Brewery: Staatliches Hofbräuhaus
Country: Germany
Size: 50cl
ABV: 6.3%
Price: 23kr
Systembolaget: 11298
When it comes to Oktoberfest, you don’t get much more synonymous that Hofbräu. It is one of the six official breweries involved in the beer festival and has the biggest tent out of them all. It takes 3 months to build the elaborate tent and then a further 2 months to dismantle it all. You could say that it’s a big deal. It seemed only fair then that for a German beer tasting I should have one of the star attractions at the show. Hofbräu make a special Oktoberfest lager every year for the event and so of course I picked that one.
It was light clear gold with a fluffy cloud like head to it. It seemed rather thin but the goo carbonation seemed to liven up the beer a bit. The main aromas was on light mat coupled with a grassy hit and a background orange peel zestiness. The taste was rather delicate if I’m going to be polite. There was some biscuit, straw and malt there but not really much else. The aftertaste was short, sweet and found lacking except for a hint of herbal grass.
This may be a legendary brand but I found it all a little bit underwhelming. There wasn’t much here to distinguish it with the usual European lagers and I was honestly expecting just a little bit more. There wasn’t anything particularly wrong with it and I’m sure I could drink a few steins of this if I was ever in their gigantic tent. For now though, there are more fun and interesting lagers out there though that catch my eye.