Left Hand Brewing Oktoberfest Märzen, $7.49 a six-pack
A tide of beer sweeps in with the arrival of Oktoberfest, the traditional German festival that has spread around the world.
One of the first to land on my desk is Left Hand Brewing’s Oktoberfest Märzen Lager.
Oktoberfest started in 1810 as a celebration of the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese, but Märzen didn’t become the festival’s official beer until 1872.
Because of a summertime brewing ban in Germany in the olden days, Märzen (“March” in German) was brewed in the spring, drunk into the fall.
Left Hand’s version of Märzen adheres to the traditional style, a rich copper color with malt sweetness predominant and a pleasingly dry finish. It’s a hefty 6.0 percent alcohol (by volume).
Side note: An estimated 6 million celebrants will consume 1.59 million gallons of beer at the world’s largest Oktoberfest, in Munich, in the last two weeks of September. |Dick Kreck
