Let’s get one thing straight before we get started: Widmer Brothers Okto Festival Ale is not a true Oktoberfest beer, at least not in the traditional Marzen beer sense. Widmer admits to as much on their label (it says “Oktoberfest style”) and their website:

Loosen your lederhosen. Our full-bodied OKTO Festival Ale is inspired by Bavarian Oktoberfest, and we pay fitting tribute with its distinctive malt flavors, mild floral character and crisp clean finish. Prost! To the land of the Prost!

See? It clearly states this is an ale inspired by more traditional Oktoberfest beers. And that’s OK; I’ve had lots of Oktoberfest style “ales” that I’ve enjoyed over the years. Otter Creek Oktoberfest Autumn Ale immediately comes to mind. Heck, even the Oktoberfest beer they serve at the real Oktoberfest in Germany is not so authentic anymore; it’s still a lager, but now a Helles lager instead of a Marzen.

Anyway, with all that out of the way, I prefer to call beers like Widmer Brothers Okto Festival Ale amber ales, which is what they really are. They’re brewed with the malt bill of a marzen lager and perhaps hopped in a similar fashion, but they are still ales, not lagers. Ales, of course, take less time to age and hence lead to faster turnaround time of your conditioning tanks in the brewery, which saves money and means I can make more beer.

Widmer Brothers Okto Festival Ale is a seasonal beer released in early August. It has an alcohol content of 5.3% alcohol by volume and 28 IBUS, both about right for the style they are approximating. The beer is brewed with carapils, caramelmunich, pale, and crystal malts as well as Willamette and Alchemy hops. It runs about $8.99 a six-pack here in Georgia.

Widmer Brothers Okto Festival Ale pours to a tawny copper color with a light creamy head formation and a delightful nutty malt nose. Upon a sip, the beer has a firm, clean and dry maltiness with the appropriate toasty nutty flavors layered on top a foundation of caramel malt. The finish is dried nicely with a hint of grassy hops, herbal in aroma and slightly bitter at the last. A very nice beer indeed, and one that I could easily drink in large quantities. It could easily pass for a true Oktoberfest beer had one not read the label.



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