Beer of the Week: Born in Bavaria

From the Beer Writer: ‘Tis the season for temporarily eschewing hops in favor of well-balanced beers playing up the glories of specialty malts and lager yeast. That’s right, it’s Oktoberfest season…and it will be through October 3. Most local breweries like to get a jump on their German-inspired events, holding them in mid-September, but then there are those that schedule their celebrations for the final weekend of the season, providing revelers one last beer-and-bratwurst blowout before we go back to San Diego’s humdrum one-to-three-beerfests-a-week normalcy. (Kidding…kind of.) Count Embolden Beer Co. as one of those backloaders. The Miramar biz, which is the sudsy side of a two-headed operation that includes New Motion Beverages, will hold its Oktoberfest soiree on October 1. It figures to be an event worth waiting for, but fortunately there’s no need to bide one’s time where this week’s featured beer is concerned. Dubbed Born in Bavaria, it’s a Märzen that’s already flowing from Embolden’s taps, and is one of three German-inspired lagers being released in conjunction with Oktoberfest. Unlike its brüders, Born in Bavaria was conjured in collaboration with the team from Harland Brewing. A longtime ally, the popular Scripps Ranch-based beer company was one of the first to collab with Embolden when the company debuted in 2020, and its sister business, Scout Distribution, signed on to transport the company’s beers and alternative beverages to the masses that same year. So, there’s a lot of heart and history behind this beer, not to mention a great deal of tradition and stylistic accuracy. With a cereal-like bouquet followed by flavors of whole-grain bread and lemon zest, the latter brought on care of lager yeast, Born in Bavaria is an easy-drinking delight that could pass for a quaff straight out of Munich.

From the Brewer: “Everyone on our brewing team around here are big fans of classic beer styles, and we always like to mix them into our rotation, so Oktoberfest is one of our favorite times of the year. We are hosting our first Embolden Oktoberfest on Saturday, October 1, so we got to brew some fun beers for it. This Märzen was brewed with our great friends at Harland Brewing, and we used all German malts and yeast, incorporating a blend of Vienna, Munich and pilsner malt to give it a nice copper color while still producing a beer that’s crisp and clean like most German lagers. It’s got a great malt backbone like the style should have, but is sessionable enough at 5.5% ABV (alcohol-by-volume) to allow you to drink more than one. We are really proud of the end product and excited for people to enjoy it with our house-made German pils and schwarzbier on October 1.”–Cody Morris, Director of Brewery Operations, Embolden Beer Co. / New Motion Beverages