The 2016 Oktoberfest beers are out! Here is our guide to current Vermont Oktoberfest beers – PROST!
Queen City Brewery Oktoberfest
Queen City Oktoberfest: Full-bodied, yet refreshing, Queen City Oktoberfest is a traditional German Märzen-style lager, with a complex, toasty malt profile. (5.5% abv, 30 IBU)
Switchback Märzen Fest Bier
From switchbackvt.com:
- Märzen Fest Bier
- First Sold: October 2014
- Availability: September – October 2016
- 5.2% ABV
- 30 IBU
- Unfiltered and 100% Naturally Carbonated
Märzen (“Maer-tsen”), our fi¬rst lager, is made in the traditional fest beer style. Often called Oktoberfest Lagers, these rich fest beers are great for any festive occasion. Switchback’s Märzen is wonderfully malty with a balanced and crisp hop character. Our Märzen is aged six full weeks using a traditional lagering process. Following in that tradition, the beer is naturally conditioned, using the yeast to create carbonation in the aging tank. Going through a slow, multi-step fermentation process allows this beer to highlight the best characteristics of a lager. It is all about the malt and the hops, with the yeast staying in the background flavor-wise, keeping the beer exceptionally clean, crisp, and refreshing. Like all Switchback beers, Märzen is not filtered. The clarity is from the long aging process, whereby the cloudiness has slowly settled out of the beer.
All Switchback beers are brewed in Burlington, Vermont and are carbonated during fermentation by the yeast itself resulting in a 100% naturally conditioned beer. After aging, we simply move the beer to the keg or bottle, leaving it unfiltered for the freshest, fullest, most natural flavor possible.
Zero Gravity Craft Brewery Oktoberfest
From zerogravitybeer.com:
Marzen Lager –
German malts and hops along with a long lagering give this beer impeccable drinkability. The superb malt flavor is balanced by just a hint of hop bitterness. PROST!
- Style: Märzen Lager
- Malt: German Vienna, Munich I, Munich II
- Hops: Tettnang
- Yeast: German Lager
- Appearance: Deep Amber
- ibu: 26
- abv: 5.4%
- og: 14.6°P
von Trapp Brewing Oktoberfest
From vontrappbrewing.com:
Oktoberfest Lager 5.6% ABV 35 IBU
A true full-bodied Oktoberfest lager. Dark in color with a fine caramel finish.
Harpoon Brewery Oktoberfest
From harpoonbrewery.com:
Harpoon Octoberfest is a malty tribute to fall, balanced by a gentle hop bitterness. In keeping with tradition, it is a Marzen-style beer, brewed with abundant quantities of Munich, Chocolate, and Pale malts. Those malts provide a solid, full body and create the beer’s deep color. It is a rich, flavorful beer.
- Appearance: garnet-red color with a firm, creamy head.
- Aroma: hop aroma, (not overpowering but present)
- Mouth feel: full-bodied, smooth, and malty
- Taste: gentle bitterness to balance any residual sweetness
- Finish: soft and malty with a mild bitterness
- First Brewed 1989
- Style Marzen/Octoberfest
- alc/vol 5.3%
- ibu 32
- Color 49 EBC