Another Augustfest, bitte
In the beer world, autumn arrives earlier every year.
Given the soaring popularity of seasonal releases, and the increasing competition to get them on the shelves, it’s become common to see the likes of Oktoberfests and pumpkin beers showing up before the end of August.
Now Sierra Nevada kicks that forward a few notches with this week’s release of its new seasonal Oktoberfest, brewed in conjunction with one of Germany’s oldest family-owned breweries, Brauhaus Riegele.
It will be showcased in a release party Wednesday from 5 to 8 p.m. at Area 51 Taphouse at the north side Onion Bar & Grill. (The actual Oktoberfest starts Sept. 19 in Munich.)
Sierra plans to pair with a different German brewery each year. First up is Riegele, founded in 1386 in Augsburg, in the heart of Bavaria. It was named top brewery in both the 2013 European Beer Star and this year’s Meininger International Craft Beer Awards.
The resulting beer (6 percent alcohol by volume, 30 International Bitterness Units) is a light copper-colored lager with a rich, bready, slightly sweet maltiness from traditional German Steffi barley, along with Munich and pilsner, balanced by floral, spicy noble hop notes.
Sorry, hopheads – it replaces Flipside red IPA in Sierra’s seasonal lineup. But like Ruthless Rye IPA, which was supplanted this spring by Beer Camp Hoppy Lager, Flipside is making a limited appearance as part of a seasonal four-pack, just starting to ship, along with a Vienna lager, Tumbler brown ale and the standard Pale Ale.