For the past few years I’ve taken on the challenge of determining what my favorite Oktoberfest/Märzen bier for the year is. Most of those past years I’ve focused on the German big three — Späten, Paulaner, and Hacker-Pschorr, but this year thanks to Max’s German Beer Fest, and a better understanding of what’s going on, I’ve come to some new conclusions. I know more about the beer this year than I did in the past — yes — but the real proof with this ranking still comes down to my preference even if I’m doing my best to judge things all BJCP-style.
The rankings for 2009:
While definitely NOT purely BJCP, Kantian “subjective but universal” judging style, the below is what I think is a fairly good representation of the best Oktoberfest beers I tried this year. I’d bought a bevy of American Oktoberfests before my in-laws’ fire, but lost them all when the house went up, so that section is a little less thorough. If I find one that I think is amazing, I’ll update that section later. (more…)
You can check them out 
So you may have noticed SYD sitting here kind of quiet all week, but there was definitely a good excuse. Sunday was my presentation of the technical topic, yeast. I spent a healthy portion of my week’s free time working on a handout and Power Point presentation on the all-important single celled organism we use to make beer, bread, and lots of other good stuff.
I got to brew my favorite beer with 
This past Sunday saw me at my third BJCP course. The technical topic — water — was something I had a broad understanding of, but no real depth of knowledge. Light lagers are something most of us are familiar with — some people experience that familiarity with less enthusiasm than others, and the class was largely unified in its disdain prior to the tastings. More on that later…
Yeah yeah yeah, St. Patrick’s Day swiftly approaches. Break out the Pogues’ records, be sure to put in your order for a big brisket of corned beef, make some soda bread, get some green clothing to avoid being pinched, etc.