When do you drink Oktoberfest beer? Anytime is fine with me, really. The big German Munich brewers Spaten and Paulaner now offer their Marzenbier year-round actually. Marzenbier has March in the name (Marz), but that’s the month one usually brewed it, not the month one usually drank it. It became well known as Oktoberfest beer, although in Germany Oktoberfest ends in October but is mostly celebrated in September.

So, when do you drink Oktoberfest beer? Here in the USA, it starts showing up on store shelves in late August, and most of the American craft brewers start releasing examples of the style from then until the end of October. Today many beer enthusiasts say you should drink Oktoberfest beer in September to middle October, and then switch to pumpkin beers. For my part, I end up drinking Ofest until Thanksgiving side by side with Pumpkin beers, which I usually drink until January.

Now that we have that straightened out, let’s talk about Westbrook Marzen, an excellent example of the style from this Mount Pleasant, South Carolina brewer. Here’s what they say about their version from the bottle label:

This is an Octoberfest-style amber lager brewed with Munich and Caramunich malts and hopped with German Noble hop varieties. The Bavarian lager yeast leaves a clean, malt focused beer perfect for drinking by the liter outside in the cool fall weather.

Note that the website says that Perle hops are used and also cites Vienna malt as an ingredient. Alcohol content is 6% by volume and IBU count is 25. I paid $5.99 for a 22-ounce bomber bottle at Total Wine.

Westbrook Marzen pours to a bright orange color with a light and short lived creamy head and a very promising toasty nutty malt nose. Taking a sip, the beer is full in body and mouthfeel with loads of toasty nutty malt oomph I want in this style. A hint of caramel comes through too, and the whole affair is finished with an herbal grassy hop aroma and balancing bitterness. Excellent example of a Marzen for me, full of caramel, toffee and toasty nutty goodness.

At the price, you just can’t go wrong. Whenever you drink it.



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