16th Brew - Märzen - August 16, 2008

Typically Octoberfest beers get made in March, fermented for many weeks, and lagered for many months until October. These days you find vendors releasing fest beers August. I believe I saw my first just the other day from Old Dominion.

So this brew is a little late but 4 weeks of fermenting and another 4 weeks of lagering should be enough to have a really good beer. If all goes well it would be available by mid to late October.

In addition to the märzen I'm thinking of putting together a mead as a side event. Although technically this would be called a melomel because I intend to use fruit. Anyways, this will be my first mead/melomel so it should be interesting. I was originally going to do a blueberry mead, but because I didn't have time to pick them at my sisters I may try another fruit. Suggestions are welcome.

The Hop Rye and Pilsner are still on tap, plus the saison should be done very soon. With your help we may be able to empty a keg and get the saison on.

As a side note, this will be my first Saturday after leaving Northrop so there could be some special stuff coming out. Hope to see you there!

Recipe (PDF|BTP)