Danke Takes Its Name From a Stax Single, Its Recipe From Munich

A Memphis Oktoberfest named by translating a Sam & Dave title into German, brewed by a co-founder who took his Master Brewer diploma in Munich. On draft now, with liter service and a barrel tapping this Saturday.

Style: Oktoberfest
Release Date: 2026-09-15
ABV: 5.9%
Soul & Spirits Brewery (Memphis, TN)

Danke is German for thank you. The song behind it was recorded across town.

Soul & Spirits Brewery named its Oktoberfest after "I Thank You," the Sam & Dave single written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter and recorded at Stax in Memphis. Released in January 1968, it reached number nine on the Billboard pop chart and number four on the R&B chart, and it was the duo's last single for the label. The brewery's house convention is to name beers after songs written by, performed by or featuring musicians from the Memphis area and greater South. Translating the title into German is how that rule survives contact with a Bavarian style.

The beer is 5.9 percent ABV. Soul & Spirits lists grilled bread, floral bouquet and sweet spiciness as its notes, and has it on draft now.

Those notes describe an Oktoberfest doing its job. The style is built on Munich malt, kilned darker than pale malt and responsible for the toasted, bready character the brewery is pointing at. There are no assertive hops to lean on and no fruit esters to cover anything up. What is left is malt, a long cold conditioning period and whatever the brewer's judgment adds, which is why the style is a traditional proving ground.

That matters more than usual here. Co-founder and brewer Ryan earned his Master Brewer Diploma in Munich before the brewery opened, and also holds an Advanced Cicerone certification. The brewery's name comes from a line by the German professor Anton Piendl: malt is the soul, hops the spice, yeast the spirit and water the body of beer. For a malt-led seasonal, that is less a motto than a recipe note.

This Saturday

Danke gets a proper send-off at the brewery's fourth annual Oktoberfest on Saturday, September 19, running 1 to 9 p.m. at 845 N Main Street. A Danke barrel tapping opens the day at 1 p.m., an oompah band plays at 2:30, and a stein competition follows at 6. Liter and half-liter specials run all day, with food from Smoke & Toast and Hot N' Heavy Dogs.

The beer is pouring now and appears in the seasonal section of the brewery's current list.

Editor’s Take

The naming here is a small piece of engineering and I admire it more the longer I look at it. The brewery's rule is that beers are named for Southern songs. The beer in question is a Bavarian seasonal brewed by someone who studied in Munich. Those two requirements do not obviously want to sit in the same glass. So: find a Memphis soul record called 'I Thank You,' run the title through German, and you have Danke - one word that satisfies the house rule, the style and the man holding the diploma, all at once. Isaac Hayes and David Porter presumably did not write that hook in 1967 with a stein competition in mind.

The tasting notes are the other tell. Grilled bread, floral bouquet, sweet spiciness - that is somebody describing malt with the vocabulary usually reserved for hops and perfume, and getting away with it because a well made Oktoberfest genuinely does smell like that. It is a style with almost nowhere to hide, which is probably why it keeps turning up as the thing classically trained brewers make when they want to show their work. Have it in the liter on Saturday. The format is not a novelty; the beer was designed around a vessel that size and it is one of the few beers all year where ordering a liter is the sensible option rather than the brave one.

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.