Were it not cancelled for the second year in a row, today would have been the first official day of Oktoberfest in Munich, so this week’s article for The Bulletin covered the two appropriate beer styles for the event and pointed readers at some local versions.

Paulaner Oktoberfest Bier is the defacto standard for the “festbier” style served in Munich since the 1990s, so I was able to slip in a note about it (along with the photo).

In America, Märzen is still synonymous with Oktoberfest beer, so much so that many of the German breweries brew the style to export to the U.S. specifically under this label.

The hallmark of the style is a malt-forward, rich and bready character, with a mild hop presence and a clean, dry finish. The malts are complex and luscious, but shouldn’t be sweet or cloying, nor should there be any caramel or roasted flavors to the beer.

Festbier also emphasizes the malty flavors but is lighter in color and body, with more emphasis on hops. You’ll get more bread dough character from the malts, similar to a Helles lager such as GoodLife Brewing Company’s year-round Bavarian Lager, with a bit more body and hop spicing.

A late addition to the local roundup that I wasn’t able to include in the article is from Cascade Lakes Brewing, whose Oktoberfestbier is 5.6% ABV with 22 IBUs. Otherwise, read the article for the roundup and some style notes.