Beer styles can be named for many things, including the place of origin (pilsner, Dortmunder), the appearance (pale ale, witbier) or strength (barley wine, tripel). How then did the amber lagers—which are known as Vienna, märzen and Oktoberfest—come to be named after a city, a month and a festival, respectively? Each has its own history.
The amber lagers share a history that comes full circle in the end. Märzen produced Vienna, Vienna produced Oktoberfest. They are, collectively, a study of modern lager brewing.
The Roots of the Family Tree
Over a period of several centuries, brewers discovered that beers could be brewed in spring, stored in alpine caves through the summer and until the weather cooled, emerging for consumption in the fall. This undoubtedly led to much beer drinking following the summer! Some brews following this procedure became known as märzen or March beers after the month in which most were brewed.
Around the beginning of the 19th century, a great friendship developed between two distinguished members of the brewing industry. The Viennese brewer, Anton Dreher, and Gabriel Sedlmayr II of the Spaten brewery in Munich studied and traveled together. They took keen interest in the innovations of the day and applied them to their own brewing practices.
Dreher was quite interested in developing a pale malt of his own. He eventually produced one with a unique character, known as Vienna malt. This was the base for his distinctive brews. His malt, together with techniques he learned from the Sedlmayrs, produced the first beer in what could be called the Vienna style, a sparkling-clear, amber lagerbier, in 1841.
At the same time that Dreher was developing his Vienna beers, the Sedlmayrs were back at the Spaten brewery in Munich crafting and refining their stylistic contribution to the beer world. We know it today as Munich dunkel.
In 1871 Gabriel’s brother, Josef, brewed a pilot batch of amber beer that was unlike anything else that could be sampled in the city. It received such acclaim that he decided to make a second batch the following spring. He named it Ur-Märzen (original märzen), following the old method of brewing in March and storing cold for consumption in the fall. It would be ready in the autumn of 1872.
When, at the Oktoberfest celebration of 1872, the supply of the regular beer ran out, Sedlmayr came to the rescue with his märzenbier. It again was so popular that it became a regular beer of the Oktoberfest celebration. Not surprisingly, other breweries in Munich followed suit. Eventually, many märzen beers added the designation “Oktoberfest” to the name.
Today’s Ambers
There are three different names for these similar beers, but they are really just two distinct styles, with märzen and Oktoberfest being interchangeable or set together, as in märzen/Oktoberfest.
Märzen/Oktoberfest beers have a lusty, rich character that is definitely balanced toward the malt. Gentle hop rates allow the Munich-style malts to shine through in the märzen/Oktoberfest. In general, Viennas are slightly weaker, a little drier and have a noticeable hop character that leaves the beer well-balanced with a slightly spicy character.
American breweries produce an excellent range of märzen/Oktoberfest beers, with some examples showing a spicy, hopped-up Vienna profile. Some are simply be called “amber” or “amber lager,” and may be more commonly found in the Midwest with its German ancestry.
The influence of Austria and Germany can still be found in many Mexican beers. Negra Modelo and Dos Equis are such examples, and they can’t be beat for washing down spicy food.
Some people love the color and briskness of the fall season; others are sorry to see the slide into winter. However you view the coming of the cold months, the beers of fall, with their autumnal colors and warm, comforting maltiness can be reason enough to look forward to the season.