The local Oktoberfest celebration was going on down the block this past weekend, so I had another chance to review an Oktoberfest beer that had been sent to me by the brewers’ PR rep for my comment. In the spirit of the season, I get to Lagunitas Brewing Co.’s One-Hitter 2016 series beer, Tuberfest.
Lagunitas says this is been their first Oktoberfest style beer since back in 1998. They refer to it as “a hopped up antiquious Achtuberfest lager.” The rest of the label makes reference to German warlords and the Irish slaves worked their potato plantations and made potato beer. But in fact the beer’s only connection to potatoes is its use of Pacific Northwestern Idaho #7 hops.
So let’s slide some sirloins on the grill and give it a taste.
My pour presents a deep amber body with a very stiff and persistent white head. There is a big amber malt smell to it, and the usual boatload of hops, definitely a Pacific Northwest with its citrusy and piny note, there’s also some Northern Brewer which gives it the rough hop smell and taste of a California common lager. There’s a full bodied crystal or Vienna malt presence that remains in conflict with the excess hops, as you would expect from a West Coast brewer. Despite that, and its 7.5% abv, it can go down pretty quickly.
As with the Surly Fest I sampled last weekend, this is another American beer that takes the basic concept of an Oktoberfest beer and runs wild with it. You can finish up your Oktoberfest celebratory evenings with this, but you’ll surely want to lay down a base of more traditional beers in the style to start and make this kind of the desert.
