By Greig McGill
It’s that time of year when we all wish we were in Munich, and so it seemed like a good time to talk about the most well-known festival in the world, the beer styles it has spawned, and how we might go about brewing our own tasty versions!
The Whatfest?
Oktoberfest has a long and storied history, and while being a bucket list item for many a brewer and beer lover, it didn’t actually start off with any beer at all! It was, in fact, a celebration of the engagement of the Crown Prince Ludwig Karl August von Pfalz-Birkenfeld-Zweibrücken (later King Ludwig I to his mates) to the equally complicatedly named Therese Charlotte Luise of Saxony-Hildburghausen. Fun fact, ol’ Ludwig nicked her from Napoleon’s “intended brides” list. Worked out well for beer lovers, that one. Sorry Napoleon!
The wedding itself was a huge deal, as Bavaria had only been a kingdom for four years at the time, and used the occasion to show off a bit! The celebration was to be held on a large meadow which was renamed Therese’s Meadow (Theresienwiese - the locals these days just call it d’Wiesn). The five day event began with folk music, dancing, an opera, a formal ball, and a demonstration of the musical talent of Bavaria. It concluded with a pretty intense horse race featuring 30 horses running 3.4 kilometres, and finally a proud Bavarian youth choir sang to the victorious - sadly, the winner was a bloody politician - the Minister of State, in fact. Fixed? We’ll never know!
Such a good time was had by all that Oktoberfest, as it became known, was repeated annually, growing in scope and magnitude each time, along with cancellations for the odd minor thing like… the Napoleonic Wars. Maybe ol’ shorty was a bit grumpy about Therese after all? Anyway, it wasn’t until 1818 where the first booths appeared selling food and drink, and this was the first time that beer became a part of Oktoberfest, outside of the Royal entourage, which had always managed to snaffle some good beer and wine for “tasting” while they enjoyed the goings-on from their private tent.
It wasn’t until the very late 1880s that beer began to become the main event of the Oktoberfest, although it had unofficially begun to creep in as a parade of brewers was featured, and those little booths selling beer and food were certainly doing a roaring trade! The bierhalle tents didn’t make an official appearance until the early 20th century, first appearing on a programme in 1910, but there are plenty of accounts of those booths (Buden) becoming… erm… quite large! Beer people do love to indulge. Who knew?
The final changes leading to what we now see as Oktoberfest began at the end of the 19th Century, when it was decided to move the festival to September due to better weather conditions, though it would still conclude on the first Sunday in October. Also, the modern event is as much an agricultural and trade show as a beer festival, and it also incorporates fairground rides and other entertainments - you might find a tent for firing crossbows or even a petting zoo! All the main tents have bands, though in more recent years they have been limited to “quiet music” before 6pm, with the more raucous music happening after that. Finally, at some point in the 20th Century (I’ve been unable to find a reliable citation for a starting year but “sometime around 1950”), an informal protocol around beer was made a rule - only beer brewed by breweries within the Munich city limits would be served - this meant all beer was now provided by “the big six” - Augustiner-Bräu, Hacker-Pschorr-Bräu, Löwenbräu, Paulaner, Spatenbräu and Staatliches Hofbräu-München.
The Beer
Historically, Oktoberfest beer was fairly well defined. It was synonymous with Märzen, a darker, richer, malt-forward lager of around 6% abv, with a clean and herbal hop bitterness and flavour. Märzen beer was named for the month of March when it was brewed. This was due to a Bavarian ordinance allowing no beer to be brewed after April 23rd (St. George’s day) for fear of warmer temperatures spoiling the beer and thus ruining the reputation of Bavarian beer. As a result, the beer was brewed with higher malt content and a corresponding increase in bittering hops to balance. This would lead to a stronger and darker beer, able to survive the warmer weather. These beers were often lagered (from the German “Lagern” - to store. Lager literally means a storehouse) in cool cellars filled with ice and straw until the autumn. This handily coincided with Oktoberfest, so this was the dominant (though not the only) beer served there.
This persisted right up until the 1970s, when changing consumer tastes saw the introduction of a lighter, more “typical lager-like” Festbier. Festbier was paler, and lighter in malt flavour and hop bitterness, but still packed a wallop when drinking by the litre at around 6% abv. These days, while traditional Märzen-style Oktoberfest beer can be ordered, calling for “ein Maß” will likely get you a litre of foaming golden Festbier. There are worse things in life!
The Brew
If, like me writing this, you’re now feeling pretty thirsty and could do with a foaming litre of Märzen or Festbier, here’s what you’ll need to consider to brew one.
Märzen
The key to a great Märzen is the fine balance between a full, rich flavour and extreme drinkability. While not quite as slip-down-the-neck-able as its paler counterpart, Märzen is still a beer designed to be consumed in large amounts at festive gatherings, and as such, that drinkability aspect is absolutely key. If you finish your beer and feel disappointed that you’ve not captured the perfect flavour, but glasses of it seem to just vanish? Well, you’ve got the hardest part correct!
For a malt bill, most Märzen style beers use a mixture of Pilsner, Vienna, and / or Munich malts. Some will not feature Pilsner malt at all, and some are 100% Munich malt. While many debate the effectiveness of a decoction mash, and I was a doubter myself, I’ve come around to recognising that it’s a definite part of these beers. It adds a (sorry for the non-German) je ne sais quoi which can be approached but never quite captured by the use of melanoiden or caramel malts. Commercially, I can’t do a decoction mash, so if I was brewing one, I’d use a little caramunich malt - no more than 5% - just to add a touch more sweetness and toffee that the boiled decoction brings. Suffice it to say that a patriotic Munich native would likely attempt to use 100% Munich malt! This is not necessarily a bad idea, but without decoction mashing and creative hop usage, it could prove a little one dimensional. It’s a great way to showcase different maltsters Munich malts though. For me, I’d go with a 50/50 split of Vienna and Munich malts, splitting the Munich between paler type 1 and darker type 2. I’d add the aforementioned 5% of CaraMunich (dark) also for richness and colour. I’d target an OG of 1.058 to 1.060 and a FG of 1.012 to 1.014 for around 5.8% - 6%abv.
Hops should be relatively simple, and quite traditional. The classic “single hop” for bittering and aroma would be Hallertau Mittelfrüh. I’d target 25 - 30 IBU for bittering and ensure a generous whirlpool charge for some of that classic noble herbal nose. Tettnanger would be a fine substitute. Dry-hopping ist verboten! (But could be very interesting, if non-traditional).
Any classic lager yeast will do, try to grab a German origin one, or a Munich one for maximum authenticity! Ferment using a typical lager profile, but don’t neglect a good VDK rest at the end of fermentation, and avoid crash-cooling, but rather slowly drop your beer to lagering temperature and let it have at least two weeks lagering near zero degrees C.
Festbier
Let’s be honest - it’s pretty much just a boozier Helles lager! Pale, not too bitter, and eminently quaffable.
For malts, just use a good Pilsner malt - I’d be going with Weyermann as a true Bavarian maltster - along with around 10-15% of lighter Munich. You want around 10 EBC / 5 SRM of colour. Target an OG of 1.056 (for some reason, they almost all are), and use a low temperature mash to really dry the beer out - that will give you maximum drinkability, if a bit more alcohol! I’d target a FG of 1.008 - 1.010.Again, the classic hops are the way to go, and again, you just want enough bitterness to balance (even less than a Märzen) and some nice herbal/floral aroma from a whirlpool addition. I’d aim for 20 - 25 IBU including another generous whirlpool addition of the same hops as the Märzen.
Follow the same fermentation strategy as your Märzen.
So there you have it - strike up the band, drag on your lederhosen or dirndl, fill your maß, and start bellowing out “Ein Prosit der Gemütlichkeit” at the top of your lungs! Happy Oktoberfest.