Ticket Giveaway - Brew Bracket Oktoberfest - CLOSED

Thank you for entering, this contest is now closed.  Congratulations to the winner, @bibliobuff!  Enjoy!

Our friends at Brew Bracket have been so kind as to offer two tickets to their event coming up at Tomlinson Tap Room on Saturday, September 28th.  

taste. vote. repeat.

Our Fall event features Oktoberfest style beers from 8 incredible local Indiana breweries.

The event will be held at Tomlinson Tap Room, where we'll bring the beer to you at your table. Included in the ticket are all 7 rounds of side by side tastings, samples from a couple home brewers showcasing their take on the style, entry into an incredible door prize raffle, and a half pint of your choice at the end of the event.

Participating brewers include Upland, Flat 12, Bier, Twisted Crew, RAM, Granite City, Iechyd Da, and #BBPales winner Thr3e Wisemen.

A portion of ticket sales will be donated directly to King Park Area Development Corporation (www.kpadc.org)

This is a 21+ event only. ID is required at the door. Designated driver tickets include free soda and water at the event. Additional food will be available for purchase through City Market vendors. Come join us for some great times with an intimate beer crowd tasting some limited edition Oktoberfest style beers.

Doors open at 5:45PM, first round of tasting begins at 6PM. For any more details about our event please visit www.brewbracket.com

We have two (2) tickets to give away to this event. To enter, please leave a comment below in which you tell us what you would pair with a liter of Oktoberfest.

We'll chose our favorite comment on Thursday (9/26/13) at 10 a.m. EST, and the winner gets the tickets. MAKE SURE YOU LEAVE US A METHOD TO CONTACT YOU - an email address or a twitter handle is just fine. You'll be responsible for checking back to see if you've won, and we can figure the rest out after that.

LEGAL STUFF
Creative entries are particularly appreciated.
We reserve the right to not give you tickets if we think you're shady.
We reserve the right to change all the rules and not award the prize if we don't like how things go.
Don't be a pain in the ass.
By participating, entrants agree to be bound by these Official Rules and the decisions of HoosierBeerGeek.com, which shall be final and binding with regard to all matters relating to the contest.
END OF LEGAL STUFF.

Hoosier Beer Geek's 2010 Oktoberfest Challenge

As the temperatures begin to drop (well, that hasn't quite happened yet...) and the leaves begin to turn, we focus our attention on the coming of fall and those tasty fall beers. Oktoberfest is a style that a lot of breweries put their own spin on - our quest to sample them all left us with bottles from 28 different breweries.

As a drinker, the choices can be overwhelming, but we're here to help. That's why we've taken in on ourselves to make our way through all 28 and chose our Oktoberfest Challenge Champion.

Scoring Explained - Four Knights (Gina, Jason, Mike and Knight Emeritus Kelly) voted on the beers in the first ten rounds. The top beer was given 3 points, 2 for second, 1 for last. The beer with the most total points was promoted to the second round.

FIRST ROUND
GROUP 1
A. Beck's Oktoberfest - 11 points
B. Hofbrau Oktoberfest - 9 points
C. Weihenstephaner Festbier - 4 points

GROUP 2
A. Berghoff Oktoberfest - 6 points
B. Leinenkugel's Oktoberfest - 9 points
C. Saranac Oktoberfest - 8 points

GROUP 3
A. Thirsty Dog Barktoberfest - 5 points
B. Sprecher Oktoberfest - 11 points
C. Lakefront Oktoberfest - 8 points



GROUP 4
A. Harpoon Oktoberfest - 7 points
B. Three Floyds Munsterfest - 12 points
C. Dundee Oktoberfest - 5 points

GROUP 5
A. Atwater Bloktoberfest - 10 points
B. Shiner Oktoberfest - 7 points
C. Schlafly Oktoberfest - 7 points


GROUP 6
A. Coney Island Freaktoberfest - 8 points
B. Brooklyn Oktoberfest - 8 points
C. Stegmaier Oktoberfest - 8 points
Freaktoberfest was thrown out because it obviously didn't fit style, both the Brooklyn and Stegmaier beers were promoted to the next round.

GROUP 7
A. Point Oktoberfest - 10 points
B. Rogue Maierfest - 6 points
C. Clipper City Marz Hon - 7 points


GROUP 8
A. Left Hand Oktoberfest - 8 points
B. Two Brothers Atom Smasher - 12 points
C. Samuel Adams Oktoberfest - 4 points

GROUP 9
A. Bell's Oktoberfest - 6 points
B. Upland Oktoberfest - 6 points
Both beers advance.

GROUP 10
A. Paulaner Oktoberfest - 8 points
B. Spaten Oktoberfest - 4 points


SECOND ROUND
ROUND 2 GROUP 1
Kelly removed herself from the evening's activities for the second round.

A. Beck's Oktoberfest - 6 points
B. Stegmaier Oktoberfest - 3 points
C. Paulaner Oktoberfest - 9 points

ROUND 2 GROUP 2
A. Three Floyd's Munsterfest - 7 points
B. Point Oktoberfest - 6 points
C. Upland Oktoberfest - 5 points

ROUND 2 GROUP 3
A. Atwater Bloktoberfest - 8 points
B. Leinenkugel's Oktoberfest - 3 points
C. Sprecher Oktoberfest - 7 points

ROUND 2 GROUP 4
A. Bell's Oktoberfest - 4 points
B. Brooklyn Oktoberfest - 6 points
C. Two Brothers Atom Smasher - 8 points


FINAL ROUND
A. Paulaner Oktoberfest - 9 points
B. Three Floyd's Munsterfest - 8 points
C. Atwater Bloktoberfest - 5 points
D. Two Brothers Atom Smasher - 8 points

HOOSIER BEER GEEK'S
2010 OKTOBERFEST CHALLENGE CHAMPION
PAULANER OKTOBERFEST

What's to be learned in drinking 28 (well, 27) beers of the same style? A few things, actually.

First off, we've learned that drinking 28 examples of anything might be a bigger mission than it looks like from the outside. Back in 2008 when we did our Pumpkin Beer Challenge we were only dealing with 11 varieties, and it seemed like a manageable task. But when more than doubling that number we quickly found out that working our way through was going to take most of the evening - we started sampling (about one ounce at a time) at around 7pm and didn't finish up until around midnight. (That's roughly 44 oz. over 5 hours if you're keeping track.)

Secondly we learned that just because a beer is listed as a style doesn't necessarily mean it's going to take like all the others. Atwater's Bloktoberfest tasted more like an Old Ale than an Oktoberfest to me, and Berghoff's Oktoberfest is just plain bad - I'm no beer judge but it was pretty much impossible to miss the buttery diacetyl flavor coming through. Knowing which beers were in the lineup, and despite drinking all the beers blind, I immediately asked if our sample was Berghoff - we'd had the beer before (I have no idea why my score was that high, but we don't edit old reviews).

Lastly we learned that when all else fails, style guidelines (or at least expectation of a style) have to be your guide. Three of our final four beers had distinctly different flavors, but my top choice (Three Floyd's Munsterfest) was highly reminicent of the Sun King Oktoberfest we recently reviewed). I couldn't in good faith vote Blocktoberfest the winner because it just didn't fit the style - no one buys an Oktoberfest in hopes of drinking an Old Ale. And Paulaner was exactly what it was supposed to be - a true German Oktoberfest. It's a fitting winner of this challenge.

For my money I'd still go with the Three Floyd's Munsterfest though - it comes in a bomber instead of a six pack, and after making my way through 28 Oktoberfests, I know that it'd be a long time before I got through six more.


Of everyone at Hoosier Beer Geek, I suspect I'm the one most excited when Oktoberfest beers come out. Given that at least half of my DNA speaks with German accent, it is not surprise that I love events that involve leather pants, big sausages, polka, and beer. I never would have thought that I would tire of drinking Oktoberfest beers.

This 28 beer tasting session proved me wrong. I don't know how beer judges do it. Normally, when we roundtable a beer, I'm looking for what's right with it. When tasting 28 beers from the same style, you end up looking for what is wrong. That takes the fun out of beer drinking.

When it was all said and done with, my favorite beer of the night came straight from Germany: Pauliner. But I would happily drink any of the other final four beers: Blocktoberfest, Munsterfest, and Atom Smasher. I also concur with Mike at Blocktoberfest is not true to style. I don't know if I'd call it an Old Ale, but I noted "It tastes like fall fruit harvest to me."

Other Oktoberfest beers that I made note of during the blind tasting:

-The third group of beers were hard to choose between for me. They included Thirsty Dog's Barktoberfest, Sprecher, and Lakefront. Of the three, Sprecher just edged out the other two.

-I should have known better when I was snatching up any beer that remotely sounded like an Oktoberfest beer that Coney Island's Freaktoberfest would not be to style. I laughed out loud at the crazy color that it had.

-They didn't advance, but I did enjoy the carmelly goodness of Clipper City's Marz Hon and the pilsner-esque quality of Rogue's Maierfest.

-I've tweeted about my enjoyment of Sam Adams' Octoberfest. It met up with Left Hand and Two Brothers Atom Smasher. I have noted that I enjoyed all three in this group, that I just enjoyed Sam Adams a little bit less. And I had a hard time deciding between Left Hand and Atom Smasher.

-In a head to head group, Bell's and Upland evenly split the votes amongst the four of us (thanks Kelly for joining us!).

-While Beck's was able to move into the second round with it's green bottled beer, Spaten was not because it had skunked. Badly. Beware the green bottles.


For me, the Oktoberfest challenge was met with some highs and lows. The bad news is highs weren't super high, but the good news is that the lows weren't super low either. For some rounds, distinguishing different aromas and flavors from the samples was easier. For others, I wondered if Jason was messing with us and pouring the same beer in each glass.

Out of the gate, the Hofbrau Oktoberfest was a top choice and Munsterfest lingered on my brain long after it was poured in group 4. The Brooklyn Oktoberfest scored very low from me in early rounds, but later it strongly reminded me of black tea in an old musty kitchen (in a good way). Some had a lot of fruity esters (Left Hand, Sam Adams), some tasted soapy (Schlafly, Shiner), and unfortunately some were skunked (Spaten).

The most exciting of the 28 beers was the Blocktoberfest from Atwater Block. One sip and I immediately wrote "woah, sour" in my notes. I think it was more dark fruit than sour, but it had a tart bite similar to some sours. It was a very different take on the style and to me, that was a good thing. Other favorites for me were Stevens Point Oktoberfest which consistently scored well in my rankings, as well as Sprecher's version. In our last bracket, I scored the final four from low to high as follows: Blocktoberfest, Munsterfest, Paulaner, and Atom Smasher.

In the end, I have a greater appreciation for this style and also for beer judges that do this type of thing on a regular basis. Blind tasting 28 beers and trying to dissect them, though fun, is not an easy task. And we weren't necessarily concerned about how they fit to the proper style parameters. I do find it interesting that there were some parallels in BJCP commercial examples and the ones we voted through. I think the easiest explanation is that it comes down to the fact that a good beer is a good beer.

Believe it or not, at the end of the evening we poured all the leftovers into a pitcher together and drank it.

German-American Klub Oktoberfest

A variety of immigrant groups have called Indianapolis and Indiana home. Indianapolis saw a large number of Irish immigrants. Polish immigrants made their way to the Calumet region.

But you could argue that one of the most widespread heritages to reach Indiana would be the German heritage. From north to south and everywhere in between, German immigrants have left a lasting impression on Indiana. It is so great that IUPUI is home to the Max Kade German-American Center, the largest single repository for German heritage, studies, and collections in the state.

And one only has to look at the name of the breweries in Indiana’s history to see the impact Germans left on Hoosier brewing history. (See Indiana Beer) So it isn’t a surprise that Oktoberfest is a popular celebration all across Indiana; and that the largest and most popular Oktoberfest celebrations are organized by various German-American organizations.


Previously, I had written about the Oktoberfest celebration at the Liederkranz. They will, by the way, have their Oktoberfest on Saturday, October 2nd. But the largest Oktoberfest in Indianapolis is the one hosted by the German-American Klub at German Park at 8600 South Meridian Street in Indianapolis.

German Park was purchased in 1934 by the Federation of German Societies, which is run by a collection of member organizations, including German-American Klub (Edelweiss Restaurant is located within this Klub), German-American Klub Ladies Auxiliary, Greenhouse Growers Association, Heimath's Unterstutzungs Verein, Indianapolis Mannechor, Indianapolis Gardeners Benefit Society, Indianapolis Liederkranz, Indianapolis Liederkranz Ladies Society, The Indianapolis Saenger-Chor, Indianapolis Soccer Club, Indianapolis Vegetable Growers Association, Preussen Unterstutzungs Verein, and the South Side Turners. Many of the organizations hold public and private events on the grounds.


The 36th Annual GAK Oktoberfest was held this previous weekend. This year, the event was only four days long, though in the past it has been held over multiple weekends. In 2008 and 2009, Oktoberfest was relocated to the Indiana State Fairgrounds. But 2010 marked the first year of Oktoberfest’s return to German Park.


The biggest challenge that I saw for Oktoberfest was parking. While German Park did have parking available, on this particularly busy night, the lot was full. Thankfully, the church next door was providing parking for a donation. Admission to Oktoberfest was $5 per person, though children 12 and under received free admission. Yes, this is a family event.

Inside the festival, there were a variety of activities. There were two stages. The smaller stage had mostly rock-n-roll coverbands. The larger stage in the main pavilion alternated between two bands that did polka music and cover tunes in polka style (think polka version of “Margaritaville”). In the main pavilion, there were a lot of people dancing. Many were in traditional German fashion. And many knew how to do traditional German dances. During one break between sets, German folk dancing demonstrations and lessons were given.


There was also a children's area with inflatable bounce houses and pony rides. The area was $6 for all you could bounce. My four year old enjoyed this area with great frequency. Worth every penny.


There were several craft and merchandise vendors with a variety of regular festival fare as well as a good mix of German items, including a booth that sold nothing but authentic German beer steins. I think one stein that was for sale could hold a 1/6th barrel.

There was plenty of food as well. The majority of the food was of the German variety, as it should be. Claus’ German Meat Market had bratwurst, frickadellen, pork chops, sauerbraten, and other grilled goodies.


And, of course, there was beer. Multiple beer stands sold draft beer in 16 ounce cups or in boots (or steins, depending on the stand). The boots and steins could be refilled at a cheaper price. Being a good Oktoberfest, they had German beer. Warsteiner had three varieties available: Pilsner, Dunkel, and Oktoberfest. Anybody who had an interest in German and/or beer culture selected these beers.


Also available: Coors Light, Blue Moon, and Leinenkugel Oktoberfest. I saw a lot of Coors Light sold. I’m assuming those drinkers spent most of their time listening to the cover bands and saying things like, “Woo hoo! I’m drunk!” Certainly, I wish the domestic beers they offered were local beers or other German beers.


Most people enjoyed their food and beer at one of the many picnic tables that were set up in rows along the main pavilion. And that, in a nutshell, was Oktoberfest: beer, food, music, friends, and family. And for me, that was a lot of fun.

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