Oktoberfestbier and a 400 Pound Monkey

I recently rediscovered Colorado's Left Hand Brewing Company. Their Oktoberfest this year was the reason for this renewal of favoritism of their beer on my part. Each year during the Oktoberfest season (September in Germany and stretching through the month of October in the U.S.) I sample as many Oktoberfest and Oktoberfest/Marzen biers as I can get my hands on, German and American. Having now been to the real Oktoberfest in Munich, I now 'judge' these biers solely on their authenticity to what is actually served at Oktoberfest. Most of the American interpretations and even some of the German imports that are labeled as Oktoberfest or Oktoberfest/Marzen biers are in the darker style than that served in Munich and are thus not authentic Oktoberfestbier to me.

This year there were really only three American Oktoberfest biers that lived up to the scrutiny. They were the aforementioned Left Hand brew as well as Leinenkugel's Oktoberfest and our own Real Ale Brewery's Oktoberfest from a local brewery just west of Austin in the Hill Country town of Blanco, Texas. If I am correct, all of Real Ale's seasonal beers are now formulated by brewer Tim Schwartz, a legend in the Austin micro-brewery scene having brewed at one of Austin's finest brewpubs, The Bitter End, now sadly a distant memory. Tim is brilliant with recipes scanning all styles of beer so it came as little surprise to me that the Oktoberfest would be as good as it is.

However, the subject of this post is not Oktoberfest bier per se but rather Left Hand's 400 Pound Monkey. 'Monkey' is classified by the brewery as an English Style India Pale Ale and is brewed with 2-Row Pale Ale Malt, Crystal Malt, Munich Malt and Malted Wheat. It is hopped with Magnum, Boadicea, and Sovereign hop varieties. I have personally come to love Boadicea hops from the UK and use them quite often in my own beers and was elated to see their use in the Monkey. To me the beer has a lovely soft malt palate with plenty of earthy hop flavor without being overwhelming. The finish is soft as well and not overly bitter or dry. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of hop bitterness and flavor in this beer but I really like the balance as the malt and caramel notes come through nicely as well which isn't often the case with an American style IPA. The aroma is of sweet malt and earthy hop with a tinge of alcohol. It is medium bodied and clocks in at 6.8% ABV (Alcohol By Volume).

My only reservation about the beer is the use of Munich Malt as I still struggle a lot with the use of a German malt in any English, Scottish, Welsh or Irish style beer. I know, I know, the use of Munich is very popular but I just can't bring myself to accept or to use it in these style of beers, I just don't think it belongs if sticking to tradition. Even to this day given all the influence America has had on the brewing scene in Great Britain, I have still not seen the use of Munich in their traditional beers styles. Nonetheless, this is a great beer and in my opinion definitely fits the style category, at least as defined by the BJCP.

Colorado is full of great breweries and Left Hand, in my book, is one of the finest. It is getting near impossible to find good examples of any beers from Britain (here used to include England as well as all three Celtic 'nations') in the U.S. It is great that some domestic breweries are producing very worthy versions and 400 Pound Monkey more than fits that description. Well Done!

Yours Aye!
Neil