Hofbräu Oktoberfestbier (6.3%)

So, Oktoberfest in Munich ended on Saturday, but October is really just upon us – and Oktoberfest on Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario continues until the 18th – so I thought I might round up a few of the festbiers I’ve been enjoying lately. Beginning with one of Munich’s ‘Big Six’ breweries, Hofbräuhaus.

For those unfamiliar, state-owned Hofbräu is one of only six Munich breweries allowed to participate in Oktoberfest, the others being the Heineken-controlled Paulaner and Hacker-Pschorr, the Anheuser-Busch InBev-owned Spaten and Löwenbräu, and independent Augustiner. The beers all six serve are in the style of what I used to call the modern day Märzen, but which others have of late taken to describing as simply festbier.

(The differentiation is important. Classic Märzen has a darker hue, more rustic malt element, and as per the late beer maven Michael Jackson, could be considered a stronger version of a Vienna lager. More modern interpretations, the festbier referenced above, are bright gold with a sweet, honey-ish malt character and just enough hop to keep them from growing cloying.)

Brilliant gold in colour, Hofbräu’s bottled version has the classic modern festbier aroma, honey-ish with sweet notes of golden malted barley and subtle and quite gentle pinpricks of spice. It’s not the most complex nose you’ll ever come across in a beer, but it is undeniably clean and attractive.

The same might be said about the flavour, which begins with a floral sweetness that blossoms into a round, wildflower honey character. Just when it seems like it might be growing a bit too sweet and potentially cloying, however, a mild but notable hop character emerges to dry the flavour out nicely, not bittering the beer, but rather softening its sweetness. If there is a quibble to be made it is that the finish is quick and perhaps a bit too thin, but that only makes the drinker reach for another sip, or perhaps gulp, more quickly.

The Hofbräu Oktoberfestbier is, in my view, almost the dictionary definition of what a modern festbier should be: Sweet but not overly so, both bracing in its strength and quaffable in its character, with just enough hop to keep it interesting but hardly enough to notice. I’m not sure why, after sampling several bottles over several occasions, I am liking this so much more than I did last year, but I do know that had I been in  Munich last week, I likely would have headed to the Augustiner tent first, followed rather closely by Hofbräu.

91 ($3.95/500 ml)