Photo by Ben Lisle “O’zapft is!” proclaims the mayor of Munich, at noon, on the first day of Oktoberfest. “It is tapped!” This year’s Oktoberfest kicks off on Sept. 21 in Munich.
A few Portland-area breweries will be marking the occasion that day as well, including Belleflower and Austin Street in East Bayside, Bissell Brothers at Thompson’s Point, and Mast Landing in Freeport. One week later, Biddeford will host its own fest. The first Oktoberfest was staged in Munich in 1810 — a two-day celebration of the marriage of the Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese of Sachsen-Hildburghausen.
The party was so popular, it was reprised annually. A number of different beer styles have featured at the festival over the two centuries since. For a time, the signature style was a Dunkel.
Spaten adopted the amber-colored märzen style for the event in 1841, and has stuck with it ever since. Around 1870, beers similar to Vienna lagers (a close cousin of märzen), though at bock strength, were ascendant. Paulaner began brewing a lighter-colored Festbier in the mid-1970s, pitching it as a more drinkable style.
In recent decades, this has been the beer one would expect to bathe in at the festival: a golden, medium-bodied lager, slightly sweet with low bitterness, a little boozier than a typical pale lager — something like a helles flexing its muscles. Most Maine-brewed Oktoberfest beers are still märzenbiers (or märzen-adjacent). But we’re also seeing a mo.