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Ya, Paulaner or Hacker-Pschorr or Späten ist gut!
Although many people are not aware of this, central Texas has a deep German heritage, and is a great place for celebrating Oktoberfest (Maifest too!), with many great German beers on tap.
Fredericksburg, west of Austin, is home to several year round beer halls which always feature fine German beers on draft, but the stops get pulled out for Oktoberfest (October 5 - 7, 2012) and in addition to about 50 domestic brews, including the very excellent St Arnold's Oktoberfest, and of course Shiner Oktoberfest, they will be serving the following:
Also, New Braunfels, south of Austin, was once the center of what was intended to be a German colony, and its heritage is on full display with it's annual Wurstfest, first weekend in November, complete with a Munich-style beer hall, fine German beers on tap, and lots of dirndls and lederhosen and polka dancing. Wurstfest | New Braunfels, Texas
We just bought some "pumpkin' beer at the store, Blue Moon, Oktoberfest beer. I plan on doing brats next weekend, beer, German potato salad, and an apple danish.
Märzen is the original style, yes. Under the 1539 Bavarian brewing law, beer could not be brewed between April 23 and September 29, to prevent the spoilage that could occur in hot weather in those days before refrigeration. A Marzen (March Beer) was brewed in the spring, with enough alcohol or hops (or both!) and extra sugar (to support a slow secondary fermentation over the summer) to make it through until the fall production could resume. So the typical Marzen has over 6% alcohol and high sugar.
Oktoberfest was started nearly 300 years later, in Munich, originally as part of a fall harvest agricultural festival. The beer festival survives.
Authentic Oktoberfestbiers must be brewed within the Munich city limits by one of the following 6 brewers: Spaten, Löwenbräu, Augustiner-Bräu, Hofbräu-München, Paulaner and Hacker-Pschorr. The original Marzen style dark lager served at Oktoberfest in Munich has changed over the years to paler colored varieties varying from straw-yellow in color to amber.
American Oktoberfest beers, unconfined by Bavarian brewing laws, tend to find a wider expression, but usually stay generally in the darker colored and higher alcohol end of the beer spectrum.
Pumpkin, however, does NOT belong in an Oktoberfestbier. If you want to scare somebody at Halloween, sure, give them a pumpkin beer, but please, not at a sacred event like Oktoberfest.
Okay, not too impressed with Blue Moon Pumpkin Ale. I choked down a bottle last night.
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