How do you like the old timey speak? Nice eh? Another jump across the pond to look at Spaten Oktoberfest, and of course ramble a bit.
News
As Jim mentioned in passing last week, the Pittsburgh Brewing Company has been sold to an investors group and is now going to be called Iron City Brewing Company, for their namesake beer. Pittsburgh Brewing Company has been bankrupt for several years now and the sale is a welcome site for Pittsburgh. The brewery is currently making millions of dollars worth of renovations and are not shipping any beer, at least not to Chicago, for the meantime.
Spaten Oktoberfest
- Well I promised that we would get to it, Spaten Oktoberfestbier, from no other than Munich Germany. Truly the grandfather of all Oktoberfest beers, the website claims that this beer was first brewed in 1872 and is the first Oktoberfest beer.
- Spaten is not a young brewery it was first registered in 1397.
- Spaten was actually one of the first good beers Jim ever had. A good friend and listener Scott introduced me to Spaten several years ago and well it all kind of snowballed from there.
- This beer in particular weighs in at around 5.9% alcohol by volume and is a traditional Marzen Style lager.
- The color is a deep amber, with very little head but lots of carbonation. This is a really clear beer, as opposed to the hefeweisens and some of the ales that we have tried here. Again, this is due to the lagering and filtering process.
- The flavor is a light bready taste, with just the hint of bitterness. This beer really doesn’t have the depth of flavor that we have seen in the past, but it is still a good beer to introduce people too.
Next Week
Well, we originally planned to do Brooklyn Brewing Companies Oktoberfest beer, but I can’t find it, so instead we are moving away from our East Coast bias and we are going to Mendicino Brewing Companies Oktoberfest.
Your Next Beer 
Just caught this week’s show. I started to make this comment last week and didn’t for some reason, but how is that you guys aren’t able to find these beers? I’m in a tiny (albeit college) town out in western Virginia and I was easily able to get Spaten Oktoberfest in my local grocery store and Brooklyn Brewery Oktoberfest at the local beer and wine store. Aren’t you both in major metropolitan areas?
Anyway, I’m one of the people that left a review on itunes. This is one of the few podcasts that I actively look forward to each week. Keep up the good work!
First off, glad you enjoy the show! As for the distribution question, it actually is more dependent on a state level. Some breweries don’t send all of their beer, or smaller quantities of it, to different states. For instance, I can get New Belgium products here, which my guess is that you can’t get, but I can’t get Bells products, which I think you can. As for the Spaten, I really was just lazy and didn’t get a chance to get it until this last week 🙂 Thanks for listening!
agreed Jim is Lazy