This weekend marked the final weekend of Oktoberfest in Munich. Oktoberfest is a 2-week-long fall celebration held every year in Bavaria that commemorates the marriage of two Bavarian nobles in 1810. The festivities involve a carnival, the traditional German food and beer. Oktoberfest is known for its liter steins of beer, double the size of the traditional pint. Six million liters are consumed over the fortnight in tents that can hold thousands of people. The tents become very social as people drink and enjoy traditional Bavarian music.The beer of choice at the festival is the Marzen, a strong, dark lager made in the spring. The beer is allowed to sit over the summer months to ferment and strengthen. It is tapped in the fall to provide a stronger and heavier beer to combat the cool weather. This extra strength coupled with the liter size also results in another phenomenon: People, specifically those not used to the large amount of alcohol, leave the festival tents and pass out on the fair lawns. These people are called Bierleichen (German for beer corpses).

Many of these Marzens are now available in the United States, mostly imported from abroad. Along with these, many American breweries make their own form of Marzen, most notably Sam Adams right here in New England. These lagers are malty, strong and heavy in mouthfeel. For this article I tried two Marzens: Weihenstephaner Festbier and Hoffbrau Marzen.

Weihenstephaner Festbier

Weihenstephaner is the oldest continuously operating brewery in the world. Founded in 1040 by Benedictine monks, the brewery is now owned by the government of the German province of Bavaria.

Their festbier was a pale, straw-colored yellow. The pour left a medium-sized perfect white head with adequate carbonation flowing from top to bottom.

Upon smelling the beer, its sweet maltiness was hindered by a medicinal hop flavor. Slight skunking (hop spoilage) may have occurred due to the long journey from Germany to America.

Upon tasting the beer, a slight, sweet maltiness can be tasted, backed up by more of the same slightly spoiled hops. Unfortunately, the flavors did not sing out like a beer that follows the reinheitsgebot (beer purity laws) should have. The flavors are weakened by the beer's watery quality. This is interesting because the mouthfeel is quite thick, and therefore one would think the beer would have a lot of flavor. The carbonation makes this beer very refreshing.

Unfortunately, the lack of flavor does this beer in. While it is a very refreshing beer, it doesn't make the mark. The hops are slightly off, and the overall flavor is just weak. I give this beer a five out of 10.

Hoffbrau Marzen

Hoffbrau is another Bavarian government-owned brewery. I had this beer on tap at a Massachusetts state fair in a German restaurant beer garden. It poured a slightly darker color than the Weihenstephaner with slight carbonation. The beer smelled of sweet, caramel maltiness mixed with herbal hoppiness. Unlike the Weilhenstephaner, the hops seemed much fresher.

Tasting this beer, I got more of the same. A very nice rich maltiness took over most of the beer, backed up by a hoppy bitterness. A crispness cut in and gave the beer a very refreshing finish. This beer was quite thick and had a lot of body to it. The carbonation was frothy and light on the tongue.

Overall, this beer was much better than the Weihenstephaner; it had much more flavor and tasted fresher. It was nice and relaxing as I took a lunch break at the fairgrounds. I give this beer an eight out of 10.

That's it for this week. I hope you find time for some beer as the school work gets more and more intense. As they would say in Germany, "Prost!" (Cheers!).