The Bar Towel

darmokandjalad wrote:

velovampire wrote:

schomberger wrote:^Too sweet for me too, which is why I'm really hoping the Black Oak Okt will be returning.....?

The Barn Door is REALLY nice.

Agreed; a very tasty little marzen, and much more balanced than Sam Adams', which I also find to be a bit too much on the sweet side. Though if the six packs are seriously 10 bucks, I'll probably buy some anyway.

It only took a day or two for the stock of the Barn Door Oktoberfest to run out here in Sarnia, which is pretty much unheard of. Here's hoping they get more in soon.

Is that one on drinkvine yet?

Barn Door Oktoberfest Beer sounds great, will try if I see it.

The 'sweet' Festbier are always good for slow-simmering sauerkraut with caraway, juniper, and any type of fatty or smoky meat... try it sometime.

Certainly a good number of Marzens to choose from right now, in no particular order: Sam Adams, HB, Beau's, Barn Door, Black Oak, Creemore, Mill Street, even I suppose Rickard's Lederhosen.

Anyone tried them all and care to rank them in order?

Hofbrau, Black Oak, Barn Door, Lederhosen, Beau's, Creemore, Sam Adams, Mill Street.

The Beau's this year has a little malt lip at the finish that is hard to get past. It's sort of like running into a wall. I'd usually rank it higher. Mill Street is balanced, but not all that interesting. I think the Lederhosen is better than the Creemore and I'm kind of surprised the same company released two specialty products in the same segment in the same quarter.

That said, if you're talking value (and like a maltier marzen), it's basically impossible to beat the Sam Adams. I just checked the price with the LCBO category manager and pointed out that it was four dollars less than last year. It is apparently the correct price, although I'll update if it turns out there was an error or something.

Edit: It turns out it's the same price as last year and it was probably a leftover price from an earlier SKU. $13.75 vs. $9.95. Much more in line with the basic Sam Adams products.

Thanks Jordan, very interesting observations. I prefer a good solid hop backbone in a Marzen, so will gravitate to the Black Oak and Barn Door I expect. Looking forward to both. I'm now also intrigued to try the Rickard's - didn't think I'd ever put those words together in a sentence. I have tried the Creemore already and thought it tasted a lot like other Creemore offerings such as the Keller and the Alt.

Interesting comments and rankings; perhaps we should start a thread for oktoberfests like the kolsch thread...

Have to agree with midlife that creemore isn't a bad oktober but does taste like "creemore"--their beers have such a distinct house character.

IMO Ayinger is the textbook reference point for oktoberfests; which of the currently available offerings would bartowellers say are the most similar to Ayinger?

Agree more or less with Jordan. I'd put them: Hofbrau, Barn Door, Black Oak, Sam Adams/Lederhosen, Beau's, Mill Street, Creemore.

Trying them side by side I was really impressed with the Bard Door (have a few bottles in the fridge so looking forward to full and multiple samples). But from what little I initially tried I was really impressed. Originally, going back a couple of years, I found the HB too pale and understated but now I love it as a simple quaff (though as a rule I prefer maltier, deeper Marzens). The Black Oak is solid through and through, as you'd expect from that brewery. The Rickard's Lederhosen, much as I kind of hate to admit it, was unexpectedly decent. Actually, to be fair, more than that. It's good. I liked it enough to buy it (though proper review is yet to come). Beau's and Mill Street I always find very serviceable, albeit nothing world-beating, and the Creemore, having had it now on more occasions than I can count on one hand, I just think is really more in line with their Pilsner and UrBock (sub-par, maybe mediocre at best) than it is with their Kellerbier and Altbier (remarkable renditions).

But hey, those are just my thoughts at the moment...

ercousin wrote:

darmokandjalad wrote:

velovampire wrote: The Barn Door is REALLY nice.

Agreed; a very tasty little marzen, and much more balanced than Sam Adams', which I also find to be a bit too much on the sweet side. Though if the six packs are seriously 10 bucks, I'll probably buy some anyway.

It only took a day or two for the stock of the Barn Door Oktoberfest to run out here in Sarnia, which is pretty much unheard of. Here's hoping they get more in soon.

Is that one on drinkvine yet?

http://drinkvine.com/drinkdetail.php?ty ... tID=376566

new at TBS:

Keiths - Saphir Hop Ale Can 473 ml $2.65

A new Keith's Hop beer? How come I haven't seen commercials and billboards everywhere promoting it?

spinrsx wrote:also this is now showing stock and STILL listed at 10$

SAMUEL ADAMS OCTOBERFEST
LCBO 207084 | 6x355 mL bottle
Price: $ 9.95

Annnnnnnnd that's over. $13.70 now.

new:

Paranormal Imperial Pumpkin Ale
LCBO#: 400978
$12.95

Ceecee wrote:

spinrsx wrote:also this is now showing stock and STILL listed at 10$

SAMUEL ADAMS OCTOBERFEST
LCBO 207084 | 6x355 mL bottle
Price: $ 9.95

Annnnnnnnd that's over. $13.70 now.

Rats. Speaking of prices (and I usually try really hard not to complain about prices, especially for local brewers) the Barn Door Oktober Fest is $5.95 for 500 ml bottle. Holy crap! Still bought it but will probably limit the number I end up getting. The Sam Adams (until it went up) was basically half that on a per ml basis!

midlife crisis wrote:Speaking of prices (and I usually try really hard not to complain about prices, especially for local brewers) the Barn Door Oktober Fest is $5.95 for 500 ml bottle. Holy crap! Still bought it

I grabbed one with a number of things and didn't note the price, same boat here. Taste wise just decent.

Hofbraü from Munich is a nice deal.

midlife crisis wrote:Certainly a good number of Marzens to choose from right now, in no particular order: Sam Adams, HB, Beau's, Barn Door, Black Oak, Creemore, Mill Street, even I suppose Rickard's Lederhosen.

Anyone tried them all and care to rank them in order?

HB, Mill St, Sam Adams, Black Oak, Creemore, Beaus, Barn Door

Haven't had the Rickards

Oktoberfest is one of my favourite styles, I love we have so many options.