Style Sheet for… American Style Märzen/Oktoberfest
Greetings,
“In 1810 the first Oktoberfest was held in the city’s “village green” to celebrate the wedding of Prince Luitpold of Bavaria and his bride the Bavarian Queen Theresia. It was such a fun wedding that the citizens of Munich have celebrated it every year since (with only two or three years when political and military events overshadowed the celebration). “
“Oktoberfest, the beer, was introduced until 1872 when the Spaten brewery began offering what they called Ur-Marzen the “original” Marzen. The beer grew out of collaboration between Spaten’s Gabriel Sedlmayr and Anton Dreher of Vienna, hence the term Vienna beer.”
“The story begins in 1841, when Viennese brewer Anton Dreher began brewing a new beer. It had a reddish, copper color and a sweet malt character. It was an immediate success. Dreyer’s Vienna beer did not go unnoticed by Gabriel Sedlmayr at the Spaten brewery in Munich. He was soon introduced his own version, a beer called Marzen (“March beer”). It was an amber-red, malty, medium alcohol content, crystal clear, and bottom fermented with lager yeast. The result of this fermentation is a style of beer with a richer malt aroma than flavor, and slightly more hop flavor than aroma.”
“Traditionally it is brewed in March and stored in a cold environment (Lagered) until late September when Oktoberfest actually begins.”
“According to the Association of Brewers’ 2004 Beer Style Guidelines, “The American style of this classic German beer is distinguished by a comparatively greater degree of hop character. Oktoberfests can range from golden to reddish brown. Malt character should be light-toasted rather than strongly caramel (though a low level of light caramel character is acceptable). Bread or biscuit like malt character is acceptable in aroma and flavor. Sweet maltiness should dominate over a clean, hop bitterness. The bitterness should not be aggressive or harsh. Hop aroma and flavor should be notable but at low to medium levels.”
“Alcohol content should range between 5.3-5.9% by volume.”
Cheers!
Peter LaFrance
( http://www.beerbasics.com/ )
The above is one of my entries to The Oxford University Companion to American Food & Drink:
http://www.amazon.com/Oxford-Companion-American-Food-Drink/dp/0195307968/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201787712&sr=1-1
