Beer Man: Shiner Oktoberfest a treat for the season

Todd Haefer | The (Appleton, Wis.) Post-Crescent

Beer Man is a weekly profile of beers from across the country and around the world.

This week: Shiner Oktoberfest

Spoetzl Brewery, Shiner, Texas

www.shiner.com

It's that time of year when numerous breweries release seasonal Oktoberfest beers, and it is a good time to examine what makes the style different.

Another term for the style is marzen, and the beers are usually marked by having extra Vienna or Munich malts, which taste different from the caramel or light-colored barley malts used for lagers.

What I look for in an Oktoberfest beer is the taste of the specialty malts. If the malt flavor is not there, there is no point in even calling it an Oktoberfest beer. Many breweries make the mistake — or maybe take the lazy way out — of merely adding a little extra caramel malt to create an amber color. Sorry, that doesn't cut it.

I recently went on an Oktoberfest binge and tried out examples from Shiner, Capital Brewery and Weihenstephaner. All three shared a nice orange-amber hue, fluffy white heads and medium carbonation.

The entry from Capital was strong. Notably, a few months ago the brewery was named the top brewery in the U.S. Open Beer Championship. A hint of sweet malt poked through, but not much specialty malt flavor. It finished dry and the hops were somewhat citrusy. Not too bad.

Weihenstephaner was very different from any of the other entries, with a pronounced sulphuric aroma that is commonly found in German lagers. It also had the quality of having the sweetest malt, but not how you might think. The sweetness comes a couple of seconds after sipping, zaps the tastebuds, then is replaced by a mellow bitterness. It's a nice effect that I've never come across in an American example.

Then there was Shiner Oktoberfest, which turned out to be my favorite of the bunch. The 5.7% ABV beer had the most pronounced specialty malt flavor, the best hop aroma and flavor and a very clean finish and aftertaste. The malt flavor was accented by the lager having the lowest hop bitterness of the bunch. Shiner's Beer Finder is at www.shiner.com. Click on Find Shiner Beer.

Many beers are available only regionally. Check the brewer's website, which often contains information on product availability. Contact Todd Haefer at beerman@postcrescent.com. To read previous Beer Man columns Click here.