Oktoberfest kicks off with a ceremony in which the mayor of Munich, Germany, opens the first barrel of golden beer. The world's most famous autumn beer festival runs from September 21 to October 6.
But the best place to taste Munich's original dark amber beer isn't in Bavaria in the fall.
This is in America 12 months of the year.
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“Many of the traditional beer styles are more popular in the U.S. than in their places of origin in Germany or other parts of Europe,” Brett Peruzzi, beer columnist for Yankee Brew News in Massachusetts, told Fox News Digital.
Of these, Oktoberfest beer is perhaps the most notable.
You may be able to drink beer at Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, but the best place to experience Munich's original amber beer is in the United States. (Christophe Stache/AFP via Getty Images, Louis Geyer/Digital First Media/Boulder Daily Camera via Getty Images, Johannes Simon/Getty Images)
The traditional beer style served at Munich's Oktoberfest was called Marzenbier, or “March beer.”
The beer is brewed in March, aged (lagered) in cool underground caves over the summer, and barreled in the fall.
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Maltzenbier was shipped out of the caves, ready to be brewed, just in time for the harvest of beer barley, hops, and other summer crops.
As harvest season in cultures around the world, it was a time of celebration.
The Marzenbier was first lit up to celebrate the autumn wedding of Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese in Munich in 1810 and was a huge hit.
This festival is now known as Oktoberfest.
Joe O'Grady of Paulaner USA holds up the gold-colored Oktoberfest beer (left), which is available at Munich's fall festival and seasonally in the United States, and the traditional dark amber-colored Marzen (March) Oktoberfest beer (right), which is available almost exclusively in the United States 12 months of the year. (Patrick Whitmore/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images)
The original Maltzenbier served at Oktoberfest had a distinctive deep amber color and was rich and flavorful.
But in recent decades, anyone who stood at a table in a bustling beer tent at Oktoberfest, belted out “Country Roads,” swaying over a smooth, golden lager.
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“Marzen is the original beer brewed at Oktoberfest and served at weddings,” Steve Hauser, CEO of White Plains, New York-based Paulaner USA, told Fox News Digital.
Paulaner is one of six Munich breweries that host Oktoberfest.
The original dark amber beer was served at Oktoberfest until at least the 1970s, he said.
Shown is a glass of Marzen (“March”) beer from North Carolina's Duck Rabbit Craft Brewery. The dark style of beer was traditional in Germany but is now found mostly in the United States. (Ben Hastie/MediaNews Group/ReadingEagle via Getty Images)
“The whole world was moving towards lighter lagers,” Hauser says, “and German brewers didn't want to be left behind, so they switched to lighter lagers.”
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Paulaner, like many other breweries, sells both styles of beer.
Paulaner Oktoberfest Bier is a pale, easy-drinking lager that is released as a seasonal beer every fall in the United States.
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“This is the exact same beer served at Oktoberfest in Munich today,” Hauser said.
Paulaner Marzenbier is a traditional flavorful amber lager beer originally served at Oktoberfest.
Munich Oktoberfest-goers drink golden beer. Traditional Oktoberfest beer is flavorful and has a deep amber color. Munich breweries began switching to lighter, easier-to-drink beers in the 1970s. (Courtesy of Paulaner USA)
It's available 12 months out of the year and is sold almost exclusively in the United States.
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Brewing executives say American beer consumers want to drink traditional Bavarian beer all year round. The Bavarian consumer They gave up their world-famous beer-making traditions.
