Oh, how you’d love to strut onto those hallowed fairgrounds of Munich’s Oktoberfest on September 21; to join the throngs of visiting beer enthusiasts squirming uncomfortably in their snug new lederhosen and the many quietly amused locals scattered among them. And then to take your seat inside one of those famous tents and to wrap your eager paws around a mammoth stein; to echo a raucous ‘Prost!’ with your buddies before tipping your head back accommodatingly and taking that long-awaited first mouthful of German nectar.
Alas, a trip to Munich and Oktoberfest will have to wait for another year because that darn life of yours has once again gotten in the way of a good time. Not to worry, you can always throw a little consolation Oktoberfest bash at home and let us take care of the beverage recommendations.
Without further ado, here’s our list of 5 Classic German Beers to Serve at Your Oktoberfest Party…
Hacker-Pschorr Original Oktoberfest Amber Märzen
Though it had been usurped as the festival brew by the early 1990s, a malty and subtly sweet amber lager known as Märzen is the style traditionally associated with the term ‘Oktoberfest beer.’ It’s a style that you’ll see in great abundance on the shelves of liquor stores around this time of year, as local craft brewers pay homage to the German originals and those very same German originals flood into the country to cater to folks like you.
When trying to decide on a Märzen to recommend, we struggled to choose between two beers with very big reputations: Ayinger’s Oktober Fest Märzen and Hacker-Pschorr’s Original Oktoberfest Amber Märzen. Both are very highly-rated on Beer Advocate (BA), with scores of 90 and 89 respectively, but in the end, we went with the latter due to the brewery’s close ties to the festival itself. Hacker-Pschorr is one of only six breweries—along with fellow Munich-based producers Augustiner, Hofbräu, Löwenbräu, Paulaner, and Spaten-Franziskaner—whose beer is actually sold at the festival and thus their Märzen seemed like a more suitable selection.
Writing for All About Beer Magazine in 2008, K. Florian Kemp noted the “fresh hops and warm, toasty malt” aromas that characterize this beer’s bouquet. “The velvety mouthfeel and medium body give way to a full malty, sweet flavor and reserved, but firm, hop bitterness,” added the award-winning homebrewer. “It finishes with a well-rounded and tidy sweet/bitter finish.”
In layman’s terms: yummy!
Paulaner Oktoberfest Wiesn
In the 1970s, the folks at Paulaner decided that the Märzen was a little too filling and thus not an ideal festival beer. They subsequently produced a less malty brew more closely resembling a Helles lager or Dortmunder and began serving it at Oktoberfest. Other members of the so-called Munich 6 soon followed suit, and by the early 1990s, this had become the sole style of beer served at the event. Though it’s generally known very aptly as Festbier, this strong golden lager is sometimes called Wiesn—which is also a colloquial name for the Theresienwiese fairgrounds that host Oktoberfest every year.
While Augustiner’s Oktoberfestbier is also a very fine example of this relatively young style, we are going to tip our hats to the originators and include Paulaner’s Oktoberfest Wiesn, which sports a hefty BA score of 87, on our list.
This beer is clean, crisp, and very drinkable, displaying medium maltiness and a subtle, refreshing hop character. Serve beers that are as hard to put down as this and you might not even need coasters.
Augustiner Lagerbier Hell
This classic is a little harder to find in the U.S., but it’s worth seeking out. You know, hunting down. Chasing to the ends of the earth. With a colossal 93 rating, Augustiner’s signature beer is the number one-ranked Helles lager in the world according to BA, and that accolade is well deserved.
One of the most quaffable beers ever brewed, this masterpiece is malty, though not sweet, and its light bittering and subtle herbal hop character provide perfect balance. This is the ideal beer to guzzle from a stein.
If you can’t source any of this liquid ambrosia, don’t worry, we’ve got a few alternates lined up: Edelstoff, another tasty Helles from Augustiner, is a little easier to track down in the U.S.; as is the delightful Weihenstephaner Original, which is ranked behind only Augustiner Lagerbier Hell on BA’s list of the world’s best Helles lagers.
Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock
Some might argue that it’s bordering on sacrilegious to include beers brewed outside the city of Munich on an Oktoberfest-themed list, but we’d tell those people that this entry and the one that follows it are, as Homer Simpson once said, sacrilicious. Besides, we’re not straying far from the city and we’re remaining within the state of Bavaria.
Ayinger, a brewery based just 15 miles from Munich city in the small town of Aying, produces many world-class brews, including an aforementioned Märzen, an unfiltered Dunkel, a Hefeweizen, a Dortmunder named Jahrhundert, and a wonderful range of Bock beers. The best of the bunch, however, is a Doppelbock called Celebrator.
With a score of 97 out of 100, this tops the list of the world’s best Doppelbocks on BA. Celebrator has also won Ayinger a vast array of awards down through the years, including gold medals at both the World Beer Championships and the World Beer Awards.
The Beverage Testing Institute describes Celebrator as follows:
“Dark bronze color. Fruity, smoky aromas and flavors of chocolate banana cake and pudding, toffee, smoked nuts, and sundried-tomato chutney with a supple, vibrant, finely carbonated, dry-yet-fruity medium-to-full body and a smooth, complex, very long finish that exhibits elements of honeyed lettuce and mocha gelato finish. A fantastically flavorful and instantly appealing doppelbock with tremendous versatility.”
Anybody else feeling thirsty?
Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen
We’ll close out the list with another Märzen, but this is a Märzen with a difference.
The undulating hills of Bamberg, a beautiful town located roughly 140 miles to the north of Munich, are home to some nine breweries in total—an amazing number considering the population is a mere 77,000 people. Among them is the wonderful Schlenkerla, a brewery synonymous with Rauchbier—which translates to ‘smokebeer’ in English.
Rauchbier is brewed with smoked malt, giving the beer distinctive and delightful smoky aromas and flavors. You know what they say: there’s no smoke without fire, and Schlenkerla beers are indeed, as the kids say, fire. The kids still say that, right?
While their Fastenbier garners many of the plaudits these days, the Märzen is Schlenkerla’s signature brew, and with an outstanding rating of 92 on BA, it too is a very highly-regarded beer. It cuts an almost intimidating figure in the glass, with its brooding red hue and accompanying heady smoke aroma. Both the noses and palates of your guests might detect meaty notes—which can be quite jarring initially—and the word ‘bacon’ is likely to be thrown around.
Due to its unusual profile, this won’t be to everyone’s taste at first, but it does have a tendency to grow on people as glasses approach empty and everyone has had ample time to appreciate the more subtle flavors of this complex beer. Those who do take a liking to this Märzen will likely find it surprisingly drinkable in spite of its rich maltiness and savory flavors. Suitable as a winter warmer, a summer barbecue thirst-quencher, and a fall tipple, this is a versatile treat indeed.
There you have it: an eclectic beverage list that is sure to intrigue, excite, challenge, and ultimately satisfy your guests. Now all you need to do is order some Oktoberfest party invitations; stock the fridge with these classic beers and some Brätwurst; get in some tasty Bavarian pretzels; maybe add a touch of class with some beer tasting trays; and look forward to the festivities. Prost!
Seamus is a Content Specialist at Zazzle. He is quite happy in the role. So, if you’re following, that makes him a content Content Specialist. Seamus likes to write, read, watch sports, drink good beer/coffee, and spend time with his two beautiful kids. To say that he doesn’t like ketchup is an understatement.
