Sunday Night Suds - Brooklyn Brewery Oktoberfest

Tonight's Sunday Night Suds beer review looks at Brooklyn Brewery's Oktoberfest. As my good friend Charlie H says, there is no time like the fall for beer. Since its the first Sunday in October, I figured that I would follow his lead and review an Oktoberfest beer.

As explained by the sages at Beer Advocate:

Before refrigeration, it was nearly impossible to brew beer in the summer due to the hot weather and bacterial infections. Brewing ended with the coming of spring, and began again in the fall. Most were brewed in March (Märzen). These brews were kept in cold storage over the spring and summer months, or brewed at a higher gravity, so they’d keep. Märzenbier is full-bodied, rich, toasty, typically dark copper in color with a medium to high alcohol content. The common Munich Oktoberfest beer served at Wies'n (the location at which Munich celebrates its Oktoberfest) contains roughly 5.0-6.0% alcohol by volume, is dark/copper in color, has a mild hop profile and is typically labeled as a Bavarian Märzenbier in style.

Brooklyn Brewery's Oktoberfest is true to the definition of an Oktoberfest brew as it has the dark color copper (both in the beer and on the label). Additionally, the beer has a rich hoppiness without the bitterness of an IPA. I found that the one I had on shabbos went very well with chicken (and cholent). I am certain it would also hold up well when consumed with pot roast, turkey and other sukkos dishes.

Brooklyn Oktoberfest is under the Kosher Supervision of the Vaad of Detroit as are nearly all beers brewed by Brooklyn. For the experts' take on the Oktoberfest please click here
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/45/570.

As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.

Finally, on a cheerful note, I received an email from the Va'ad of Detroit in which they indicated that they give hashgacha on another beer (besides those brewed in the FX Matt plant shared by Saranac, Brooklyn and Pete's). The beer is called Shiner and is brewed in Shiner, Texas. It is not available in NY at the present, but I hope to bring some back from my sukkos trip and review them in later columns. Stay tuned.

If you have seen this post being carried on another site such as JBlog, please feel free to click here to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!