Beer Brawl™ 27 – Oktoberfest Part 2 – Blind Tasting
Our first ever blind Beer Brawl. We decided to test as many Oktoberfest beers as we could easily get our hands on without going over board. We ended up with 12 that we wanted to try and decided it would be fun to see what Fest beer we truly liked the best without any influence from the brand name. Since there were 12 beers we decide to split it up into two batches. We knew what was in each 6 block trial, but we didn’t know the order they would be served and the results we quite stunning!
With me on this podcast was Kevin Malavarca from the Liquor Outlet in Boonton NJ and Jay Phillips from Samuel Adams. The only prerequisite I have for the Beer Brawl™ is a love of beer. You don’t need to know anything about the beers we are drinking only a willingness to try them and voice an opinion.
Peter, Kevin, Jay (Left-Right)
As usual we have a podcast of The Beer Brawl™ ready for download:
Listen to the Podcast (54:47)
or download it from iTunes
On Tap:
- Ayinger Oktoberfest
- Hofbrau Oktoberfest
- Erdinger Oktoberfest
- Weihenstephaner Oktoberfest
- Otter Creek Oktoberfest Ale
- Victory Festbier
Unlike Oktoberfest part 1, we actually were able to figure out most of the beers. This second grouping were more on the unique side, including 2 ales making our job a bit easier. These beers ranged from traditional Oktoberfest Beer to Oktober-Weisse. Weisse beer is not hard to pick out from a crowd of lagers
Download the podcast and listen to all the details about how these Oktoberfest Beers stacked up against each other. But if you don’t have time to listen, here are how we rated them:
| PETER | KEVIN | JAY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Victory | 77 | 82 | 81 |
| Ayinger | 89 | 90 | 88 |
| Otter Creek | 85 | 90 | 81 |
| Erdinger | 83 | 90 | 81 |
| Hofbrau | 70 | 84 | 82 |
| Weihenstephaner | 87 | 89 | 85 |
I’m working on future Beer Brawls™, we have a New Glarus Special, Belgian Quads, and Trappist Ales Beer Brawls™ coming up. We’d love to hear your suggestions!
I keep seeing the Ayinger @ Total Wine in singles, I think I’ll grab one to see what’s up with it.
too bad to see Victory fare so poorly. I’m a big fan of just about everything they make.
I still have to scoop up some Oktoberfest beers. Looks like I now know where to start.
@Jim – I had high hopes for Victory too, it’s unfortunate. They are a great brewery with a big line up of exceptional beer, especially the wild devil and the frost king.
How about, for Cinco De Mayo, a “Mexican Standoff” with a head-to-head of the best from south of the border?