While Bavarians are in full Oktoberfest swing, and the massive tents of Munich are full to overflowing with joyful celebrants, we are just starting to get our dose of German and German-style Oktoberfest beers here in Ontario. Black Oak’s Oaktoberfest is the first one to come across my desk (or more specifically, into my fridge). Black Oak is known for making some excellent British-style beers (their Pale and Brown are both solid brews), as well as some newfangled styles (Ten Bitter Years is epic, and their barrel-aged Saison is quite something; more on that in another post though). So I’m excited to review a German-style beer from them. I know I had last year’s iteration of this beer because a) Untappd told me so, and b) I do have memories of drinking it. I believe those memories were made on a night of Oktoberfest-esque consumption, so I certainly don’t have any tasting notes from the experience. The good news, is this year I sampled it at home, and took photos and made notes and everything. And here they are:
Okatoberfest — Black Oak Brewing Co.
From a 650ml bottle, Oaktoberfest pours a clear copper brown. About 1/2″ of tight head dropped to a layer that left a bit of lacing on the glass. Aroma is big sweet malts, caramel, brown bread, and toast (toasted brown bread sounded too highfalutin’). There is a slightly fruity hint, that is making me think apples. Actually, I would have guessed English ale yeast, but the bottle says it’s a lager. Taste is quite malty, though more balanced with hops than I noticed in the aroma. More of the caramel and brown bread, but with a slightly spicy hop to it. There is a hint of the fruitiness again, and a nice clean dry finish, with a touch of malts lingering. A really lovely beer, quite sessionable, and a great local option for an Oktoberfest brew!
Cheers, Black Oak!
Buy Oaktoberfest
Well, I picked mine up at the brewery in Etobicoke, so I’m thinking it’s probably available there. And I’m pretty sure Erica told me it was hitting the LCBO soon. I just checked, and the product isn’t listed yet, but keep your eyes peeled. And watch for it around Toronto at good beer bars.
Drink It With
It goes without saying, a sausage and sauerkraut. But as I would assume you knew that, and I can’t exactly say that for every Oktoberfest beer this fall, let’s go with something different: A bacon cheese burger. but get decent smokey bacon (not smoke-flavoured pig product) and a nice sturdy cheese, like a Beemster. If you really want to keep things seasonal, go ahead and throw some sauerkraut on the burger, and top it with a nice pungent mustard. For cheese, that Beemster would work well as would a more mild cheese, like an Edam.
About the Brewery
Black Oak is a stickler for quality, character and consistency. We use premium ingredients, traditional brewing processes and lots of hard work. Quality, Character and Consistency give us really good beers. We love good beer and we’ve been inspired by other world-class beers. We want to provide you with fresh, hand crafted, local beer that matches the best of the world.
