Oktoberfest in July….?!?
Well here I am again, complaining about something else…wait, did I already complain about this before? Probably, but hey I’m going to do it again haha.
To start, I can at least say I’m not the only person I’ve heard complaining about beers coming out too early for the season that they are suppose to represent.
Currently we have the dilemma of fall beers, especially, Oktoberfest beers, coming out right now in the month of July…..while it’s friggin 90 degrees out!
I don’t know about you, but Id rather not drink a fall or winter style beer while I’m sweating from heat exhaustion but I guess beer breweries think that you do.
The problem isn’t just the fact that fall beers are now coming out before summer is over, its the next problem that Christmas beers aka winter beers will be out before fall is over and the vicious cycle continues on and on.
So let’s talk about what exactly a Märzen beer aka Oktoberfest is….or was. The term was originally defined as a beer that was brewed in early spring (March) and left to condition aka lager throughout the summer and then would be served at Oktoberfest, which actually starts in mid September despite it’s name being Oktober…at least that was the old German method anyways.
Nowadays, breweries tend to bottle or can the beer in early July and start releasing it in August…or most recently in July!
The thing is most Americans dont really know the fine details of Oktoberfest nor do they care, they just want a good beer in the fall. As with the winter beer dilemma, most breweries and beer distributors say the season for Oktoberfest beer is very short hence releasing them months early but I beg to differ.
If I were to be very generous I could say start releasing them in mid to late August and continue through Halloween….yes you read that right! I’ve seen many bars and restaurants having “Octoberfests” in the middle of October and most people attending are happy to go and are no less the wiser on the authentic specs of how Germans in Germany celebrate Oktoberfest.
And speaking of which, get ready for this….most Germans don’t even care about Oktoberfest! It’s true!
Of the 8-9 times I’ve been to Germany, you don’t really see or hear any big celebrations for Oktoberfest unless you are in the Munich/Bavaria area during that time. Sure the beers are available throughout the country but it’s not like the 4th of July or anything where the entire country celebrates it. The U.S. equivalent would be like some popular fest happens in Texas and everyone knows and cares about it… know what I’m sayin?
I mean don’t get me wrong, I love Oktoberfest beers, they are on the top of my preferred style of beers but when they release them so early in the year, you have to rush to buy them before they are all sold out before Oktoberfest even starts.
As I mentioned earlier, most distributors want them sold sooner than later because when November comes around “Oktober” beers sitting on the shelf will look “old”. The same thing goes for “Christmas” beers, after December 25th nobody wants to drink an “old” beer. This is actually why most breweries have now renamed the style to “winter” beer.
As this rant….er I mean post is written, I have already seen five! different oktoberfest’s on the shelf and also heard of two pumpkin beers floating around the beer rumorville.
So what am I going to do? Well I guess I’ll have to start buying them now because I’ll most likely miss out on most of them if I wait until September. But I will take the added step to store them down in my dungeon until the outside temps change into a more fall/Oktoberfest feel.
Oh I also want to add that Paulaner, Spaten, Hofbräu and Hacker-Pschorr now brew their Oktoberfest beer….year round! The reasoning is because they sell well in German themed restaurants in the United States and have seen the sales numbers and gave it the go ahead for continuous brewing. Yes it’s crazy and true all in the same way.
So in conclusion, as the old saying goes, if you cant beat them, I guess I’ll have to join them haha.
