Tag Archives: Märzen

Oktoberfest Taste Test

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Me at Oktoberfest in Helen, Georgia. Copyright 2015 by Andrew Dunn.

Me at Oktoberfest in Helen, Georgia. Copyright 2015 by Andrew Dunn.

I know, I know. Oktoberfest is a German thing. But my birthday was Wednesday, and the themed party extended from last weekend to this weekend.

We started with a quick weekend trip to Helen, Georgia, a Southern mountain town that converted itself into an Alpine village. This marks the 45th year the hamlet has hosted its own Oktoberfest, and the wife and I never really need an excuse to party.

All over Helen, you will find German-style biergartens and restaurants. We gorged ourselves on German food, especially at the Old Bavaria Inn, which has a nice assortment of rare German beers in the bottle. We also sampled Oktoberfest beers from Erdinger, Hofbräu, Paulaner, and Warsteiner,

As I’ve mentioned, I am a big fan of Oktoberfest/Märzen beers. So to complete my birthday celebration, my wife and I planned a huge German feast and a special Oktoberfest blind taste test this weekend.

We invited a few of our best beer-drinking friends to help us out. Why do we need help you may ask? Well, we had 19 Oktoberfest beers to sample, pitting German beers against their American counterparts.

Yes, 19! Crazy, right? Here they are in all their glory.

All 19 Oktoberfest beers. Copyright 2015 by Andrew Dunn.

All 19 Oktoberfest beers. Copyright 2015 by Andrew Dunn.

Here’s the German list.

And here’s the USA list.

We broke the beers up into three random flights of 6, 6, and 7. I had four tasters: two hop-head women and two malt-maniac men. The Germans and Americans were mixed freely in each flight, leading up to a final five-beer heat.

The top five finalists were Ballast Point Dead Ringer, Foothills Oktoberfest, Highland Clawhammer, Leinenkugel Oktoberfest, and Weihenstephaner Oktoberfestbier.

And the winner was Asheville, North Carolina’s own Highland Brewing Company Clawhammer Oktoberfest!

Frankly, I was a little surprised that the Germans did not fair better. Ballast Point Dead Ringer Oktoberfest came in a close second. So congrats all around.

Now, as your trusted beer journalist and social scientist, I remained an objective observer for this experiment. However, I couldn’t help getting in on the fun. It was my birthday after all.

My wife, Rhiannon, in Helen, Georgia, for Oktoberfest. Copyright 2015 by Andrew Dunn.

My wife, Rhiannon, in Helen, Georgia, for Oktoberfest. Copyright 2015 by Andrew Dunn.

Bonus points; I asked my wife to run the experiment for me. My results are dubious since the beers by this time had begun to warm. I can’t vouch for my taste test at all, but here are my results anyway.

My top five were: Ballast Point, Erdinger, Foothills, Samuel Adams, and Shiner. My overall winner was Samuel Adams Oktoberfest. Again, take that one with a grain of salt.