktoberfest Very
malty in aroma, Not bad though.
Not much flavor though.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
No, it's got for the amount of malt aroma.
I was expecting higher malttaste.
You know what I mean.
Yeah, there's not a lot offlavor.
Not a lot, really Kind of alittle bit of a disappointment.
Yes, I'd still drink it, but itstill kind of leaves me wanting
more.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Right.
I mean I don't think you'regoing to.
I wouldn't turn it away becauseI mean the finish is smooth,
there's no bad aftertaste, butthere's just not a lot of flavor
.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
No, and there's like and I don't know how to describe
it On the tail end there is alittle bit of a I don't want to
say skunky, but it's just alittle hint of something.
It's not.
I shouldn't say skunky, it'snot skunky, but there's just a
little flavor maybe, but I justwish there was more flavor.
Yeah, what are you thinking onthe score?
Speaker 2 (06:04):
I'm gonna go like a 2.3 I'm setting it up, so I
don't kick myself.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
You're already thinking about it again.
Aroma very good.
Color was was decent, you knowfor for an american oktoberfest
flavor just was a little littlelow, I guess.
I guess for the amount of thearoma, like I said before, I was
expecting more multi-flavor andit just didn't have it Right.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
So I guess I might be going against how we've always
done it in the past, where thebeer stands alone by itself
against all other beers.
And I might be a little biasednow, since I know what the
German beers at Marzahn aretasting like, so I might be
comparing mine to that.
Then it would go significantlylower.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Right If I knew that's what we were going to do.
No, I'm just saying I'm goingagainst what we've always done.
So.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
I might have some bias in my scoring Yep, so I'm
actually going to go a 2.0 forthe exact reasons you said.
The aroma was good, but thetaste, I mean there wasn't a lot
there.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
No, and I did look.
I should have looked this upbefore we drank it, okay, but no
, this is the 2025 version andthey did not have I'm looking on
untapped, ladies and gentlemenand they didn't have a
description under that, but theyhad it under the normal.
You know what I mean for thisbeer, and it says it's a radiant
, copper, orange hue and rockyoff-white head of our
traditional Marzon-style lagercomes from generous amounts of
(07:23):
munich malt.
Caramel malt aromas complementthe german lager yeast's
slightly floral aroma.
Mount hood hops balance thesubstantial malt body, while the
lager yeast add a subtlety tothe flavor, making this a great
rendition of a classic germanlager prost.
A lot of that I didn't get.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yeah, I don't know, I'm not fully bought into that.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
I I would agree a hundred percent with you, dude.
I just I wish it had moreflavor.
Yeah, that's the the main thingwe we're always looking for
flavor, yeah, and I know we'realways sticklers, so to speak.
That's kind of our big.
What we like to see is theflavor taste.
You know what I'm saying?
Speaker 2 (07:58):
and yeah, it could use a little more, yeah that's a
little bit of a disappointment,yeah, but at least we maybe
we'll work our way up to betterones.
So we start a little lower.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
It could be, it could be.
So we're hoping.
So well, I guess we might aswell just jump into the next one
.
Yeah, I mean because we gottaget some flavor supplies.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
That was just like water, basically right.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
So the next one we have is from shells brewery and
that's in minnesota, minneapolis, new alms, minnesota, yep, all
right, and this is a 5.8 percentand 20 ibus.
Now once again on untapped.
They had a description for thisone.
It says the october fest ormarzon march, march member from
the german episode.
(08:37):
Yes, uh type of beer wasoriginally brewed in march and
laid down in caves before thesummer.
Weather rendered brewingimpossible.
Stocks would be drawn uponheavily during the summer and
exhausted by October.
In Germany, this tradition hascome to be associated with one
specific style Oktoberfest Bier,b-i-e-r, b-i-e-r, b-i-e-r.
(09:00):
Let's see, in keeping with trueGerman tradition, august Schell
Oktoberfest beer is brewed justonce a year, brewed with the
perfect balance of pale Munichand carapils malt, with Liberty
and Pearl hops to create a rich,smooth taste.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Nice.
Well, that's a lot of words.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Well, again, the thing that's kind of cool is
some of the questions that Ibomb at usually were a couple
weeks ago that we talked aboutit and here it is in this beer
that they talked about it.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
That's good.
So we're wrapping it togetherand educating.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Once again, you entertain and educate there you
go.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Well, the head is a little bit golden.
Yeah, a little bit different.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
It's not white, no, and this one's a little bit
darker, a little bit darker thanthe first one right, I would
say this is getting more to thatcolor that we're used to.
Yes, again, multi-aroma yeah,not a lot of aroma, but no a
little bit.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
That's got a different flavor.
See, this is what I was talkingabout before.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
The german ones are all kind of in the same lane for
flavor and the american onesare all over the board.
Yeah, it's not a lot of flavor,but no, but it's not what I, if
you blind taste, tested this, Iwould never.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
I probably would have a hard time guessing.
This is an Oktoberfest.
Yeah, because I mean theflavor's so muted.
Whatever that is, I'm not.
I can't describe exactly whatthat flavor is.
Is it the maltiness maybe?
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
It's kind of yeah, I don't know if yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Just leave it at that .
I know it's going in my mouthand I know there's water going
in there.
You feel like you're swallowingsomething, but I can't really
describe what the flavor is.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
No, that is odd dude.
These have the look and aroma,typically of what we consider an
American Oktoberfest, but notthe flavor so far.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Man, we haven't even scratched the surface on the
German Marzans.
Right Now we know we canactually say that we might be
subject matter experts intasting yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
But this doesn't taste like it and unfortunately
right now the GermanOktoberfests are winning handily
Hands down Right now.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Yeah, I mean I can't say it's watered down, but I
just don't taste there's noflavor.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Oh, and to me, on the back end it's got a little bit
of a.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Something weird, you know there's something,
something odd there.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Yeah, and they had a lot of words in their write-up.
Yes, it was a very nicewrite-up.
I give him credit by far onthat one.
But ooh, what kind of score areyou thinking on that bad boy,
my?
Speaker 2 (11:29):
predicament is it's not a bad—I don't think
it's—it's not horrendous.
Could I drink it?
Yes, but knowing what I knownow about what a Marzan should
taste like, I don't think thatis a good representation.
I could be way off base.
I'm just putting it out there.
I didn't.
There was no flavor.
I mean, I think there'sactually less flavor than the
(11:49):
first one.
I'm going to have to say a 1.9,and not because it's bad, but
just because it's not a goodrepresentation.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
I agree a hundred percent.
I just that finish on theflavor.
It was just bad.
I again, like you said, couldyou drink a can of it?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Yes, would you drink a can of it.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
I don't know Jury's out on that.
I'm going to do a 1.9 as well.
I just I don't know what it is.
Maybe it's a bad can.
We could hope we could givethem the benefit of the doubt on
that.
But yeah, I'm not.
The first two are not.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Especially now that we have a very good
understanding of the flavorspectrum for the German ones.
Now I guess maybe we're andthat's why I said maybe we're a
little biased now that we knowthat.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Yeah, now, speaking of I should have brought this up
earlier to you, but I did havea listener reach out, oh, okay,
and on social media when Iposted the picture of the German
beers that we had.
Okay, and I will have to lookit up and I'll let you know,
because he had said, oh, youshould have had this one and I
had never heard it.
And I'm like I said, well,that's a bummer.
I said we couldn't find it here, right, so I'll have to let you
(12:52):
know which one.
It was Okay, but I thought thatwas pretty cool.
That's nice, yeah, that hereached out there.
Let us know, because if we canfind them, sometimes that's a
little difficult, but we'll seewhat we can do.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
I've been searching my favorite honey holes to see
what I can find.
So I've been searching high andlow to pick some of these up.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Yep, like I said, it is interesting when they start
coming out.
Well, I mean, they've startedcoming out, but it's like you
see one or two and then it'sjust a flood.
Yes, so we'll see what happensthere.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
So anyway, all right, so what do we got next?
Speaker 1 (13:35):
now we got a big old stovepipe.
There we go.
All right, can.
This is by raised grain, okayand this, this is their.
I'm gonna look up the info here.
It is 5.9 and it's got a weirdname to it.
It's got a weird name.
Oops, sorry, I'm trying tofigure out.
Nope, not that one.
Talk amongst yourselves while Ilook Do-de-do-de-do oh boy, I
(13:58):
tell you you'd think we'd bemore professional than this.
Oh, there it was.
Where'd it go?
All right, now I'm with it.
5.9% ABV and 22 IBUs.
Okay, and this is Raised GrainBrewing and they are out of
Waukesha, wisconsin.
You see what the name of it is?
Yep, doc-toberfest, doc, yes,okay, oh, it's the same thing on
(14:19):
the can as what's on untapped.
Precisely delicious, as youwould expect a German lager
brewed by two doctors to be, ohreally, malty, smooth and crisp.
The perfect brew any day.
Let's hope so.
So we'll see what if it has amedicinal taste since they're
doctors?
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Yeah, are they doctors like MD or they're like?
Yeah, that's a good question,jim, I never would have thought
of that.
Or DVM like doctor, veterinarymedicine, what exactly?
Speaker 1 (14:48):
are you a doctor of and don't say loves.
Oh, look at that, all right.
Well, it's got similar color tothe first two, so it's similar
and, like I said, this is in apint can, so again, you're a
little more pot committed whenyou take this one.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Now the head is much whiter than the first two.
It Now the head is much whiterthan the first two.
It's whiter, it's not as goldenas the first two yeah, that is
kind of interesting.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Not a lot of aroma, pretty muted, yeah, of course,
now remember, the German onesare kind of the same.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
So let's see.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
There is like they might have.
I feel like a whisper of aromaand flavor.
For a second there, I thoughtwe were oh this is getting to
what we're and then gone andthen just kind of a, it's a
whisper.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Yeah, there's not a lot.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
You know three cans in here.
You might've ruined me.
I might be a strictly GermanOktoberfest guy now.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Yeah, this doesn't.
You're not going to be scaredof this, but there's not a lot
of flavor there again.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Yeah, I'm trying to figure like that initial.
When you first swallow you getthat kind of what you'd expect,
right a little bit.
I mean it's muted, but it's you, it's there, and you think, oh,
here we go, and then it's justgone.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
It is like, wow, this is man I don't know, dude, this
is, this is crazy, this is justthis is crazy.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
I don't understand.
I just I'm scratching my head,I don't get it and you get to
throw your score out first too.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
I know that's going to be the.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
I'm going to say this is better than the last one.
Is it better than the first one?
I'm going to say 2.1.
Again, because I think it wason the right track track, but
then the flavor dissipates realquick and you just, I'm
expecting that big malty kind offlavor that we've known, yes,
before, and it's just not there.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
I'm disappointed.
I thought some of these weregoing to be better.
I'm just not getting the flavorthat we're come to expect.
And if you're gonna you know,buy a can of beer, especially
oktoberfest it only comes outonce a year you you're going to
want some flavor.
I'm right.
I'm on the same score.
I'm a 2.1.
It's better than the first two,but only by the slightest of
margins.
Right, right, I agree it's notbad.
(16:55):
It doesn't taste bad, there'snot a bad finish, but there's
just not a lot of the Marzonflavor that we're looking for
could drink them.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
And again, would you drink them?
I'm sure you would.
You know I, if somebody goes,hey, you want one of these, sure
, if that's you know, not aproblem.
But yeah, it's just I don'tknow.
So far they're kind of we'rethree strikes and we're yeah, we
got four more tries we're we'renot doing good yet, no, no,
well, you know, we're trying,trying the best we can, all
right, well, so what do we gotnext?
(17:25):
All right, so the next one, andlet's see if I can get this
info to work, right?
Uh, oh, there's on the can.
There's something on the can.
All right, all right, this isby third space brewing.
And does it say where they'reout of should be milwaukee?
Speaker 2 (17:39):
I think, I think you're yep milia walkay and big
letters on the side.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
There we go and this is their Oktoberfest
Marzon-style lager and it saysmulti-lager beer, perfect for
brisk weather and a festiveambiance.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
I don't think we're, we don't have a real festive
ambiance in the studio here.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Will that affect the flavor?
Nah, oh, Throw on yourlederhosen and find your.
Can you read that last word?
That's a big, long German wordand I'm not exactly.
Oh is that the.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Yeah, whatever that is gil kite, commute kite what?
Speaker 1 (18:18):
is that the?
That's not the.
No, that's not the.
Is it the top?
No, I don't know.
We'll have to look it up.
Hopefully it's not a swear word.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
No, I think it's a, it's part of the wardrobe, I
think I think so, I just don'tremember which one.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Okay, let's see what we got here.
There we got a little color, alittle more color.
Yeah, maybe with this one willlike actually might actually get
us there reach us to where wewere expecting to go.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Again, you can get a little bit of aroma, but not a
whole lot.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
There's a little bit of flavor there, a little more.
It's a little more malty, Ithink, a little bit more malty.
Yeah, it still does have alittle bit of bitterness to it.
Oh, I do do some research hereQuick research, so that German
word.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
It's a concept embodying warmth, coziness and
contentment, often experiencedin good company, good company
excluded.
Present company excluded With asense of belonging and social
acceptance.
Oh, okay, wow, nice, that's alot of words.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Yeah, why did it say that?
Because they had to put likefour sentences in there and they
could just use one word.
Wow, nice, that's a lot ofwords.
Yeah, why did it say?
Speaker 2 (19:23):
that Because they had to put like four sentences in
there and they could just useone word, right See?
So the finish on this seems tolinger a little bit.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Yeah, and, like I said to me, it's got a little
bit of bitterness on the veryfinish.
I don't know what that's from,but it's just kind of, you know,
different, a little different,but it's getting closer.
Yes, I give him credit.
It's getting closer.
The needle was stuck on theside here and I was like inch it
, it's trying.
Now it's like a quarter of atank instead of almost on E it's
(19:49):
trying to get towards halfway.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Yeah, it's working.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
I don't know if we got to halfway yet.
I don't think.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
But it's just that it lingers.
Yeah, and it's not the Marzonflavor that's lingering, it's
the malt, or?
Speaker 1 (20:02):
something, something lingers.
We got a lingerer.
Yeah, what score are you goingto give this one?
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Well, I do have to say there is some flavor.
Is it the Marzon flavor that weknow to be accurate?
No, is it closer to a flavorthat the first three did not
have?
Yes, so I'm gonna have to say a2.2, I guess.
So far, for me it is the bestone so far, but it's.
It's still not there, I don'tthink.
But it's, there's flavor.
(20:34):
The first three did not haveany flavor.
This has a little bit, so Iguess that's what I'm going on
okay, uh, I'm going to, uh, begto differ.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Okay, I'm gonna go at 2.0.
I just that, finish on it.
That bitterness, it that's.
What stands out to me is thatand and I can't.
When I taste it I get thatbrief maltiness, but then that's
quickly overcome with thatbitterness, yes, and I just kind
of correct so I'm going to go2.0.
Again, it's not terrible, we'renot saying that at all, but I
(21:05):
just, you know, there'ssomething, there's just
something.
Yeah, and compared to those andagain, we shouldn't, if you
wouldn't have brought upcomparing it in my head to the
German beers, but those weredefinitely, yes, good.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Very good.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Very good, and right now that yeah, we haven't found
one, that's close to them yet nounfortunately Darn it.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
So we're off to the next one.
Yeah, so my fingers are stillcrossed that we can eek
something out, maybe.
Maybe there's a chance we cando it.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Possibly, you never know.
I mean, we've heard of thisbeer of this brewery, okay, you
know.
I mean, so I'm hoping that thisuh gives us a little something
extra here.
So this is sierra nevada, okay,and this is their october fest,
limited fest beer, all right,and they've also got these great
(21:59):
big long StorchbechterBraunfactor, ooh say that twice,
really fast.
Yeah, 6%, okay, 26 IBUs.
So what that word mean, I'm notsure I have a description,
(22:20):
though.
Ah, it says our authenticGerman Fest is a collaboration
with oh, that was the brewery.
Oh, whoopsies.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
All right.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
So it's a collaboration with Storbecker,
or however you pronounce it, anaward-winning German brewer
internationally recognized forquality and innovation.
This modern fest beer leansinto a rich, smooth malt
backbone with notes offresh-baked bread and honey.
Traditional German hops providebalanced bitterness and herbal
(22:55):
spicy aroma rounding out thecrisp, clean finish.
Prost, prost.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
So we're going to have some honey and some herbs.
Well, at least one of thepeople making the beer has made
an october fest beer before.
Yeah, okay, so now at leastwe're.
Maybe we are moving into theright direction so we'll see.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Hopefully they they brought some of that experience,
yes, uh, and such to this.
Now, this is our first festbeer, okay, today.
So again, it is a little bitlighter in color, a little
lighter, which we would expect,because the fest beers,
especially well, even the germanones, were kind of that lighter
color.
Now they can, you know, like wealways said, it was the blue
and white diamonds, this isblack and yellow for, and
(23:36):
diamonds and diamonds, yeah soand the head is very white Very
white, very white.
It's got a little closer aromato what there's not a lot,
there's not a lot.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
But you do a little bit, there's a little bit.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
For a fest beer.
For an American fest beer, thisis kind of what I would expect,
yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
It's not super hoppy, but you can get a little bit of
that.
Yeah, there's no bad finish.
I don't taste anything bad.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Yeah, I don't get that bitterness like I had with
the last one, I mean this one onthe end you do get kind of that
little bit of a hoppy.
I don't know if I'm gettinghoney.
Yeah, what they said abouthoney.
I don't know if I get that atall, but you know, it's a little
bit more of a not how do I sayit kind of not a not good right
bitterness.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
You know what I'm saying.
Yeah, and I wonder if the honeyis making it a little smoother.
It could be.
It could be now because I don'treally taste the honey, but
it's making a little smoothermaybe I don't know it could very
well be, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
It's, uh it not bad at all.
None of these have beenterrible.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Even our scores aren't the greatest, but they're
not terrible in any way, and Ihonestly can say that I haven't
had a beer from theStortenbecker brewery before, so
I don't know how the otherbeers taste.
We have had some Sierra Nevadabefore and they've always seemed
to be pretty good and they'vebeen around a long time.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
They're a big craft brewery, so I don't know, I
guess, uh, you're first boy.
Where do I put that?
Uh, I guess I'll go 2.2, 2.2.
Yeah, I haven't used that yet.
No, the next two I'm gonnareally be mad because, but uh,
again, I just, I don't reallypick up a hint of honey, which
is good, because typically Idon't care for honey beers, but
that's not really what standsout to me.
(25:25):
What's lingering for me is kindof that little bit of a hoppy
flavor.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Almost like a dryness .
Yes, my mouth is like a littlebit dry.
There you go, perfect, but itdoesn't taste like a hop.
So I wonder that's what's weird.
I mean because it's not hoppy,but your mouth is dry, so it's
hard to pinpoint exactly what'scausing it, because I guess we
haven't had many Oktoberfeststhat have been hoppy like that
Right.
But I know this is a fest beer,so again, I'm still kind of like
(25:51):
.
So I guess I'm actually goingto say a 2.4.
I guess then, for me, thereason why I say that is so, of
these first five, this probablyhas the most flavor.
Is it the right flavor?
I can't say that it is, butit's the most flavor, yeah.
So I'm kind of reverting backand I'm stepping in and out of
(26:12):
my rules.
I guess it's not bad.
I don't think you could bescared away by it, because it's
not.
It doesn't have a terribletaste, it's just a little
different.
It's just like that dry.
Could I drink a six pack?
I don't know if I could.
The other ones I think I could,just because there was no bad
aftertaste but there was noflavor.
But this one I don't know if Icould drink it right anymore.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Yep, I hear you and, like I said, it's just that
dryness that it's different.
And again, this was our first.
I don't know if we have anotherone, but a fest beer, right,
you know.
So it should be a littledifferent than the other ones,
but it's still when that, whenthat has the most flavor, so far
it's.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
That's scary a little bit.
Yeah, we still haven't made asingle yet.
We're still well.
We've had some fall balls?
Speaker 1 (26:51):
yeah, we were following them off.
You know we're hanging tight.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
We're still at the plate, but we haven't really hit
anything.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
But unfortunately we just haven't quite got plate,
but we haven't really hitanything, but unfortunately we
just haven't quite got Solidcontent.
Yeah, we haven't found ourpitch to hit yet.
Oh, and I lied, this is a festbeer as well.
The next one is next to eachother.
There we go.
That worked out, yeah, so thisone.
The next one here is by LakeLouie Brewing, and they're out
of Verona, wisconsin.
(27:21):
They moved Because they were anarena and then they got bought
out by Wisconsin Brewing Okay.
And then they got rid of theWisconsin Brewing name and went
under Lake Louie because theyhad better distribution.
Oh, so this is their OctoberFest Beer.
Okay, so this is their OctoberFest beer.
Okay, the description says amalty and light lager based on
(27:45):
the traditional German style ofbeer that will bring music to
your mouth.
And this is 6.4% ABV.
And it didn't say what the IBUswere on it.
I guess there is some.
There's more on the can.
I don't know if you want to.
Should I give her a whirl?
Give her a whirl Because, again, they write things in micro
print.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
All right, here we go .
We love Oktoberfest beers.
I think I'm saying it rightBe-i-ers, be-i-ers, but our
brewers were flummoxed.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Hmm, flummoxed.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Yeah, they were confused, okay good answer when
choosing between a traditionalMarzan and modern Festbier.
So they split the differenceand crafted an easy drinking
lager with a malty backdropusing German heritage malts.
I was like German, you can't.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
That's like ambiance.
You can't put that in a can.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Okay, it's as tasty as the festive sounds of the
tuba section in a umpah band.
Oh, there we go.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
All right.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Nice and he's got beer spirit spilling out of his
tuba.
Oh yeah, his tuba's full ofbeer.
Wow, I don't know if I candrink that one.
That dude can party.
That can party.
That's like the biggest beerbong we've ever seen.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Yeah exactly, so this should be a good comparison to
the last one to see.
Yes, right off the bat, thisone is a little bit darker in
color.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Yep, even the head is even a little bit.
Yeah, it's not the pale whitelike the last one no.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
So I'm kind of intrigued here.
All right, fingers are crossed,pretty much no aroma.
What is the deal with no aromalately?
They're afraid I guess must beall right.
Well, that's got a little moreof a malty.
Yeah, there's some flavor.
That's interesting to comparethose two, they're both fespiers
, but they taste vastlydifferent.
Yes, Interesting.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
This one doesn't have a dry finish.
No, this one might be the bestso far.
That's kind of where I'mleaning right now, and I'm not
saying that to be derogatory.
I just I don't.
It might be, because I mean,we're just like incrementally
working our way up.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
It is odd, dude, because you remember the scores
we gave, the German ones, theywere all in the threes when they
were or three or higher Up,where twos and I think our
highest one was like 3.6.
Yeah, we haven't had anythingyet that even remotely close to
that, but this one is definitely.
I think this is one is probablythe best one so far, which is
is good they've had.
Uh, lake louis has some reallygood beers.
(30:06):
Yes, you know their warp speedscotch ale is really good.
So this, yeah, I'm impressedwith this one.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
It's I'd even say I'm gonna go out on a limb, I'm
gonna say 2.5.
I think we found one to hit themiddle.
Okay, um, is it where thegerman beers are?
No.
Is it got some flavor?
Yes.
Is it a bad flavor?
No, and it doesn't have thatdry aftertaste.
So I'm just trying to nitpickback and forth.
I think it's still okay.
I think it's okay.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
I think you could drink this yeah, I agree, I
could definitely drink this.
I'm gonna go at 2.6, oh yeahI'm really going crazy you're
really up there I, I like I saidI think this is closer to the
flavor that I was expecting.
Yes, you know.
So, yeah, good job, lake Louis,because, like I said, I could
drink, you could drink a coupleof these.
Yes, I could definitely drink acouple cans of this and not be
(30:52):
like you know halfway throughthe second one.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
The only thing that I vaguely remember from the
German Fest beers is they seemto have a little bit more of a
floral aroma, you know, a littlebit more, and these two did not
have that.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Yeah you're right there.
The aromas was almost nothing,right?
Speaker 2 (31:08):
so yeah so that might be the one thing.
If they do make these, maybethey could add a little, just so
, if they're going to go with aFest beer, I'd maybe, you know
add that part to it.
Yep, I would agree with youthere.
All right, so we're up to ourlast one now.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Yep, and I know we've always had some good beers from
this brewery oh, yeah, allright, so, and they don't have a
, I'll go back to the original.
Okay, now we have, now we gotsome info.
Yes, now this is their 2025version as well.
Okay, this is by new glaris,nice, or, as a lot of other
states are, the Spotted CowCompany.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Oh, yes, because they like Spotted Cow.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Yes, this is their Oktoberfest and it is called
Staghorn Oktoberfest.
All right, 6.25% doesn't sayIBUs.
Okay, here's what it says onuntapped, 100% natural great
Midwestern and European malts,the world's most expensive hops,
(32:05):
fresh yeast from Germany andclear Wisconsin water make our
Staghorn Oktoberfest Wisconsin'sreal red.
Hmm, you will find absolutelyno additives, preservatives or
artificial agents of any kind inthis beer.
Wow, staghorn is brewed usingthe time-honored methods to
(32:25):
release the smooth flavor of ourroasted malts.
This october fest combines asmooth, amber body with a clean,
crisp finish.
Be sure to hold this one up tothe light of any harvest moon
and enjoy wisconsin's real, realred.
All right, now they have, uh,and I don't have any of these.
(32:46):
Uh, they have pairings on here.
Uh, swedish meatballs, fridayfish fry, hearty roast beef.
And then cheeses should begreen fields, cow milk,
semi-soft washed rind saxoncream, rind Saxon Creamery.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Don't have any of that either.
Well, if you just make some ofthat food, I'll be happy with
that.
I'm sure you would.
So, yeah, all right.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
Well, after all that, let's hope that it tastes good,
I'm hoping, and this is theonly one we had in a bottle, yes
, so All right.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Well, let's's our fingers across for the last one,
that we get one good one.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Yeah, I'm hoping, because with a write-up like
that, you know the fact thatthere's no preservatives and or
artificial flavors or anything.
Is that red?
Uh?
Well, yeah, kinda, it's kind of, you know, ish red, ish amber,
ish reddish.
I guess I'd say amber.
But all right, that's just me,okay.
All right, you get a little bitof a little bit of an aroma not
(33:41):
a huge amount, A little bit.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
That's not bad.
It's not bad.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
I was going to say it's definitely closer to what I
was hoping that they were allgoing to be.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
I mean, the finish is smooth.
There's not any real flavorthat's sticking out, right.
So it's all kind of workingtogether really good.
There's no bitterness to it,right, might be the best one of
this category.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
Yeah, I guess we saved the best two for last.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Which is good.
I mean, it's not bad.
I mean, if you offered me acouple of these, I think I could
taste, I could drink them.
Oh yeah, for sure.
I agree with you on that andlike the first three really
lacked in flavor.
Then we did step it up, but itwas kind of a weird flavor.
Then we went to the Festbier's,who had a different flavor.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
This one is it's not there, but it's pointing in the
right direction.
It's pointing.
Yes, with the German ones.
Yep, I would agree with youthere.
So you get to go first.
Then I do like this one.
I think this is probably thebest one.
I'm going to go like a 2.7.
All right, I think it's justslightly better than Lake Louis,
but it's definitely, I think,the best one today.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Right, I echo everything you said.
I mean it's good.
I mean, is it 100% accurate?
German Marzahn?
No, but I think that of thiscategory and of these beers, I
would recommend, if you're afirst-time Oktoberfest drinker,
maybe start with this one,because this is the closest.
If you don't have access to thegerman ones.
This is probably the closest ofthis group towards the german.
(35:02):
I don't know, what do you thinkI'd agree?
Speaker 1 (35:04):
I agree with you 100.
I think we ruined ourselveswith that german one because,
like I said it was, it set thetaste expectations right, uh,
and going into, you know we hadtalked about it before even then
that that the american versions, the flavors, are all over the
board, right, you know it's,it's just kind of crazy and yeah
, I'd say I'd start with thisone.
If you've never had anoktoberfest, you know people may
(35:26):
still be like, oh, that'sreally malty or really strong or
something, but it's, it's,you're gonna like this one
better because there reallyisn't any bitterness.
Drinks really smooth, and youknow 6.25.
Yeah, you know you can drink acouple of them.
Oh, yeah, you know for sure.
And uh, be fine.
So yeah, I agree with you, manyep, and I forgot my.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
My score is a 2.6 oh, okay, so that is my, my best
one of the day too, so perfect.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
So, yeah, I guess, uh , again, we totally ruined
ourselves.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
We should have saved the german ones for last, maybe
because well, but I think on agood point for the listeners is
we, we know, I mean we canactually talk intelligently
about the Oktoberfest beers.
Right, did we kind of spoilourselves?
Yes, but we're telling at leastthe listeners have a very good
idea now what we're talkingabout when we talk about some of
these Oktoberfest beers,because I think, knock on wood,
(36:17):
we might be able to have anotherepisode of some Oktoberfest
beers in the future.
Okay, yep, to see how theymeasure up too.
I mean, this wasn't.
I mean especially, you can justlook at our scores.
We didn't measure up to theGerman ones.
No, no.
This was a little bit of aletdown and again, like I think
you said numerous times, none ofthese were bad.
They're not offensive anyway,but they're just not to that
(36:39):
level the German beers that wesay are.
I mean, that's the goldstandard by the Oktoberfest
beers, and if that's wherethey're aiming for, some have
some work to go to get there andothers are almost there.
Yep.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
I agree with you and like we said earlier, I think
the Staghorn and then the LakeLouis, I think, were the top two
by far and I guess I'd look atthose first and if you get a
chance, try any of them.
But if you have never headed toOktoberfest, I would A look for
a German one first.
But of this group I'd look forthe Nuclearis, staghorn and then
(37:14):
the Lake Louis, and then you'llat least get a decent
representation.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
Yes, and I do think on our horizon we might be able
to find, you know, because it isgetting turn and fall.
Yep, I did find some moresquash type-ish.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Oh boy.
Speaker 2 (37:31):
Squish beers yeah, we might be able to wrestle up a
few to make it our podcast.
Okay To see, because I know wedid have one, a couple, yep,
yeah, one was last week.
Okay, we did one on Pumpkinbeer.
Do I say the P word?
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Yeah, yeah yeah, I can say the pumpkin word?
Speaker 2 (37:45):
Yeah, yeah, so it was a squash.
Now maybe we can find some more, because those ones last week
were actually decent.
Yeah, they were pretty good, soI don't know.
Somebody's going to have totwist our arm or the audience,
not real hard.
To see if we can do something,because this didn't turn out
like I had expected.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
Yeah, it's still something, like I said, american
companies try to take a littlehint from.
I know you're trying to makeyour own kind of niche and such,
but sometimes if it ain't brokeyou shouldn't try and fix it,
you know.
So, yeah, and like I said, jim,I will.
Uh, when we get done here, I'mgonna look up what that
(38:26):
gentleman said online.
Okay, the one that we missed,all right, and we'll have to be
on the lookout for another timeto see if we can find it all
right, and we put it probablyput it in the comments.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
So rake and see what yep perfect we can definitely do
that.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
So, all right, well, right, well, hey, jim, thanks
for digging up some AmericanOktoberfest.
No problem, a couple of festbeers Fest beers, you know and,
like I said, we will see if wecan find some other ones that
maybe are a little bit better.
Hopefully how do I say this?
Better, so awesome.
Well, ladies and gentlemen,thanks for listening and, like
we always say, I hope yourcampfire is always warm and your
(39:00):
beers are always cold.
See ya, bye.
Thank you for listening to theNorthwoods Beer Guy podcast.
If you have a question, acomment or a beer you'd like us
to review, please feel free tosend us a message at
northwoodsbeerguy at gmailcom.
You can also find us onFacebook, twitter and Instagram.
If you're on untapped, look upNorthwoods Beer Guy and send a
front request Until next week.
(39:21):
I hope all your campfires arewarm and all your beer is cold.
Grab a beer and pull up a chair.
Welcome to the Northwoods BeerGuy Podcast.
It's making me thirsty.
Hello there, my name is JasonFabus and this is my polka band,
(00:43):
West Coast Prost.
We're going to do a littlenumber for you that I think you
might know, so if you're sittingat home, sing along with us.
Here's the Beer Barrel PolkaReady boys.
Oh yeah, One, two.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
One, two, three.
Now, if that doesn't get you inthe mood, Mike, nothing will
Nothing will.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Hey, you are correct.
Hey.
Hey, ladies and gentlemen, andwelcome back to the Northwest
Beer Guy podcast.
This is Mike, the NorthwestBeer Guy, and, as always, I'm
joined by Jim.
Hey, buddy, how are you Doinggood?
How about yourself?
Another fine day in paradise.
Well, I'm not going to lie, I'mpretty intrigued today, again,
just because you know, a coupleof weeks ago we did the German
Oktoberfest.
Yes, we did, and I think we cansafely say they tasted very
(01:29):
similar.
I mean across all three.
You know Oktoberfest, festbierand Marzahn, if you want to say
that, you know, I know that'stypically your Oktoberfest, but
they were very similar in taste.
Color they were different, butthey were similar in taste.
Right Now we're going to visitthe American versions.
Yes, I am pretty sure it'sgoing to be.
They look similar and tastevastly different.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
I think, you're right , I'm going to take your word on
it just because we have triedthese in the past years but, I
thought it'd be good to maybecircle back around again.
Oh yeah, because I know tastebuds kind of get what's a good
word overtaxed by some of thebeers we've tried.
So now we've got a clean slate.
We've tried some GermanOktoberfest, now we can try some
(02:12):
American, and now we're goingto be able to tell all the
listeners exactly what's thebest and sort through all this.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
There you go, yeah, and these are again the 2025
versions, and now there could bea couple maybe I'm not sure
that we haven't had.
I know there's some we haven'thad on the podcast before.
Okay, yep, but yeah, I'mthinking it's going to be
interesting, you know, becausejust thinking back, like I said
to the germans, they were allvery I don't want to say in the
box, those people, they're allin the same lane.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yes, so as far as flavor went, and but I think how
that helps us, those that setthe bar for us, because those
are from germany and that isexactly how I think the original
makers of the beer wanted theirbeer to taste, correct.
So now we're going to be ableto see did they meet that bar or
did they fall a little bitshort?
Speaker 1 (02:57):
yeah, see how they tweaked it.
Yes, in the right and wrong way.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yes, let's let's hope in the right way.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Well, the thing I'm noticing too.
Remember then we had a numberof them that were in bottles and
then like one can, where thistime they're all cans except one
bottle right, oh, so good,catch right off the bat too.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Yeah, kind of interesting.
I don't know if you see theabvs too.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
I mean, we're all oh once again they're within, you
know, 0.6 of each other, right,all seven of them, all seven
them.
So that's kind of interesting.
So at least they're that part,they're staying together.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yes, and I think they're the overall, because I
think when we did the research,between five and 7% and these
all are so, at least for thefirst check in a box, there were
then They've met that yes.
Because this does not include.
The one that we keep lookingfor is the Marzon, that's
bourbon barrel aged.
Yep, exactly that might be on afuture episode.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Yeah, we got to keep looking see what we can come
across.
I'm hoping like crazy we canfind the same one we had last
year.
Yes, we had two last year, sohopefully we can find them both.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Right, it'd be nice if we found three or four, but
two would be fine.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Fine, we're not asking for much right, exactly
all right.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Well, what do we got?
Speaker 1 (04:05):
first, let's get going.
So the first one we have is bylakefront brewing out of
milwaukee miliwake, miliwake,and this is their octoberfest
marzon lager lager.
Amber, red color and multi-bodymakes this an excellent german
style lager.
And this is 5.6 percent abv andit's got a guy and lady dressed
(04:29):
up in their lederhosen andtheir dirndl I believe is how
you say the dress.
And again, the blue and andwhite diamond pattern, which is
synonymous, synonymous withoctober fest I think our next
beer actually has that same itemat the top too, with the can.
So that's a good sign.
Yeah, you know, that's kind ofone of those.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
They're getting a .10 or .1 for following in line
with the German style, so that'sa good sign.
It seems like yeah at leastthat carried over, so that's
good.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
All right, so let's pour this out here.
We're back to our Prost tasterglasses.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Yes, that's post All right.
Well, it looks like beer.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Yes, it's not quite as dark as I was expecting.
Yes, I mean it is kind of areddish color, I guess, but it's
darker than some of the Germanones were.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Yes, that smells like an American Oktoberfest Very
malty in aroma, Not bad though.
Not much flavor though.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
No, it's got for the amount of malt aroma.
I was expecting higher malttaste.
You know what I mean.
Yeah, there's not a lot offlavor.
Not a lot, really Kind of alittle bit of a disappointment.
Yes, I'd still drink it, but itstill kind of leaves me wanting
more.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Right.
I mean I don't think you'regoing to.
I wouldn't turn it away becauseI mean the finish is smooth,
there's no bad aftertaste, butthere's just not a lot of flavor
.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
No, and there's like and I don't know how to describe
it On the tail end there is alittle bit of a I don't want to
say skunky, but it's just alittle hint of something.
It's not.
I shouldn't say skunky, it'snot skunky, but there's just a
little flavor maybe, but I justwish there was more flavor.
Yeah, what are you thinking onthe score?
Speaker 2 (06:04):
I'm gonna go like a 2.3 I'm setting it up, so I
don't kick myself.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
You're already thinking about it again.
Aroma very good.
Color was was decent, you knowfor for an american oktoberfest
flavor just was a little littlelow, I guess.
I guess for the amount of thearoma, like I said before, I was
expecting more multi-flavor andit just didn't have it Right.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
So I guess I might be going against how we've always
done it in the past, where thebeer stands alone by itself
against all other beers.
And I might be a little biasednow, since I know what the
German beers at Marzahn aretasting like, so I might be
comparing mine to that.
Then it would go significantlylower.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Right If I knew that's what we were going to do.
No, I'm just saying I'm goingagainst what we've always done.
So.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
I might have some bias in my scoring Yep, so I'm
actually going to go a 2.0 forthe exact reasons you said.
The aroma was good, but thetaste, I mean there wasn't a lot
there.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
No, and I did look.
I should have looked this upbefore we drank it, okay, but no
, this is the 2025 version andthey did not have I'm looking on
untapped, ladies and gentlemenand they didn't have a
description under that, but theyhad it under the normal.
You know what I mean for thisbeer, and it says it's a radiant
, copper, orange hue and rockyoff-white head of our
traditional Marzon-style lagercomes from generous amounts of
(07:23):
munich malt.
Caramel malt aromas complementthe german lager yeast's
slightly floral aroma.
Mount hood hops balance thesubstantial malt body, while the
lager yeast add a subtlety tothe flavor, making this a great
rendition of a classic germanlager prost.
A lot of that I didn't get.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yeah, I don't know, I'm not fully bought into that.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
I I would agree a hundred percent with you, dude.
I just I wish it had moreflavor.
Yeah, that's the the main thingwe we're always looking for
flavor, yeah, and I know we'realways sticklers, so to speak.
That's kind of our big.
What we like to see is theflavor taste.
You know what I'm saying?
Speaker 2 (07:58):
and yeah, it could use a little more, yeah that's a
little bit of a disappointment,yeah, but at least we maybe
we'll work our way up to betterones.
So we start a little lower.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
It could be, it could be.
So we're hoping.
So well, I guess we might aswell just jump into the next one
.
Yeah, I mean because we gottaget some flavor supplies.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
That was just like water, basically right.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
So the next one we have is from shells brewery and
that's in minnesota, minneapolis, new alms, minnesota, yep, all
right, and this is a 5.8 percentand 20 ibus.
Now once again on untapped.
They had a description for thisone.
It says the october fest ormarzon march, march member from
the german episode.
(08:37):
Yes, uh type of beer wasoriginally brewed in march and
laid down in caves before thesummer.
Weather rendered brewingimpossible.
Stocks would be drawn uponheavily during the summer and
exhausted by October.
In Germany, this tradition hascome to be associated with one
specific style Oktoberfest Bier,b-i-e-r, b-i-e-r, b-i-e-r.
(09:00):
Let's see, in keeping with trueGerman tradition, august Schell
Oktoberfest beer is brewed justonce a year, brewed with the
perfect balance of pale Munichand carapils malt, with Liberty
and Pearl hops to create a rich,smooth taste.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Nice.
Well, that's a lot of words.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Well, again, the thing that's kind of cool is
some of the questions that Ibomb at usually were a couple
weeks ago that we talked aboutit and here it is in this beer
that they talked about it.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
That's good.
So we're wrapping it togetherand educating.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Once again, you entertain and educate there you
go.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Well, the head is a little bit golden.
Yeah, a little bit different.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
It's not white, no, and this one's a little bit
darker, a little bit darker thanthe first one right, I would
say this is getting more to thatcolor that we're used to.
Yes, again, multi-aroma yeah,not a lot of aroma, but no a
little bit.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
That's got a different flavor.
See, this is what I was talkingabout before.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
The german ones are all kind of in the same lane for
flavor and the american onesare all over the board.
Yeah, it's not a lot of flavor,but no, but it's not what I, if
you blind taste, tested this, Iwould never.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
I probably would have a hard time guessing.
This is an Oktoberfest.
Yeah, because I mean theflavor's so muted.
Whatever that is, I'm not.
I can't describe exactly whatthat flavor is.
Is it the maltiness maybe?
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
It's kind of yeah, I don't know if yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Just leave it at that .
I know it's going in my mouthand I know there's water going
in there.
You feel like you're swallowingsomething, but I can't really
describe what the flavor is.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
No, that is odd dude.
These have the look and aroma,typically of what we consider an
American Oktoberfest, but notthe flavor so far.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Man, we haven't even scratched the surface on the
German Marzans.
Right Now we know we canactually say that we might be
subject matter experts intasting yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
But this doesn't taste like it and unfortunately
right now the GermanOktoberfests are winning handily
Hands down Right now.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Yeah, I mean I can't say it's watered down, but I
just don't taste there's noflavor.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Oh, and to me, on the back end it's got a little bit
of a.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Something weird, you know there's something,
something odd there.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Yeah, and they had a lot of words in their write-up.
Yes, it was a very nicewrite-up.
I give him credit by far onthat one.
But ooh, what kind of score areyou thinking on that bad boy,
my?
Speaker 2 (11:29):
predicament is it's not a bad—I don't think
it's—it's not horrendous.
Could I drink it?
Yes, but knowing what I knownow about what a Marzan should
taste like, I don't think thatis a good representation.
I could be way off base.
I'm just putting it out there.
I didn't.
There was no flavor.
I mean, I think there'sactually less flavor than the
(11:49):
first one.
I'm going to have to say a 1.9,and not because it's bad, but
just because it's not a goodrepresentation.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
I agree a hundred percent.
I just that finish on theflavor.
It was just bad.
I again, like you said, couldyou drink a can of it?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Yes, would you drink a can of it.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
I don't know Jury's out on that.
I'm going to do a 1.9 as well.
I just I don't know what it is.
Maybe it's a bad can.
We could hope we could givethem the benefit of the doubt on
that.
But yeah, I'm not.
The first two are not.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Especially now that we have a very good
understanding of the flavorspectrum for the German ones.
Now I guess maybe we're andthat's why I said maybe we're a
little biased now that we knowthat.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Yeah, now, speaking of I should have brought this up
earlier to you, but I did havea listener reach out, oh, okay,
and on social media when Iposted the picture of the German
beers that we had.
Okay, and I will have to lookit up and I'll let you know,
because he had said, oh, youshould have had this one and I
had never heard it.
And I'm like I said, well,that's a bummer.
I said we couldn't find it here, right, so I'll have to let you
(12:52):
know which one.
It was Okay, but I thought thatwas pretty cool.
That's nice, yeah, that hereached out there.
Let us know, because if we canfind them, sometimes that's a
little difficult, but we'll seewhat we can do.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
I've been searching my favorite honey holes to see
what I can find.
So I've been searching high andlow to pick some of these up.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Yep, like I said, it is interesting when they start
coming out.
Well, I mean, they've startedcoming out, but it's like you
see one or two and then it'sjust a flood.
Yes, so we'll see what happensthere.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
So anyway, all right, so what do we got next?
Speaker 1 (13:35):
now we got a big old stovepipe.
There we go.
All right, can.
This is by raised grain, okayand this, this is their.
I'm gonna look up the info here.
It is 5.9 and it's got a weirdname to it.
It's got a weird name.
Oops, sorry, I'm trying tofigure out.
Nope, not that one.
Talk amongst yourselves while Ilook Do-de-do-de-do oh boy, I
(13:58):
tell you you'd think we'd bemore professional than this.
Oh, there it was.
Where'd it go?
All right, now I'm with it.
5.9% ABV and 22 IBUs.
Okay, and this is Raised GrainBrewing and they are out of
Waukesha, wisconsin.
You see what the name of it is?
Yep, doc-toberfest, doc, yes,okay, oh, it's the same thing on
(14:19):
the can as what's on untapped.
Precisely delicious, as youwould expect a German lager
brewed by two doctors to be, ohreally, malty, smooth and crisp.
The perfect brew any day.
Let's hope so.
So we'll see what if it has amedicinal taste since they're
doctors?
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Yeah, are they doctors like MD or they're like?
Yeah, that's a good question,jim, I never would have thought
of that.
Or DVM like doctor, veterinarymedicine, what exactly?
Speaker 1 (14:48):
are you a doctor of and don't say loves.
Oh, look at that, all right.
Well, it's got similar color tothe first two, so it's similar
and, like I said, this is in apint can, so again, you're a
little more pot committed whenyou take this one.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Now the head is much whiter than the first two.
It Now the head is much whiterthan the first two.
It's whiter, it's not as goldenas the first two yeah, that is
kind of interesting.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Not a lot of aroma, pretty muted, yeah, of course,
now remember, the German onesare kind of the same.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
So let's see.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
There is like they might have.
I feel like a whisper of aromaand flavor.
For a second there, I thoughtwe were oh this is getting to
what we're and then gone andthen just kind of a, it's a
whisper.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Yeah, there's not a lot.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
You know three cans in here.
You might've ruined me.
I might be a strictly GermanOktoberfest guy now.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Yeah, this doesn't.
You're not going to be scaredof this, but there's not a lot
of flavor there again.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Yeah, I'm trying to figure like that initial.
When you first swallow you getthat kind of what you'd expect,
right a little bit.
I mean it's muted, but it's you, it's there, and you think, oh,
here we go, and then it's justgone.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
It is like, wow, this is man I don't know, dude, this
is, this is crazy, this is justthis is crazy.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
I don't understand.
I just I'm scratching my head,I don't get it and you get to
throw your score out first too.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
I know that's going to be the.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
I'm going to say this is better than the last one.
Is it better than the first one?
I'm going to say 2.1.
Again, because I think it wason the right track track, but
then the flavor dissipates realquick and you just, I'm
expecting that big malty kind offlavor that we've known, yes,
before, and it's just not there.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
I'm disappointed.
I thought some of these weregoing to be better.
I'm just not getting the flavorthat we're come to expect.
And if you're gonna you know,buy a can of beer, especially
oktoberfest it only comes outonce a year you you're going to
want some flavor.
I'm right.
I'm on the same score.
I'm a 2.1.
It's better than the first two,but only by the slightest of
margins.
Right, right, I agree it's notbad.
(16:55):
It doesn't taste bad, there'snot a bad finish, but there's
just not a lot of the Marzonflavor that we're looking for
could drink them.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
And again, would you drink them?
I'm sure you would.
You know I, if somebody goes,hey, you want one of these, sure
, if that's you know, not aproblem.
But yeah, it's just I don'tknow.
So far they're kind of we'rethree strikes and we're yeah, we
got four more tries we're we'renot doing good yet, no, no,
well, you know, we're trying,trying the best we can, all
right, well, so what do we gotnext?
(17:25):
All right, so the next one, andlet's see if I can get this
info to work, right?
Uh, oh, there's on the can.
There's something on the can.
All right, all right, this isby third space brewing.
And does it say where they'reout of should be milwaukee?
Speaker 2 (17:39):
I think, I think you're yep milia walkay and big
letters on the side.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
There we go and this is their Oktoberfest
Marzon-style lager and it saysmulti-lager beer, perfect for
brisk weather and a festiveambiance.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
I don't think we're, we don't have a real festive
ambiance in the studio here.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Will that affect the flavor?
Nah, oh, Throw on yourlederhosen and find your.
Can you read that last word?
That's a big, long German wordand I'm not exactly.
Oh is that the.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Yeah, whatever that is gil kite, commute kite what?
Speaker 1 (18:18):
is that the?
That's not the.
No, that's not the.
Is it the top?
No, I don't know.
We'll have to look it up.
Hopefully it's not a swear word.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
No, I think it's a, it's part of the wardrobe, I
think I think so, I just don'tremember which one.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Okay, let's see what we got here.
There we got a little color, alittle more color.
Yeah, maybe with this one willlike actually might actually get
us there reach us to where wewere expecting to go.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Again, you can get a little bit of aroma, but not a
whole lot.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
There's a little bit of flavor there, a little more.
It's a little more malty, Ithink, a little bit more malty.
Yeah, it still does have alittle bit of bitterness to it.
Oh, I do do some research hereQuick research, so that German
word.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
It's a concept embodying warmth, coziness and
contentment, often experiencedin good company, good company
excluded.
Present company excluded With asense of belonging and social
acceptance.
Oh, okay, wow, nice, that's alot of words.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Yeah, why did it say that?
Because they had to put likefour sentences in there and they
could just use one word.
Wow, nice, that's a lot ofwords.
Yeah, why did it say?
Speaker 2 (19:23):
that Because they had to put like four sentences in
there and they could just useone word, right See?
So the finish on this seems tolinger a little bit.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Yeah, and, like I said to me, it's got a little
bit of bitterness on the veryfinish.
I don't know what that's from,but it's just kind of, you know,
different, a little different,but it's getting closer.
Yes, I give him credit.
It's getting closer.
The needle was stuck on theside here and I was like inch it
, it's trying.
Now it's like a quarter of atank instead of almost on E it's
(19:49):
trying to get towards halfway.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Yeah, it's working.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
I don't know if we got to halfway yet.
I don't think.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
But it's just that it lingers.
Yeah, and it's not the Marzonflavor that's lingering, it's
the malt, or?
Speaker 1 (20:02):
something, something lingers.
We got a lingerer.
Yeah, what score are you goingto give this one?
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Well, I do have to say there is some flavor.
Is it the Marzon flavor that weknow to be accurate?
No, is it closer to a flavorthat the first three did not
have?
Yes, so I'm gonna have to say a2.2, I guess.
So far, for me it is the bestone so far, but it's.
It's still not there, I don'tthink.
But it's, there's flavor.
(20:34):
The first three did not haveany flavor.
This has a little bit, so Iguess that's what I'm going on
okay, uh, I'm going to, uh, begto differ.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Okay, I'm gonna go at 2.0.
I just that, finish on it.
That bitterness, it that's.
What stands out to me is thatand and I can't.
When I taste it I get thatbrief maltiness, but then that's
quickly overcome with thatbitterness, yes, and I just kind
of correct so I'm going to go2.0.
Again, it's not terrible, we'renot saying that at all, but I
(21:05):
just, you know, there'ssomething, there's just
something.
Yeah, and compared to those andagain, we shouldn't, if you
wouldn't have brought upcomparing it in my head to the
German beers, but those weredefinitely, yes, good.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Very good.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Very good, and right now that yeah, we haven't found
one, that's close to them yet nounfortunately Darn it.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
So we're off to the next one.
Yeah, so my fingers are stillcrossed that we can eek
something out, maybe.
Maybe there's a chance we cando it.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Possibly, you never know.
I mean, we've heard of thisbeer of this brewery, okay, you
know.
I mean, so I'm hoping that thisuh gives us a little something
extra here.
So this is sierra nevada, okay,and this is their october fest,
limited fest beer, all right,and they've also got these great
(21:59):
big long StorchbechterBraunfactor, ooh say that twice,
really fast.
Yeah, 6%, okay, 26 IBUs.
So what that word mean, I'm notsure I have a description,
(22:20):
though.
Ah, it says our authenticGerman Fest is a collaboration
with oh, that was the brewery.
Oh, whoopsies.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
All right.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
So it's a collaboration with Storbecker,
or however you pronounce it, anaward-winning German brewer
internationally recognized forquality and innovation.
This modern fest beer leansinto a rich, smooth malt
backbone with notes offresh-baked bread and honey.
Traditional German hops providebalanced bitterness and herbal
(22:55):
spicy aroma rounding out thecrisp, clean finish.
Prost, prost.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
So we're going to have some honey and some herbs.
Well, at least one of thepeople making the beer has made
an october fest beer before.
Yeah, okay, so now at leastwe're.
Maybe we are moving into theright direction so we'll see.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Hopefully they they brought some of that experience,
yes, uh, and such to this.
Now, this is our first festbeer, okay, today.
So again, it is a little bitlighter in color, a little
lighter, which we would expect,because the fest beers,
especially well, even the germanones, were kind of that lighter
color.
Now they can, you know, like wealways said, it was the blue
and white diamonds, this isblack and yellow for, and
(23:36):
diamonds and diamonds, yeah soand the head is very white Very
white, very white.
It's got a little closer aromato what there's not a lot,
there's not a lot.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
But you do a little bit, there's a little bit.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
For a fest beer.
For an American fest beer, thisis kind of what I would expect,
yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
It's not super hoppy, but you can get a little bit of
that.
Yeah, there's no bad finish.
I don't taste anything bad.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Yeah, I don't get that bitterness like I had with
the last one, I mean this one onthe end you do get kind of that
little bit of a hoppy.
I don't know if I'm gettinghoney.
Yeah, what they said abouthoney.
I don't know if I get that atall, but you know, it's a little
bit more of a not how do I sayit kind of not a not good right
bitterness.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
You know what I'm saying.
Yeah, and I wonder if the honeyis making it a little smoother.
It could be.
It could be now because I don'treally taste the honey, but
it's making a little smoothermaybe I don't know it could very
well be, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
It's, uh it not bad at all.
None of these have beenterrible.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Even our scores aren't the greatest, but they're
not terrible in any way, and Ihonestly can say that I haven't
had a beer from theStortenbecker brewery before, so
I don't know how the otherbeers taste.
We have had some Sierra Nevadabefore and they've always seemed
to be pretty good and they'vebeen around a long time.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
They're a big craft brewery, so I don't know, I
guess, uh, you're first boy.
Where do I put that?
Uh, I guess I'll go 2.2, 2.2.
Yeah, I haven't used that yet.
No, the next two I'm gonnareally be mad because, but uh,
again, I just, I don't reallypick up a hint of honey, which
is good, because typically Idon't care for honey beers, but
that's not really what standsout to me.
(25:25):
What's lingering for me is kindof that little bit of a hoppy
flavor.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Almost like a dryness .
Yes, my mouth is like a littlebit dry.
There you go, perfect, but itdoesn't taste like a hop.
So I wonder that's what's weird.
I mean because it's not hoppy,but your mouth is dry, so it's
hard to pinpoint exactly what'scausing it, because I guess we
haven't had many Oktoberfeststhat have been hoppy like that
Right.
But I know this is a fest beer,so again, I'm still kind of like
(25:51):
.
So I guess I'm actually goingto say a 2.4.
I guess then, for me, thereason why I say that is so, of
these first five, this probablyhas the most flavor.
Is it the right flavor?
I can't say that it is, butit's the most flavor, yeah.
So I'm kind of reverting backand I'm stepping in and out of
(26:12):
my rules.
I guess it's not bad.
I don't think you could bescared away by it, because it's
not.
It doesn't have a terribletaste, it's just a little
different.
It's just like that dry.
Could I drink a six pack?
I don't know if I could.
The other ones I think I could,just because there was no bad
aftertaste but there was noflavor.
But this one I don't know if Icould drink it right anymore.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Yep, I hear you and, like I said, it's just that
dryness that it's different.
And again, this was our first.
I don't know if we have anotherone, but a fest beer, right,
you know.
So it should be a littledifferent than the other ones,
but it's still when that, whenthat has the most flavor, so far
it's.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
That's scary a little bit.
Yeah, we still haven't made asingle yet.
We're still well.
We've had some fall balls?
Speaker 1 (26:51):
yeah, we were following them off.
You know we're hanging tight.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
We're still at the plate, but we haven't really hit
anything.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
But unfortunately we just haven't quite got plate,
but we haven't really hitanything, but unfortunately we
just haven't quite got Solidcontent.
Yeah, we haven't found ourpitch to hit yet.
Oh, and I lied, this is a festbeer as well.
The next one is next to eachother.
There we go.
That worked out, yeah, so thisone.
The next one here is by LakeLouie Brewing, and they're out
of Verona, wisconsin.
(27:21):
They moved Because they were anarena and then they got bought
out by Wisconsin Brewing Okay.
And then they got rid of theWisconsin Brewing name and went
under Lake Louie because theyhad better distribution.
Oh, so this is their OctoberFest Beer.
Okay, so this is their OctoberFest beer.
Okay, the description says amalty and light lager based on
(27:45):
the traditional German style ofbeer that will bring music to
your mouth.
And this is 6.4% ABV.
And it didn't say what the IBUswere on it.
I guess there is some.
There's more on the can.
I don't know if you want to.
Should I give her a whirl?
Give her a whirl Because, again, they write things in micro
print.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
All right, here we go .
We love Oktoberfest beers.
I think I'm saying it rightBe-i-ers, be-i-ers, but our
brewers were flummoxed.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Hmm, flummoxed.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Yeah, they were confused, okay good answer when
choosing between a traditionalMarzan and modern Festbier.
So they split the differenceand crafted an easy drinking
lager with a malty backdropusing German heritage malts.
I was like German, you can't.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
That's like ambiance.
You can't put that in a can.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Okay, it's as tasty as the festive sounds of the
tuba section in a umpah band.
Oh, there we go.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
All right.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Nice and he's got beer spirit spilling out of his
tuba.
Oh yeah, his tuba's full ofbeer.
Wow, I don't know if I candrink that one.
That dude can party.
That can party.
That's like the biggest beerbong we've ever seen.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Yeah exactly, so this should be a good comparison to
the last one to see.
Yes, right off the bat, thisone is a little bit darker in
color.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Yep, even the head is even a little bit.
Yeah, it's not the pale whitelike the last one no.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
So I'm kind of intrigued here.
All right, fingers are crossed,pretty much no aroma.
What is the deal with no aromalately?
They're afraid I guess must beall right.
Well, that's got a little moreof a malty.
Yeah, there's some flavor.
That's interesting to comparethose two, they're both fespiers
, but they taste vastlydifferent.
Yes, Interesting.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
This one doesn't have a dry finish.
No, this one might be the bestso far.
That's kind of where I'mleaning right now, and I'm not
saying that to be derogatory.
I just I don't.
It might be, because I mean,we're just like incrementally
working our way up.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
It is odd, dude, because you remember the scores
we gave, the German ones, theywere all in the threes when they
were or three or higher Up,where twos and I think our
highest one was like 3.6.
Yeah, we haven't had anythingyet that even remotely close to
that, but this one is definitely.
I think this is one is probablythe best one so far, which is
is good they've had.
Uh, lake louis has some reallygood beers.
(30:06):
Yes, you know their warp speedscotch ale is really good.
So this, yeah, I'm impressedwith this one.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
It's I'd even say I'm gonna go out on a limb, I'm
gonna say 2.5.
I think we found one to hit themiddle.
Okay, um, is it where thegerman beers are?
No.
Is it got some flavor?
Yes.
Is it a bad flavor?
No, and it doesn't have thatdry aftertaste.
So I'm just trying to nitpickback and forth.
I think it's still okay.
I think it's okay.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
I think you could drink this yeah, I agree, I
could definitely drink this.
I'm gonna go at 2.6, oh yeahI'm really going crazy you're
really up there I, I like I saidI think this is closer to the
flavor that I was expecting.
Yes, you know.
So, yeah, good job, lake Louis,because, like I said, I could
drink, you could drink a coupleof these.
Yes, I could definitely drink acouple cans of this and not be
(30:52):
like you know halfway throughthe second one.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
The only thing that I vaguely remember from the
German Fest beers is they seemto have a little bit more of a
floral aroma, you know, a littlebit more, and these two did not
have that.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Yeah you're right there.
The aromas was almost nothing,right?
Speaker 2 (31:08):
so yeah so that might be the one thing.
If they do make these, maybethey could add a little, just so
, if they're going to go with aFest beer, I'd maybe, you know
add that part to it.
Yep, I would agree with youthere.
All right, so we're up to ourlast one now.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Yep, and I know we've always had some good beers from
this brewery oh, yeah, allright, so, and they don't have a
, I'll go back to the original.
Okay, now we have, now we gotsome info.
Yes, now this is their 2025version as well.
Okay, this is by new glaris,nice, or, as a lot of other
states are, the Spotted CowCompany.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Oh, yes, because they like Spotted Cow.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Yes, this is their Oktoberfest and it is called
Staghorn Oktoberfest.
All right, 6.25% doesn't sayIBUs.
Okay, here's what it says onuntapped, 100% natural great
Midwestern and European malts,the world's most expensive hops,
(32:05):
fresh yeast from Germany andclear Wisconsin water make our
Staghorn Oktoberfest Wisconsin'sreal red.
Hmm, you will find absolutelyno additives, preservatives or
artificial agents of any kind inthis beer.
Wow, staghorn is brewed usingthe time-honored methods to
(32:25):
release the smooth flavor of ourroasted malts.
This october fest combines asmooth, amber body with a clean,
crisp finish.
Be sure to hold this one up tothe light of any harvest moon
and enjoy wisconsin's real, realred.
All right, now they have, uh,and I don't have any of these.
(32:46):
Uh, they have pairings on here.
Uh, swedish meatballs, fridayfish fry, hearty roast beef.
And then cheeses should begreen fields, cow milk,
semi-soft washed rind saxoncream, rind Saxon Creamery.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Don't have any of that either.
Well, if you just make some ofthat food, I'll be happy with
that.
I'm sure you would.
So, yeah, all right.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
Well, after all that, let's hope that it tastes good,
I'm hoping, and this is theonly one we had in a bottle, yes
, so All right.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Well, let's's our fingers across for the last one,
that we get one good one.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Yeah, I'm hoping, because with a write-up like
that, you know the fact thatthere's no preservatives and or
artificial flavors or anything.
Is that red?
Uh?
Well, yeah, kinda, it's kind of, you know, ish red, ish amber,
ish reddish.
I guess I'd say amber.
But all right, that's just me,okay.
All right, you get a little bitof a little bit of an aroma not
(33:41):
a huge amount, A little bit.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
That's not bad.
It's not bad.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
I was going to say it's definitely closer to what I
was hoping that they were allgoing to be.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
I mean, the finish is smooth.
There's not any real flavorthat's sticking out, right.
So it's all kind of workingtogether really good.
There's no bitterness to it,right, might be the best one of
this category.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
Yeah, I guess we saved the best two for last.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Which is good.
I mean, it's not bad.
I mean, if you offered me acouple of these, I think I could
taste, I could drink them.
Oh yeah, for sure.
I agree with you on that andlike the first three really
lacked in flavor.
Then we did step it up, but itwas kind of a weird flavor.
Then we went to the Festbier's,who had a different flavor.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
This one is it's not there, but it's pointing in the
right direction.
It's pointing.
Yes, with the German ones.
Yep, I would agree with youthere.
So you get to go first.
Then I do like this one.
I think this is probably thebest one.
I'm going to go like a 2.7.
All right, I think it's justslightly better than Lake Louis,
but it's definitely, I think,the best one today.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Right, I echo everything you said.
I mean it's good.
I mean, is it 100% accurate?
German Marzahn?
No, but I think that of thiscategory and of these beers, I
would recommend, if you're afirst-time Oktoberfest drinker,
maybe start with this one,because this is the closest.
If you don't have access to thegerman ones.
This is probably the closest ofthis group towards the german.
(35:02):
I don't know, what do you thinkI'd agree?
Speaker 1 (35:04):
I agree with you 100.
I think we ruined ourselveswith that german one because,
like I said it was, it set thetaste expectations right, uh,
and going into, you know we hadtalked about it before even then
that that the american versions, the flavors, are all over the
board, right, you know it's,it's just kind of crazy and yeah
, I'd say I'd start with thisone.
If you've never had anoktoberfest, you know people may
(35:26):
still be like, oh, that'sreally malty or really strong or
something, but it's, it's,you're gonna like this one
better because there reallyisn't any bitterness.
Drinks really smooth, and youknow 6.25.
Yeah, you know you can drink acouple of them.
Oh, yeah, you know for sure.
And uh, be fine.
So yeah, I agree with you, manyep, and I forgot my.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
My score is a 2.6 oh, okay, so that is my, my best
one of the day too, so perfect.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
So, yeah, I guess, uh , again, we totally ruined
ourselves.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
We should have saved the german ones for last, maybe
because well, but I think on agood point for the listeners is
we, we know, I mean we canactually talk intelligently
about the Oktoberfest beers.
Right, did we kind of spoilourselves?
Yes, but we're telling at leastthe listeners have a very good
idea now what we're talkingabout when we talk about some of
these Oktoberfest beers,because I think, knock on wood,
(36:17):
we might be able to have anotherepisode of some Oktoberfest
beers in the future.
Okay, yep, to see how theymeasure up too.
I mean, this wasn't.
I mean especially, you can justlook at our scores.
We didn't measure up to theGerman ones.
No, no.
This was a little bit of aletdown and again, like I think
you said numerous times, none ofthese were bad.
They're not offensive anyway,but they're just not to that
(36:39):
level the German beers that wesay are.
I mean, that's the goldstandard by the Oktoberfest
beers, and if that's wherethey're aiming for, some have
some work to go to get there andothers are almost there.
Yep.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
I agree with you and like we said earlier, I think
the Staghorn and then the LakeLouis, I think, were the top two
by far and I guess I'd look atthose first and if you get a
chance, try any of them.
But if you have never headed toOktoberfest, I would A look for
a German one first.
But of this group I'd look forthe Nuclearis, staghorn and then
(37:14):
the Lake Louis, and then you'llat least get a decent
representation.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
Yes, and I do think on our horizon we might be able
to find, you know, because it isgetting turn and fall.
Yep, I did find some moresquash type-ish.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Oh boy.
Speaker 2 (37:31):
Squish beers yeah, we might be able to wrestle up a
few to make it our podcast.
Okay To see, because I know wedid have one, a couple, yep,
yeah, one was last week.
Okay, we did one on Pumpkinbeer.
Do I say the P word?
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Yeah, yeah yeah, I can say the pumpkin word?
Speaker 2 (37:45):
Yeah, yeah, so it was a squash.
Now maybe we can find some more, because those ones last week
were actually decent.
Yeah, they were pretty good, soI don't know.
Somebody's going to have totwist our arm or the audience,
not real hard.
To see if we can do something,because this didn't turn out
like I had expected.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
Yeah, it's still something, like I said, american
companies try to take a littlehint from.
I know you're trying to makeyour own kind of niche and such,
but sometimes if it ain't brokeyou shouldn't try and fix it,
you know.
So, yeah, and like I said, jim,I will.
Uh, when we get done here, I'mgonna look up what that
(38:26):
gentleman said online.
Okay, the one that we missed,all right, and we'll have to be
on the lookout for another timeto see if we can find it all
right, and we put it probablyput it in the comments.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
So rake and see what yep perfect we can definitely do
that.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
So, all right, well, right, well, hey, jim, thanks
for digging up some AmericanOktoberfest.
No problem, a couple of festbeers Fest beers, you know and,
like I said, we will see if wecan find some other ones that
maybe are a little bit better.
Hopefully how do I say this?
Better, so awesome.
Well, ladies and gentlemen,thanks for listening and, like
we always say, I hope yourcampfire is always warm and your
(39:00):
beers are always cold.
See ya, bye.
Thank you for listening to theNorthwoods Beer Guy podcast.
If you have a question, acomment or a beer you'd like us
to review, please feel free tosend us a message at
northwoodsbeerguy at gmailcom.
You can also find us onFacebook, twitter and Instagram.
If you're on untapped, look upNorthwoods Beer Guy and send a
front request Until next week.
(39:21):
I hope all your campfires arewarm and all your beer is cold.
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