Oktoberfest Taste Test Held and Results are In!

Quite an interesting selection of Oktoberfest beers were available for the tasting, including a couple Germans and a whole lot of American beers. We performed the tasting and agreed on almost all of them, with Steve-o picking up some of the subtleties that I missed a little later in the tasting. Due to time limits (and inebriation) we skipped the Sam Adams and Leinenkugels, having already repeatedly tasted those, in addition to  Spaten, which we normally put at the top of the list anyway.

OUR CHOICES
The Americans:
1. Brooklyn Oktoberfest                                                                And the Germans:
2. Point Oktoberfest                                                                       1. Hofbrau Oktoberfest
3. Great Lakes Oktoberfest                                                            2. Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest
4. Leinenkugel's Oktoberfest                                                          3. Wolters Fest-Bier
5. Southern Tier Harvest
6. Sam Adams Oktoberfest
7. Summit Oktoberfest
8. Harpoon Oktoberfest
9. Central Waters Oktoberfest
10. Magic Hat Hex Ourtoberfest
11. New Glarus Staghorn
12. Shiner Oktoberfest
13. Widmer Brothers Oktoberfest




THE RESULTS:
In the end we decided to split apart the different styles, putting at the top of the German Oktoberfests:
1. Hacker Pschorr
2. Hofbrau
3. Wolters

For the Americans, our top 5 were:
1. Point
2. Great Lakes
3. Staghorn
4. Central Waters
5. Magic Hat.

We tasted them back and forth and tried to knock the Point off the top but we had to stick with it. The Staghorn was an old favorite but we were really impressed with the Magic Hat and the Great Lakes too. All in all it was a tough battle.



Lastly, at the bottom and never moving back up was the quite unpleasant and un-distinctive Harpoon. I mean, it looked nice and we were hopeful but we really didn't like it and it stayed at the bottom the whole time, even worse that the Widmer's,  believe it or not.
Also, the Southern Tier Harvest was not even an Okto, but a spicy ale. Quite tasty, there is no question, but I don't think I should have included it after all.