Paulaner
Paulaner is a famous brewery based in Munich, Germany that brews Paulaner Oktoberfest Marzen. The brewery dates back to 1634. The company is one of only six breweries who pour at Oktoberfest. While they are known for their Hefeweizen, Paulaner also brews lagers, pilsners, Oktoberfest beers, Salvator and a non alcoholic beer.
Paulaner Oktoberfest Marzen
Paulaner describes Oktoberfest Marzen as “An amber beer style that was developed over 200 years ago to celebrate the original Oktoberfest. The Märzen name comes from “March beer” because it was historically brewed in March to be at peak flavor for the Oktoberfest celebration. This full bodied beer with its rich malt flavor, dark toffee note and underlying fruitiness has a masterful hop balance.” Oktoberfest Marzen has Herkules and Hallertauer Tradition hops and Pilsner malt (light barley malt) and Munich malt (dark barley malt.)
Paulaner Oktoberfest Marzen has a 5.8% ABV, 0g fat, 3.3g protein, 8.9 carbs, 21-24 IBU (depending on the source) and 152 calories based on a 11.2 oz. serving. It has a “Very Good” rating on Beer Advocate.
Our Review of Paulaner Oktoberfest Marzen
Recently I have tried several German beers, mainly lagers, pilsners, wheat beers and marzens. The lagers have ranged from very good to spectacular. I have also tried four beers from Paulaner, their non alcoholic Weizen-Radler, Paulaner Hefeweizen, Paulaner Munich Lager and Paulaner Salvator. The Weizen-Radler may be my least favorite NA beer, but that is my fault. I didn’t read the description of the beverage and focused on the Paulaner name and Weizen in the title. The Hefeweizen was very good, but had the hint of banana, which I did not find in the other German wheat beers. To me this is a minor negative. The lager was also very good, but not quite as good as those from Weihenstephaner. The Salvator was also very good but a bit heavy to drink without food.
I have had American Marzen beers before, most notably Gordon-Biersch, which is good, and Samuel Adams, which was not good and I don’t believe exists anymore. Most American Octoberfest beers are just Marzens, but the Octoberfest branding sells better.
Recently I tried Ayinger Oktober Fest-Marzen, which was so much better than these American Marzens and one of the few beers we have rated 5 out of 5. However Ayinger is only available in the fall.
So I decided to try Paulaner Oktoberfest Marzen. It was equally as good as Ayinger. If you watch the video, it was so good that I didn’t want to stop drinking it. The two German Oktoberfest beers I have tried have been as good as any beers I have had, full bodied and robust with a clean taste and no aftertaste.
For more robust German beer recommendations try Ayinger OktoberFest, Weihenstephaner Kellerbier and Weihenstephaner Vitus.
For beer nutritional information of all beers we have reviewed see Beer Nutritional Information.
