Tuesday Top Ten: Oktoberfest Beers (2017 Edition)

Setting aside the 90-degree temperatures we've been having the last week, fall is officially here.  Across the pond, in Munich, they are just over halfway done with this year's Oktoberfest.  Originally intended to celebrate the marriage of Kronprinz Ludwig to Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen in October 1810, Oktoberfest has burgeoned into on of the biggest parties in the world, lasting 16 to 18 days in late September to early October each year, and attended by more than 6 million people each year.  Munich's six main breweries -- Augustiner Bräu, Hacker-Pschorr, Hofbräu, Löwenbräu, Paulaner, and Spaten -- provide the beer, sponsoring the 14 large tents -- which range in capacity from 1,300 to nearly 8,500 -- and 20 smaller tents (which hold about a couple hundred people each).  Having been four times, I cannot recommend Oktoberfest enough.  If there is a better party in the world, I want to know.  I can't wait for 2019, my next scheduled trip to the Weisn.

Of course, without those liters of beer, there would be no Oktoberfest.  The style of beer served at the tents in Munich is märzen, which was developed in Bavaria centuries ago, when beer could only be brewed between late September and late April. The beer was brewed in March (Märzen), and then opened up in the late summer and, later, for Oktoberfest. It is stronger than normal beer, as it must withstand not only the summer months, but also millions of drunken men in lederhosen and women in dirndls.  This is beer that is meant to be drunk from liter steins while listening to a German oompa band playing "Ein Prosit," "Viva Bavaria" or "Take Me Home Country Roads," singing along with thousands of your closest friends.

In the U.S. (and Germany, for that matter), märzens are often labeled "Oktoberfest" beer, (occasionally, and improperly) "Octoberfest" beer, or festbier.  In 2011, 2013, and 2014, I shared you with my favorite Oktoberfest beers, and last year, I posted a link to an article that ranked various Oktoberfest beers after a blind taste test.

Since my post in 2014, I have been to Oktoberfest again and imbibed various other märzens or Oktoberfest beers.  Like in years past, I will break everything down into a star rating system that I have used the two beer apps that I use or have used, Brew Gene (which I no longer use) and Untappd (which I use on an unhealthily regular basis).  I'm up to 55 different Oktoberfest beers, at least that I've logged.  Under each star ranking, I will list the beers alphabetically and identify the ABV and location of their respective breweries.  For a frame of reference, my average beer rating is usually somewhere between 3.75 and 4 stars, but I rarely go as high as 4.75 or 5 stars.

2 stars
Surly SurlyFest (6.0%; Minneapolis, MN) (märzens should not be hoppy)

3.5 stars

Altenmünster Oktoberfest (5.5%; Kempten, Germany)

Bell's Octoberfest (5.5%; Kalamazoo, MI)

Hofbräu Oktoberfestbier (6.3%; Munich, Germany)

Spaten-Bräu Oktoberfest Ur Märzen (5.9%; Munich, Germany)

Wolters Fest-Bier (5.0%; Braunschweig, Germany)

3.75 stars
Stillmank Oktoberfest (4.8%; Green Bay, WI)

4 stars

Ayinger Oktober Fest Märzen (5.8%; Aying, Germany)
Augustinerbräu Oktoberfest Märzen (6.0%; Munich, Germany)
Baderbräu Oktoberfest (5.1%; Chicago, IL)
Beck's Oktoberfest (5.0%; Bremen, Germany)
Berghoff Oktoberfest (5.9%; Stevens Point, WI)

Boulevard Brewing Bob's '47 Oktoberfest (5.8%; Kansas City, MO)

Brooklyn Oktoberfest (5.5%; New York, NY)

Gordon Biersch Märzen (5.7%; San Jose, CA)

Harpoon Octoberfest (5.3%; Boston, MA)

Left Hand Oktoberfest (6.6%; Longmont, CO)

Leinenkugel's Oktoberfest (5.1%; Chippewa Falls, WI)
Metropolitan Afterburner (6.1%; Chicago, IL)

Odell Oktoberfest (6.1%; Fort Collins, CO)
Old Style Oktoberfest (6.3%; La Crosse, WI)

Paulaner München Märzen (5.8%; Munich, Germany)
Piece Oktoberfist (6.0%; Chicago, IL)

Point Oktoberfest (5.15%; Stevens Point, WI)

Revolution Oktoberfest (5.7%; Chicago, IL)

Shiner Oktoberfest (5.8%; Shiner, TX)
Sierra Nevada 2016 Oktoberfest - Mahrs Bräu (6.0%; Chico, CA)
Solemn Oath Oktöberface (6.0%; Naperville, IL)

Two Brothers Atom Smasher (7.7%; Warrenville, IL)

Victory Festbier (5.6%; Downington, PA)

4.25 stars
3 Floyds Munsterfest (6.0%; Munster, IN)
Ballast Point Dead Ringer (6.0%; San Diego, CA)
Boulder Beer Company Dragonhosen Imperial Oktoberfest (9.0%; Boulder, CO)
Goose Island Fest Bier (5.7%; Chicago, IL) (in years past, this has been called Oktoberfest)
Great Lakes Oktoberfest (6.5%; Cleveland, OH)
Half Acre Lager Town (6.0%; Chicago, IL)
JosephsBrau (Trader Joe's) Oktoberfest (5.3%; San Jose, CA)
New Glarus Staghorn Octoberfest (6.25%; New Glarus, WI)
O'so O-toberfest (5.8%; Plover, WI)
Pollyanna Fruhauf (5.4%; Lemont, IL)
Sierra Nevada 2017 Oktoberfest - Brauhaus Miltenberger (6.1%; Chico, CA)
Summit Oktoberfest (7.1%; St. Paul, MN)
Upland Oktoberfest (6.7%; Bloomington, IN)
Warsteiner Premium Oktoberfest (5.9%; Warstein, Germany)
Weihenstephaner Festbier (5.8%; Freising, Germany)

4.5 stars

5 Rabbit Vida y Muerte Muertzenbier (6.3%; Chicago, IL)
5 Rabbit's Day of the Dead-themed märzen is muy bueno.
Airbräu Gaudium Festbier (6.3%; Munich, Germany)
When you're at the open area before getting to the terminals at the Munich airport (known as the MAC), be sure to stop by the only brewery located in an airport in Europe.  They make some good beer.
Avery The Kaiser (9.3%; Boulder, CO)
If you're looking to really get knocked on your ass by a märzen, might I recommend The Kaiser?
Central Waters Octoberfest Lager (5.25%; Amherst, WI)
Bavaria and Wisconsin are basically the same place with different languages.
Church Street Itascafest Märzen (5.1%; Itasca, IL)
A very good märzen from a suburban Chicago brewery.
Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest (5.8%; Munich, Germany)

This is still the best, in my opinion.  It doesn't have that bitter, almost sour, aftertaste that many of the German märzens have.  It goes down smooth, and it's great for watching football on a fall day, or drinking until the point of blindness in a giant tent on a Friday in September every third year.

Magic Hat Ourtoberfest (South Burlington, VT)

I still think this is one of the best American Oktoberfest beers that I've had.  Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Magic Hat makes it anymore.  I haven't seen it in a few years, and it's not in the Magic Hat fall sampler pack I've seen in stores this year.  Dear Magic Hat, please resurrect this beer.
Mikkeller Oktoberpretzel (5.8%; Copenhagen, Denmark)
It's no wonder that arguably the best brewery in the world would produce a great märzen.  I had this one at the Mikkeller bar in Copenhagen last year, and I recommend you do the same.

Sam Adam's Octoberfest (5.3%; Boston, MA)

This is one of my favorite Sam Adams seasonal beers.  It's really easy to drink.  A great fall beer.

Sprecher Oktoberfest (5.75%; Glendale, WI)

I had this one a few years ago on draft at a Sprecher restaurant during a trip to Wisconsin, and it was pretty damn good.

As always, I am open to recommendations.  Prost!