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Beer Review: Oktoberfest Märzen (Hacker-Pschorr)

This oktoberfest was nice and orange - just the kind of medium color you'd expect from most fest beers. Medium in body, with a mild, almost sweet, smell, this brew had a matching mild, smooth flavor. No real hops or fruit notes here - just a pleasant oktoberfest beer! -- Brewmeister G

The Brewer?	Hacker-Pschorr Bräu GmbH	- - - - - - -	When tasted?	11 October 2002
Place of Origin?	Munich, Germany	- - - - - - -	How tasted?	12 oz bottle
Style of Beer?	Oktoberfest	- - - - - - -	Where tasted?	At Brewmeister G's home

Hacker-Pschorr (I think its pronounced fskor, but my German friends say the Bavarians talk funny) is one of Munich's old renowned brewers ca. AD 1417. Apparently in Germany, with a few big company exceptions (Becks, Warsteiner, maybe Löwenbräu), most beer drank is still pretty regional. I talked to a guy from northern Germany the other day, and he really hadn't tried Hacker-Pschorr.... Munich is known though, even among Germans, as the heart of their beer world. Anyway, there was a good price at Total Beverage,on this seasonal, HP's Original Oktoberfest, at about $15 for 12 bottles (the same price they had for Dominion Oktoberfest), so I thought I'd try one of the German originals. Spaten & Paulaner, other old Munich brands, and Ayinger (from Aying a town near Munich) are all close to equivalent quality. Wine Advocate rates Ayinger Oktoberfest with a 95 and I agree...but that will have to be for another review.

Oktoberfest style beers are always Märzen styles which means malty, sweet, bottom-cold-fermented beers (lagers), often amber in color, with lots of caramel and a full body. If you try Dominion or Sams or Pete's Wicked, they all (should) share this in common. As the last batches made in the spring, they were originally brewed strong in order to survive though the summer, until brewing could start up again in the fall--since before refrigeration you couldn't do brewing in the summer. I've seen craft beer 'Oktoberfest' ales, but that's the exception, for most German beer styles are lagers, a little more advanced in their development historically than ales. Maybe I'm a purist, but other than Ayinger (which is a lot more expensive), I like this Oktoberfest / Märzen the best, even compared to the fresher American craft beers. Like all German beers, it's not quite as hoppy as American craft beers, and this allows the full malt flavor to be realized and complimented, not overwhelmed, by hops (as nice as that can be sometimes). I've read that in international hop units (IBUs), a 1 and up scale, a Miller for example might have an 8 on the scale, whereas a Tuppers' Ale will have a 80. Typical American craft beers may be in the 50s or 60s and most German beer is in the 30s. They are a lot hoppier than American swill beer, but around half as hoppy as the usual American craft beer. Of course, a lot has to do with the particular style of beer, but still, German (and continental) beers are more moderate on hops than American craft beer, on the whole.

With HP Original Oktoberfest, for example, you can't really smell the hops, and even the taste is rather sweet, not hoppy, but they are there in the clean finish--leaving very little aftertaste. It's really a delicious beer and goes good with food. They must have bottled it well, as mine don't taste stale (like a lot of euro-beers do), and the bottle is, thank goodness, brown--which protects the freshness from getting 'light struck' (unlike a lot of quality euro beers). I recommend this brand--a bit cheaper than Paulaner and about as cheap, as I mentioned before, as its American craft competitors. -- The King

The Brewer?	Hacker-Pschorr Bräu GmbH	- - - - - - -	When tasted?	Fall 2002
Place of Origin?	Munich, Germany	- - - - - - -	How tasted?	12 oz bottle
Style of Beer?	Oktoberfest	- - - - - - -	Where tasted?	At The King's home

Links for this beer:

Hacker-Pschorr's page for their Oktoberfest Märzen (in German)
Hacker-Pschorr's Home Page (in German)

For more information about the SBR, please contact Brewmeister G. All fermented contributions are cheerfully accepted.