Even MORE Oktoberfest!

I have a few more Oktoberfest/Fall brews in store for you guys, all of which were pretty good, but above all else, were very different from any other beer I've reviewed so far.

To start off, I poured out a glass of Hofbrau Oktoberfest brew from the Hofbrau Munchen brewery. It's a 6.3% ABV Marzen/Oktoberfest style lager and is pretty damn tasty. I've never had any of this particular brew houses beer, except for the fantastic 5.5% Hofbrau Dunkel. The Dunkel has a sweet caramel-apple taste with a bit of bitterness on the back; just great.

The Oktoberfest is a very light, golden colored beer with a good, strong smell. It has the aroma of grain and sweetness, with is probably from the hops (a hint of cornbeard as well?), and a distinct skunkyness. The second I smelled this, I thought to myself  "St. Paulie Girl" and the taste only confirmed that: this shit tastes just like a St. Paulie Girl. And not that that's a bad thing, I happen to enjoy that beer.

The taste on this beer is kind of a sweet pilsner- certainly nothing like any Oktoberfest I've ever had before (I wouldn't qualify it as an Oktoberfest at all). It's sweet, with some bready notes and a decent amount of hops- just like a St. Paulie Girl but a decent bit less skunky and more... boozy? There's a decent taste of alcohol on the end, which, at 6.3% ABV, isn't necessarily a bad thing.


Moving on, this next beer comes from one of my favorite breweries, the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company. From the Sunset Wheat (4.9% ABV and it tastes like fucking Trix cereal) to 1888 Bock (5.1% ABV Bock beer) this is one beer company that knows what they're doing.

Today I'll be trying their Oktoberfest brew, another great Marzen style beverage. The color on this is just like most of the other Oktoberfest brews I've had, medium dark with a nice chestnut color, even slightly red. It has a great aroma, a roasted-nut scent with some sweetness added in. The taste is more of the nuttiness, with some caramel and malt mixed in. It has a mild taste but the malts a nice and strong. This stands out from other autumn/marzen/oktoberfest beers in the nut taste- it reminds me of another great Leinenkugel brew, the Fireside Nut Brown.

Next is the Steven's Point Octoberfest. Steven's Point, a brewery out of, offers up some fantastic beers. From the Horizon Wheat (Excellent wheat brew comparable to Shock Top) to the Belgian White (Think Blue Moon, but better), I would recommend them all... which is pretty convenient because they offer beer drinkers a 12 pack featuring six of their most well known brews.

I first tried this beer on draft at a local bar and didn't much care for it. However, as I've previously discovered, sometimes beer doesn't taste as good on draft as it does in the bottle, and vice-versa- I figured I'd give the bottled kind a shot.

This beer, coming in a 5.15% ABV, is a pale orange/brown in color with a great smell. As soon as I opened the bottle, I was hit with the strong aroma of malt. There's also a bit more to the scent, caramel and some slight hops, but more than anything is the malt. The taste of this beer is similar to the nose, but has a lot more in store. Obviously it's pretty damn malty, but there is some nuttiness to it (two beers in one review that a nutty, but none prior? strange), especially on the back. You also get some decent hops on the end, but the malt is what this beer is all about- caramel malt with roasted malt. The one thing I don't like about this one is the dryness- it's really fucking dry, to the point where I could have drank all six of these and still been thirsty...

The last beer I'll be reviewing today is the Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Harvest Fresh Hop Ale. Whew** that was a long name, huh? I bought this 22 oz bad boy about a week ago and had been saving it- not for a special occasion or anything, but because I wasn't really in the mood for a super hoppy beer. Let me tell ya... "super hoppy" doesn't even begin to describe this ale.

As you may already know by now, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company likes its hops. A LOT. So when I saw this beer, advertised as a "fresh hop ale" all I could think was "oh shit, here we go." The smell on this thing is incredible- just straight hops. American IPA by nature, it has the aroma of floral hops and even more floral hops. The color is very appealing, a cloudy copper with a bit of orange thrown into the mix.

The taste was pretty amazing. It reminded me of some of my favorite beers, Saranac IPA, Great Lakes Burning River and, of course, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Floral hops with grapefruit, some sweet caramel (not all that malty but I won't say the taste isn't there) some pine. A lot of reviews on beeradvocate.com say it's not very hoppy and they wish for a more dynamic beer, but in my opinion this is superb.

At 6.7% ABV, this is one beer you must try, hop fan or not.

So there you have it. Some pretty good beers today, none too awesome, but I wouldn't turn a single one of these down. Stay tuned for some more Oktoberfest/Autumn beers, but don't forget... winter is right around the corner.


Hofbrau 6.5/10
Leinenkugel 7/10
Steven's Point 6/10
Sierra Nevada 7.5/10