Back East Octoberfest

Octoberfest
1 Growler, $9.00, 4.9% ABV

Purchased at the brewery, Bloomfield

I had written a couple paragraphs about traditional Octoberfests and how they came about and how they are to be brewed. (Basically left to age from March to late September). I gibbered on about how Back East didn’t even exist in March 2012, so how does this all work, etc.

Halfway through I realized I was being stupid so I emailed my good friend EdHill who is a bit of a brewing expert. He reminded me that German purity laws, which are still on the books, dictate rules like that and we Americans certainly don’t need to bother with them. Octobers are simply malty beers made in the tradition of true German Octoberfests.

He went on to note that the German laws are why German beers are terrible today. And since their neighbor, Belgium, is not handcuffed by a Dark Age brewing mentality, they have the best beer in the world. It’s all coming together in my head.

So did Back East’s interpretation of the October style come together in Tony, Ed and Mike’s heads? In a word, yes. In fact, if someone wants to learn the basics about beer, I’d put forth this October as representative of a “malt forward” beer.

Back East says:

Back East Octoberfest is our interpretation of the classic German autumn beer. Brewed with imported Munich malts and noble German hops, this traditionally brewed beer has a hearty malt character perfect for cooler weather.

In this day and age of hops, hops and more hops (I’m guilty), it’s almost shocking to enjoy a more malty beer.

Back East’s seasonals are very fleeting, so this one was only around for a few weeks (like a traditional Octoberfest!). In fact, as I’m typing this sentence, Back East just tweeted (seriously) that their “Winterfest” is now available. Ain’t Twitter great?

Overall Rating: B
Rating vs. Similar style: B+

Beer Advocate’s Reviews of Back East’s Octoberfest
Back East Brewing
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