It's well past Oktoberfest season proper, but some communities in northern Illinois were still celebrating last weekend.
In Germany, the time period for the festival is the last week of September and the first week of October.
“And that’s why it started in September, and that’s why I don’t – I don’t know why it’s called Oktoberfest,” Friedemann Stübing, a German language and culture instructor at Northern Illinois University, said. “It should be called Septemberfest.”
Stübing says he doesn't make a point to create an Oktoberfest unit for his classes, but he happily obliges if his students want to talk about it. Since we had about an hour in the car before we reached our destination, I asked him for some background on the cultural significance of the annual German festival.
(But don't worry! My colleague Carl Nelson recorded from the back seat while I drove.)
“The wedding – this royal wedding – was at the end of September,” Stübing said. “That’s when it started, and then later on people started to get together at that place, the so-called lawn – Die Wies'n – which is now the fairgrounds for the Oktoberfest.”
And people take this seriously. Stübing says Oktoberfest accounts for about one sixth of Munich's tourism income.
But what exactly makes a so-called Oktoberfest brew an authentic one?
“Technically speaking, it’s the Märzen,” Stübing said. “The Märzen comes from the German word March – as in März. It’s a lager beer that’s brewed in March and then aged until the end of September and beginning of October. And that’s typical Oktoberfest beer.”
It usually has more alcohol per volume, and Stübing says it’s even considered blasphemous to ask for a small beer in Germany, period.
“Even though it’s a lager, it has more alcohol volume percentage than a regular pilsner,” Stübing said. “The standard in Germany is around 4.8, and they start at 5.6, and many of the breweries that produce beer for the Oktoberfest, that Märzen, is about 6 volume percent and more. So you gotta be careful with that stuff.”
Stübing says the closest he has gotten to that genuine Oktoberfest beer standard while in the U.S. is Samuel Adams and Schell’s.
Reporter: “Yeah, the Sam Adams actually surprises me, because I don’t know what the German population would be in Boston.” Stübing: “Well, I think they pride themselves that a big chunk of their beers are made according to the Purity Law.”
As it turns out, Stubing says people used to put a lot of unsavory and sometimes dangerous things in beer.
“So according to the German Purity Law of 1516, a beer cannot consist of anything but malt, hops, yeast and water,” Stübing said. “End of debate.”
We met our friendly neighborhood beer connoisseur and Perspectives contributor Dan Libman at the McHenry Rotary Oktoberfest. There, we got our small sample mugs -- which Stubing said already violated traditional Oktoberfest beer-drinking, since bigger glasses are the standard in German Oktoberfests.
Before we made our rounds among the vendors, I asked Libman about his beer preferences:
Libman: “I’m more of a hoppy beer kind of guy, so I’m looking forward to sampling these here, and I see they have plenty of hoppy stuff here, too. So, should be good.” Reporter: “And I heard that you pretty much have a preference to India Pale Ales, or … ?” Libman: “Yeah. And I say that as … it’s just so difficult for me to stand here and not walk over there and try it.” Reporter: “Oh no, go ahead!”
And we turned them loose.
A few breweries had ran out of their Oktoberfest beer by the time this festival rolled around, but the ones that still had the seasonal brew held true to the alcohol by volume standard. Some were as high as 7 percent alcohol.
Libman and Stübing weren’t repulsed by any of the Oktoberfest beers, but Stübing certainly had a favorite:
Libman: “Tighthead’s great, and they’re really tiny, from Mundelin…” Stübing: “I was impressed.” Libman: “Yeah. They’ve got a good story.” Stübing: “And the beer was good.” Libman: “You’re right.” Stübing: " […] It had a good taste. It was very close to what I would expect from a German Marzen.”
The final verdict? Stübing says the Tighthead Oktoberfest beer was the closest to an authentic German Oktoberfest beer.