Trader Joe’s
Trader Joe’s distributes Trader Joe’s Oktoberfest Festbier as a private label beer. Unlike other Trader Joe’s private label products, this beer says on the can that it is brewed by Flensburger Baruerei in Flensburg Germany.
Trader Joe’s Oktoberfest Festbier
There is little information available on this beer. It does not appear on either Trader Joe’s or Flensburger’s websites. It has a “Good” rating on Beer Advocate based on two reviews and 3.68 out of 5 on Untappd. Both Beer Advocate and Untappd say it has a 6.2% ABV but there is no other nutrition information.
Our Review of Oktoberfest Festbier
I have tried several German Oktoberfest beers which have ranged from very good to fantastic. These include Ayinger Oktober Fest-Marzen, Paulaner Oktoberfest Marzen, Spaten Oktoberfest UR Marzen, Hacker Pschorr Oktoberfest Marzen and Hofbrau Oktoberfestbier.
I also tried Josephsbrau Oktoberfest Beer, another private label beer from Trader Joe’s. That beer is brewed in San Jose, CA, possibly by Gordon Biersch. I assumed that a private label beer from Trader Joe’s would be bad. Much to my shock, it was good, although not as good as the German Oktoberfest Marzens. Plus its $6.99 price per six pack is about half the price of the German Oktoberfest beers.
So I assumed a real German Oktoberfest private label beer would be better. Bad assumption. This beer tasted like a mediocre lager. Even its name is confusing. Trader Joe’s calls it a Festbier, which is a pale, blonde German lager, but also puts “German Marzen” on the can. While this technically may be true based on the definition of German Marzens being brewed in the spring, it is not what Americans consider a Marzen. It is a Festbier. It is also more than double the price per can of the Josephsbrau Oktoberfest for a 40% larger can. I hate to say it, but I would choose the Trader Joe’s beer brewed in San Jose over the one brewed in Germany every day.
For excellent German Oktoberfest beer recommendations, try Hacker Pschorr Oktoberfest Marzen, Ayinger OktoberFest, Paulaner Oktoberfest Marzen, Spaten Oktobertfest UR Marzen and Hofbrau Oktoberfestbier.
For beer nutritional information of all beers we have reviewed see Beer Nutritional Information.
