Beer of the Week: Festbier

From the Beer Writer: Picture it: a dim-lit, empty and yet unused tasting room, a quartet of middle-aged men are seated around a table. Three of them watch as one excited (and only slightly nervous) journalist picks up the first of four small glasses and raises it to his lips. He takes a sniff then a sip, then another. His eyebrows raise and a smile creeps onto his face before he turns to his tablemates and tells them what a great beer it is. Not good…great. It’s rare to show one’s cards so soon, but he’s particularly impressed because this is the first beer he’s ever had from the not-yet-open company founded by the trio on the receiving end of his compliment (two of which brewed said beer). They, too, start to smile as they rifle off specifics about the inspiration and process behind this simply named, only seemingly simple German-style lager. The setting for the scene above was Eppig Brewing’s original tasting room inside North Park’s CRAFT by Brewer Igniter facility. The year was 2016 and I’d been invited for a first taste of the company’s beers. The one that blew me away—and still does more than six years later—is this week’s featured beer: Festbier. Named after a style and the fete it’s brewed for, it’s an Oktoberfest lager that’s built on a crisp, quaffable pilsner base but given greater malt complexity, which introduces a touch of honey sweetness and a cereal character in the finish, making for something that’s nice and flavorful without being bready or too full-bodied. It’s one of those harmonious beers where every facet is at just the right level and presented in perfect balance. Seasonal beers simply don’t get more must-have than this local favorite, which just hit shelves and is ripe for the picking.

From the Brewer: “When we went about developing the recipe for our Oktoberfest offering, we wanted to nail a style that would deliver an authentic Bavarian festival experience to San Diego craft-beer lovers. Eppig Festbier is a weisn, meaning ‘meadow’, which you don’t see that often in the United States, but it’s actually what Germans drink on the Oktoberfest grounds in Munich every September. We utilize traditional lagering methods and balanced noble hops to create a beer that is lighter than a Märzen, which many American breweries turn to this time of year. We didn’t want Festbier to be malty or sweet. Instead, it leans crisp and refreshing with just the right amount of bitterness to make it ideal to drink on warm days, but is also complex enough to be comforting when it gets chilly in the evenings. The malt bill includes Vienna, Munich and pilsner, all from Germany, giving it more aroma and flavor than a pilsner. We worked hard to perfect Festbier to be the ultimate beer to transition from summer to fall in San Diego. Everyone on Team Eppig starts to crave it every year just in time for our Oktoberfest celebrations.”—Nathan Stephens, Co-founder & Principal Brewer, Eppig Brewing