Sierra Nevada 2024 Oktoberfest Collaboration with Gutmann Brewery

Review Date 8/17/2023  By John Staradumsky

  Style: Oktoberfest   Brewery: Sierra Nevada   Country: USA   State: California   $ Per OZ: $.17 (B)   ABV: 6%

It’s become a tradition. Every year in early August, I am shopping at my local Publix store and I see Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest in the cooler case. So of course I buy it, and it is usually the first Oktoberfest beer that I bring home. Such was again the case this year with Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest 2024, a collaboration with Germany’s Brauerei Gutmann.

It took a little effort, though. I saw it on a Sunday morning, and here in Georgia you cannot buy beer on Sunday before 12:30 PM. The Bible Thumpers don’t want you buying alcohol before church, apparently, because you can buy beer first thing in the morning any other day of the week. My constitutional rights were thus heavily trampled, but I cam back several hours later and bought a six-pack.

I first saw an Oktoberfest beer from Sierra Nevada in 2014. That’s not to say they hadn’t made such a beer before then, it’s just that if they did, I never saw it. The beer was only released as part of a fall sampler 12-pack, like a dummy, I never picked one up. I’m kicking myself for that, because I would have loved to have notes to compare it to the collaboration Oktoberfest that followed:

Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest 2015 with Brauhaus Riegele

Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest 2016 with Mahrs Brau

Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest 2017 with Brauhaus Miltenberger

Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest 2018 with Weihenstephan

Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest 2019 with Bitburger

Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest 2020

Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest 2021

Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest 2023 with Kehrwieder

Note well that there was no collaboration in 2020 or 2021 due to Covid. There was none in 2022 either, although Sierra Nevada did release an Oktoberfest that year, but I never saw it.

Sierra Nevada says:

Our authentic Oktoberfest is a collaboration with Brauerei Gutmann, an iconic German brewer that’s been family-owned since 1707. This classic Festbier is smooth and balanced with biscuity malt flavor and a clean finish. Prost!

Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest 2024 has an alcohol content of 6% by volume with 30 IBUs. I paid $11.99 for my six-pack at Publix, a fair price these days I think. My cans are stamped PKGD 062624 on the bottom, and I assume that happened at the Asheville, North Carolina brewery.

Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest 2024 pours to a pale golden color with a moderate head of creamy foam and a nose of fresh bready malt. Taking a sip, the beer is crisp and again fresh bready, this time with the crusts. There’s a hint of caramel present and at the last a balancing, but not really assertive, hop bitterness. There’s a hint of lemony citrus though that I find quite pleasant indeed.

Festbiers are not usually excessively bitter, but I would like more here all the same. I would definitely buy this again, and would love to see it on tap at my local Taco Mac. If I do, I will be back to tell you more.