Confluence Brewing Company's Oktoberfest arrives with two origin stories attached, and the smaller of the two is the one worth keeping. Head brewer John Martin bought his first homebrew equipment while on honeymoon with his wife, Katie. The month was October, and the brewery offers that as the reason the style is his personal favorite.
The larger story is the one every Marzen gets. The first Oktoberfest was held on 12 October 1810 to mark the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig, later King Ludwig I, to Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. Confluence opens its release notes there before moving on to the beer.
The beer itself is a 6.5 percent amber lager built on German Munich and Vienna malt with CaraMunich alongside. Confluence credits that combination for the rich color, full body and toasty character it describes. The three malts are doing distinct jobs. Munich and Vienna are base malts kilned warm enough to give bread crust and toast without pushing the beer dark. CaraMunich is a caramel malt, stewed in the husk before kilning so a good share of its sugars never ferment out. That is how a Marzen keeps its color and its weight at 6.5 percent rather than finishing lean. It is also why the style reads as fuller than its gravity suggests.
Confluence runs what it calls a Beer-A-Week Initiative, promising at least one returning favorite or a brand new brew every week of the year. That is the frame this release sits in: not a single seasonal event but one week's slot, filled by a beer the brewery brings back on purpose.
Oktoberfest pours in the Thomas Beck Road taproom from Friday, August 28, with four-packs to take home. Distribution across Iowa begins Monday, August 31.
Source & Editorial
JollyPint independently prepares release articles using information published by breweries through newsletters, websites, and other official public communications. Brewery-supplied descriptions and tasting notes are reported as provided, while editorial context is added by JollyPint.