Highland Brewing Company | Clawhammer Oktoberfest Lager

It’s August. That means pumpkin beers are – or will be shortly – on the shelves across our fair state. While I can hold off on the pumpkin beer for a bit, it’s the Märzen style lagers I really look forward to. A couple years back I did a Märzen series which was a lot of fun as this style has some range in interpretation. Once we get close to September though, this style takes to the shelves and it is certainly a welcome sight for this beer snob. I’m going to borrow a bit from the initial post in that series to provide a little history on the style:

Oktoberfest beer is typically a Märzen style lager – this translates into “March” beer which has its roots in Bavaria and reflects when they’d brew it – March! Why March? Way back when (think 16th century) beer could only be brewed between September 29th and April 23rd. Why? Because fire was a big deal and during these colder months, the chances of burning the place down were a lot lower. Now, Märzen style beer is a lager, which we all know

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