With
the 2014 fall Oktoberfest series beginning to wrap up, we are now on the second
to last review, Oktoberfest
Lager from Lakefront Brewery. Lakefront has
long been a Milwaukee favorite, and holds the distinction of being the first Milwaukee
Craft Brewery to grow to the point of being a Regional Craft Brewery (an annual
production of between 15,000 and 6,000,000 barrels of beer). Lakefront Brewery currently distributes to
thirty-five states, although around 80% of their beer is sold in Wisconsin,
Illinois, and Minnesota. It is great to
see a Wisconsin craft brewery distribute outside of the state and be so
successful doing so. Before moving on to
the review, let’s cover a quick history of Lakefront Brewery, and what brought
them to being one of the most successful breweries in the state.
Founded in 1987 by brothers Russ
and Jim Klisch, Lakefront Brewery is one of Milwaukee’s oldest breweries. After developing a rivalry, constantly
competing to see who could brew a better batch of homebrew, and having their
brews win multiple homebrew contests; the brothers choose a building for their
new brewery, a former bakery in the Riverwest neighborhood of Milwaukee. Starting with used dairy equipment and 55
gallon steel drums, they were up and running.
December 2, 1987 marked a turning point for the brewery, when the first
barrel of beer was sold to the Gordon Park Pub.
It didn’t take long for Lakefront
to become a local favorite with the brewery selling 72 barrels of beer in 1988
and 125 in 1989 before growth really took off, nearly doubling in each
subsequent year. With the growing
popularity of Lakefront Beer, Russ Klisch built a bottling machine in 1990 so
the brewery could distribute bottles. As
the brewery continued to grow, the brothers brought more equipment into the
brewery. By 1998, with production just
under 3,000 barrels a year, it became apparent that the original 3,600 square
foot bakery was getting a little too crowded, so Lakefront went on the lookout
for a new location. The new and current
location of Lakefront Brewery, 1872 N. Commerce Street, originally housed the
Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company’s coal-fired power plant. As luck would have it, the City of Milwaukee
was considering tearing the building down until the brewery purchased the
building.
In 2000, Russ Klisch replaced the
homemade brewing equipment that the brewery had used for the previous 12 years and
installed a professional brew house.
Production continued to increase, reaching 33,268 barrels in 2012. Earlier this fall Lakefront broke ground on a
new expansion adjacent to the current location.
The additional space means Lakefront can continue to grow and expand
their barrel aging program as well. An
expanded barrel aging program would be great for Lakefront Brewery, but that’s
a topic for another post, and another beer.
As for this post, how about we move on to the review section.
At Beeradvocate,
Lakefront Oktoberfest Lager currently has a score of 79, with an 83 from the
Bros. At ratebeer,
it currently has a score of 33 Overall with a 40 for style. Again with the low ratebeer score, then again
there is a reason I take the scores from these two sites with a grail of salt.
They Say:
The radiant copper-orange hue and rocky, off-white head of our
traditional Märzen-style lager comes from generous amounts of Munich malt.
Caramel malt aromas compliment the German lager yeast’s slightly floral aroma.
Mt. Hood hops balance the substantial malt body, while the lager yeast adds a
subtlety to the flavor, making this a great rendition of a classic German
lager.
Prost!
A good pairing for the hearty German fare served at Oktoberfest parties
in Munich: rich sausages and pretzels, buttery spaetzle or creamy soups.
MALTS: TWO-ROW PALE, VIENNA, MUNICH, 45°L CARAMEL MALT
HOPS: MT. HOOD
5.8% ABV
10–14 IBUs
15° PLATO
AVAILABLE: AUGUST–OCTOBER
AVAILABLE
FORMATS:
Cases: 4/6/12 oz bottles (355 mL)
Half Barrels (15.5 gal)
Quarter Barrels (7.75 gal – WI only)
Sixth Barrels (5.16 gal)
I Say:
Lakefront Oktoberfest lager
pours a very clear copper with a thick, creamy, off-white head. The head holds very good retention, lasting
just under a minute, and leaves a moderate amount of lacing behind in the
glass. Low level sweet bready malts
serve as a pleasant greeting to the beer out of the bottle. The bready malts take on more complexity as
the beer warms, becoming biscuity with lingering toasted malt notes. The aroma is right about where it should be
for a festbier.
Toasted
and biscuit malts lead the flavor with an excellent complex malt profile up
front. Floral hops (or yeast according
to Lakefront) assert themselves midway through the experience, ushering in a relatively
firm hop bitterness. The finish is malty
and slightly floral with notes of biscuit, toasted malt, and a hint of hops. With a moderate hop flavor and a moderately
low hop bitterness, Lakefront Oktoberfest is almost on target. With a medium body, and a moderate level of
carbonation, this beer is holding true to the guidelines of a festbier.
The
floral hop notes are a touch too prominent in Lakefront Oktoberfest for my
taste, but they are still well within the bounds for the style, so it is hard
to find a reason to hold that against this otherwise remarkable festbier. There is a lot to like with this beer, with
its wonderful malt backbone, and its drying finish, and it’s certainly one of
the best festbiers this state has to offer.
That’s
all for today, check back later this week for the last Oktoberfest review
before the Oktoberfest wrap up post early next week.
Prost!