Octoberfest

Tasting Notes

"Octoberfest" or "märzen" are terms used interchangeably. They originally referred to a brewing process in which the beer was brewed in March and served in October. This style of beer is amber-red in color, slightly above average in gravity and alcohol, and moderately hopped, but with no lingering hop bitterness. It is medium-bodied, and the balance is decidedly towards maltiness, with just enough bitterness to keep the beer from tasting too sweet.

Ingredients

European Pilsner malt is recommended for this style, but U.S. two-row lager malts are just as suitable. Smaller portions of Vienna and Munich malts are also used, as well as crystal malts. Mainly aroma hops such as Saaz, Hallertauer Mittelfrüh, Tettnanger, Spalter, Hersbrucker, Styrian Goldings, and Fuggle are employed.

Brewing Techniques

German brewers use an upward infusion or abbreviated single-temperature mash in a märzen whereas others will use a single-decoction mash to increase the color and aroma. Most U.S. brewers use a single-infusion mash, which gives good results with U.S. malts. The traditional triple-decoction mash gives excellent results, but most brewers consider it too time-consuming and energy intensive.

The information on this page was provided by beer-brewing.com (http://www.beer-brewing.com).