Spaten Oktoberfest - Tasting Notes and Review of Spaten Oktoberfest

Spaten is the brewery that first introduced the Oktoberfest style of beer. It remains the standard for the style.

Pros

Cons

Spaten Oktoberfest is clear bronze in the glass with a medium, dense, white head. The aroma is sweet with hints of toasted malt and apple peal. The flavor is sweet though not cloying. The apple/malt quality lingers on the tongue after a nice lager snap. This is a full flavored beer with a nice, smooth mouthfeel.

I contacted Spaten to clear up a question I'd come across. I read that the beer actually served at the Oktoberfest celebration in Munich was not the same as that sold in bottles, which is the beer that I tasted here. Here is their reply:

In general Oktoberfest beers are brewed according to the Märzen style, the original wort has to be beween 13% and 14%. Until the early 80's only dark Oktoberfest beers have been sold at the Munich Oktoberfest.
The dark colour of the beer is a result of one of the main ingredients, dark roasted barley malt.
The trend in Germany in the early 80s for pale beers in general has lead to a change of the Oktoberfest beer served in Munich. The colour became pale, due to different barley malt.
Especially for the United States, however, still we are brewing the Spaten Oktoberfest beer according to the tradinional style. The full-bodied and sweeter taste finds more and more friends every year.
Spaten Oktoberfest now has become the leading imported Oktoberfest beer in the US.