Drink Now! Oktoberfest Beer

"Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower"

- Albert Camus

Fall is my favorite season. Summer is too hot, winter is too cold, and spring is too...tornado-ey?

But the real reason I love it is that it reminds me of myself. I've always thought of myself as creative, but I've never been good at creating something truly new and unique. Instead, I combine themes and ideas I've seen into something else. That is what fall is. It takes what spring created and summer grew and turns it into a beautiful mosaic. School is back in session, and summer's laziness is replaced by hard work and learning. There's also football, playoff baseball, the start of hockey season, and you can do any physical activity outside without getting too hot. It's the perfect season.

But really, it's all about the beer.

But along with pumpkin lattes, pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin cheesecake, and now pumpkin oreos, Hershey kisses, and Eggo waffles, pumpkin beer gets all the attention in the fall. And just like everything else pumpkin, it's disgusting.

The real star of the fall is (or at least should be) Oktoberfest beer. Also known as Märzen-style, Oktoberfest beers are characterized by a golden or copper color, full body, caramel malty flavor, and slightly higher alcohol by volume. Before refrigeration it was very difficult to brew beer in the summer due to spoilage from the hot weather and bacterial infections. These beers were brewed in March (Märzen), left to ferment over the summer, and drank in the fall.

Since 1810, Munich has held Oktoberfest, a 16-day festival in late September through the first weekend of October. Originally held to celebrate Crown Prince Ludwig's marriage to Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen, the festival as we know it began in 1950 with the tapping of the first keg by the mayor of Munich. Since 1994 the festival has expanded to include German Unity Day, which celebrates the reunification of East and West Germany.

Attending Oktoberfest in Munich is the biggest thing on my bucket list. To celebrate my German heritage, I MUST go there before I die.

Until then, celebrating on my own will have to do. I thought it was a perfect opportunity to debut a new feature on this blog: Drink Now! This time I'm tasting and comparing twelve Oktoberfest beers.

I figured I'd need help drinking all twelve beers, so I bribed my roommates and one of their girlfriends to help me by grilling some German bratwurst with sauerkraut. And we watched Beerfest!

We also had the added goal of finishing everything before the movie ended. No pressure.

Tier One:  

I divided the Twelve beers into three flights of four beers each. The first four were good American Oktoberfest styles. 

Santa Fe Oktoberfest, Santa Fe Brewing Co.

Santa Fe, New Mexico

I've tried a few things from Santa Fe Brewing Company, and most of it has been good. As a craft brewery, they have a great IPA and several other hoppy beers. Great for them, but I don't like hoppy beers. Part of the reason I love Oktoberfest beer so much is that Märzen beers have a sweet malty flavor and mild on hops. By bringing traditional craft brewery over-hopping to an Oktoberfest beer ruined it, completely drowning the sweetness of the roasted malt in bitter hoppiness. This was my least favorite of the twelve.

Rating: 2 Milli Vanilli members 

(They're from Munich, in case you didn't get that joke)

Mayhem Märzen, Springfield Brewing Co.

Springfield, Missouri

I decided to try a local beer for the tasting. No offense to local favorite Mother's Oktoberfest, but Mayhem Märzen was touted to be one of the best around. Maybe it was the leftover hop flavor from the Santa Fe Oktoberfest, but I still felt like Mayhem was too hoppy. It did have more malty flavor, but it wasn't as good as I thought it would be.

Rating: 3 Angela Merkels 

Bratwurst and sauerkraut was done! Damn was it delicious, especially with all this Oktoberfest beer.

Bob's '47 Oktoberfest, Boulevard Brewing Co.

Kansas City, Missouri

I cheated on this one. This is the only one in Tier One that I've had before, but I had to include it. Just like I remembered, it was very sweet - possibly the sweetest of the twelve. This is the sweet malty flavor that I love in Oktoberfest beers.

Rating: 4 BMW M3s 

Free State Octoberfest, Free State Brewing Co.

Lawrence, Kansas

This beer was very average. It may lose points because one of my favorites was tasted right before it, but I felt like there was nothing special about it at all. Plus they immediately lose points for spelling "Oktoberfest" incorrectly.

Rating: 3 Adidas shoes 

Tier Two:

These were also American Oktoberfest beers from larger craft breweries.

Goose Island Oktoberfest, Goose Island Beer Co.

Chicago, Illinois

Goose Island is another brewery where I seem to love every beer they make, and their Oktoberfest is no exception. It's noticeably sweeter than most others, but has a slightly nutty aftertaste.

Rating: 4 Lederhosen 

Big Eddy Über-Oktoberfest, Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co.

Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin

When the Santa Fe Oktoberfest and Mayhem Märzen tried bringing hoppy bitterness to the normally sweet Märzen style beer, it tasted awful. Über-Oktoberfest is what those other two should have been. It's dry-hopped, which adds a layer of complexity to the malty flavor, but doesn't get in the way or overpower it.

Rating: 4 Coo Coo Clocks 

Sam Adam's Octoberfest, The Boston Brewing Co.

Boston, Massachusetts

This has become many peoples' go-to Oktoberfest beer, and for good reason. It's not too sweet, not bitter at all, and readily available nationwide. It's perfectly average in every way, which gives it mass appeal, but had nothing to set it apart to me. This is what you should drink if you're looking to drink an Oktoberfest beer that won't blow you away, but you'll definitely say "Yep, that's an Oktoberfest beer."

Rating: 3.5 Pretzels 

Leinenkugel's Oktoberfest, Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co.

Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin

For years this was my go-to Oktoberfest beer when Hacker-Pschorr wasn't available. What I didn't intend from this tasting was for one of my favorite beers to be ruined by half a dozen better ones. Leinie's Oktoberfest tasted nothing like the others, and not in a good way; it didn't even taste like an Oktoberfest beer. It was far too nutty, to the point of being overpowered by the nutty flavor. I had trouble drinking the rest of it after tasting so many better beers.

Rating: 3 Würstl 

Tier Three:

This was the top tier: The Germans. Beck's isn't German anymore, but I'm still including it in this group. Unlike the beers from the other tiers, this one includes two of the beers that are actually available at Oktoberfest in Munich, which only allows beer from the six Munich breweries. "Oktoberfestbier" is a specific trademarked regional style that only applies to those six - similar to how Champagne can only be called Champagne if it's brewed in thechampagne region of France.

Beck's Oktoberfest, Brauerei Beck & Co

St. Louis, Missouri

Beck's Oktoberfest is my lucky beer. Something good happens when I drink it. It's just good luck. Or at least it used to be. Unfortunately it's not actually a German beer anymore. Nonetheless, it hasn't changed too much since its Deusch days. Besides being lucky, I like it because it's only slightly sweet and very well balanced.

Rating: 4 Dirndls 

Three beers to go and the American team is about to drink in the sudden death match. We need to hurry!

Hofbräu Oktoberfest, Staatliches Hofbräuhaus

Munich, Germany

Here we go. This is a REAL Munich Oktoberfestbier. If you went to the festival, this brewery would run one of the biggest tents. This exact beer would be poured out of the kegs. You would get so drunk on these you'd think you could speak German. This is the lightest in color of the twelve beers, and is representative of a change in Oktoberfest beers. They weren't always dark and caramely, and this is representative of those other styles. It's still delicious and malty, but with a beautiful deep gold color. This is exactly what Oktoberfest beer should taste like.

Rating: 5 Steins 

Hacker-Pschorr Original Oktoberfest, Hacker-Pschorr

Munich, Germany

I'm sorry, I misspoke. THIS is what Oktoberfest beer should taste like. Even though this particular bottle was well over a year old and the taste was...off, it easily bested nearly everything else. Hacker-Pschorr is another of the six Munich breweries that can legally brew Octoberfestbier (TM). It's unbelievably deep copper in color with caramel-like malty flavor that anyone wanting an Oktoberfest experience should drink by the liter - or a 2-liter boot if you can. It's also more powerful than its 5.8% abv would seem, so beware. 

Rating: 5 Neuschwansteins 

Ayinger Oktober Fest-Märzen, Brauerei Aying

Aying, Germany

Partially due to the fact that the Hacker-Pschorr expired a year ago and partially due to this being a fantastic beer, Ayinger was the best of the twelve. There's no other way to describe it except balanced. All of the German Oktoberfest beers tasted drastically different from the American ones in a way that's difficult to describe. It's like they had the same malty flavor and made it twice as intense. Not sweeter, but just more intense. Ayinger had that same intensity, but it was so...balanced with everything else.

Rating: 6 Hasselhoffs 

I'd finished all twelve beers in the sampler glasses, but the people I had helping me to drink the rest of the bottles were losing steam. There wasn't much time to finish the rest of the bottles. Harvey was there to help.

The goal was reached just as the credits rolled.

Look at these weaklings passed out in the corner. Shameful...

Get some Oktoberfest beer before it's too late. Better yet, buy some Oktoberfestbier from Munich. Prost!

Pizza Lucé Baked Potato Pizza

Most residents of the Twin Cities area are well familiar with Pizza Luce. Having grown up there, I regretfully only ate there for the first time a few years ago, just in time for me to move to Missouri and be one more thing to be homesick about.

For those of you not from the Twin Cities (sorry to hear that), Pizza Lucé is known for its innovative and award winning gourmet pizzas, sandwiches, appetizers, and desserts, many of which are available in vegetarian, vegan, or gluten free options. My favorite by far is their Baked Potato Pizza, which uses mashed potatoes in place of sauce and is topped with cheese, tomato, broccoli, bacon, and sour cream for dipping.

Since I didn't get to visit Minnesota for Christmas, I've had a serious craving for it. So I decided to try to make my own. Here's how I did it:


Ingredients:
Pizza crust - pre-made or homemade
1 1/2 - 2 cups mashed potatoes - I used the instant kind, but feel free to mash them yourselves if you really want to
2 cups of cheese - cheddar is best, but it can be any kind. I used a mixture of mozzarella and cheddar
2 or 3 strips of crispy bacon
1 head of broccoli
1 roma tomato
Sour cream for topping

Directions:
While the oven is preheating to 425 degrees (or whatever the temperature is in the directions on your crust) and the water for the mashed potatoes is boiling, chop the tomato and broccoli.

If you're using the same mashed potatoes I did, you need 1 1/2 cups of water, 1/2 cup of milk, and 2 Tbsp of butter. Combine into a 2qt saucepan and bring it to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in the potato mix. It should be ready after a minute or so.

Spread the mashed potatoes over the crust like a sauce.

It can be tricky because it's so thick, but make sure it's spread evenly to the edges of the crust.

Sprinkle on the cheese. This can also be done after the other toppings, which I believe is what Pizza Lucé does.

Add your tomato and broccoli

Crumble the bacon and sprinkle it all over

Bake 8-12 minutes at 425 (or whatever the instructions are on your crust), or until cheese is melted.

Cover in sour cream, and try not to wake the neighbors by screaming "OMG THAT'S SO GOOD!"

Ingredients:
Pizza crust of your choice
1 1/2-2 cups mashed potatoes - mashed yourself or prepared as directed on package
2 cups cheese
1 tomato (chopped)
1 head of broccoli (chopped)
2-3 strips crispy bacon
Sour cream for dipping

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees (or as directed on package). Chop tomato and broccoli. Cook mashed potatoes as directed or mash them yourself. Cook bacon to be extra crispy.
2. Spread mashed potatoes evenly across crust. Evenly top with cheese, tomato, broccoli, and bacon.
3. Cook 8-12 minutes (or as directed on package), or until cheese is melted