TDL’s Sports, Wrestling, & Otherwise

Oktoberfest
Brewed By: Blue Point Brewing Company
Brewed In: Patchogue, NY (Long Island)
Type: Oktoberfest
ABV: 5.0%

What They Say: Blue Point Octoberfest [sp] is another palate-pleasing seasonal brew. Originally brewed in 1810 to celebrate the betrothal of the Crown Prince of Bavaria, Blue Point continues the celebration by traditionally brewing this special malty amber lager every October. Octoberfest lager is stored cold for 2 months to ensure its distinct smooth flavor. Tap a pint and celebrate the season!

Website: Awful. First of all, their index page (the page you get to when you go to just a domain name with no file name at the end) is nothing but a logo and automatically tries to open a pop-up window that 9/10ths of the Internet world blocks. The logo is a link which, itself, tries to open the pop-up again. To even view the website, I need to disable my pop-up blocker. The pop-up is a flash application that automatically plays music and makes cutesy sounds depending on what you want to look at. When trying to find information on the beers, one has to click on “Microbrews” followed by “Beer Information” which opens a THIRD pop-up to give you a list of the company’s beers. Terrible, annoying design. Also, as they have added new beers, the Oktoberfest isn’t part of the “Tasting Room” section — which means they likely paid a one-time design fee that added all their beers at the time it was designed. Now that they have added new beers, they haven’t been able to have the flash application updated to include the new beers, so they added this terrible list with no formatting on the “Beer Information”. Note to future brewers: do not let a web tool convince you to create a flash application. They’re impossible to update. I offer my humble design services to Blue Point should they read this. I’m even local in Manhattan.

Why I Picked It: Blue Point could offer a Juice From An Anchovy Can Ale and I’d at least give it a shot. Two of my top ten favorite beers at the moment are Blue Point offerings; their Blueberry Ale and their Toasted Lager. Besides the point, they get bonus points because you can go to their tasting room and drink their beers until you feel like leaving… for free! Believe it or not, I haven’t been there yet.

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Presentation (5): Blue Point doesn’t go as crazy as Magic Hat with their funky bottles and designs, but they do tend to go with a lot of color with their labels and all their offerings have their own design. The Oktoberfest label is a painting of sun setting behind mountains and a typical German town with German Calligraphy script spelling out Oktoberfest. I like it. 5.

Originality (5): Not many points here. It’s an Oktoberfest. It’s no different than any other Oktoberfest but it gets the standard “stuff that isn’t Budweiser” mark. 3

Body (10): A perfect amount of carbonation and an excellent thickness makes this beer around the perfect type of body for me. It doesn’t linger around your mouth after you swallow it but it’s just thick enough to know you’re drinking something. Perfect. 10

Taste (10): I don’t know what a true German-brewed Oktoberfest is supposed to taste like but I do know that this beer tastes like a perfected version of both Sam Adams’s and Harpoon’s Oktoberfests. It has the malty flavor combined with carbonation when it’s in your mouth and hangs out on the back of your tongue just long enough. If you remove the lingering taste and dry tongue of Sam’s Oktoberfest, and lighten the flavors so the malts don’t mash you over the head, you have this. 10

Efficiency (10): The 5% ABV is standard, but the excellent taste and body allows you to drink at a rapid pace. I drank the remaining three in five NLCS innings (important, as NL games get over in 2.5 hours instead of 15) and felt a decent buzz. The whole sixpack would have been enough for a night at $8.99. A case would be phenomenal, but those of us without cars can rarely make use of them.10

Versatility (10): This beer is good for everything but rapid consumption. It would be good for sitting around playing poker… not so good for a game of A**hole. The $8.99/six in NYC price makes it an excellent sixer to take somewhere with you. However, it’s nothing you’re going to pound. The 5% ABV also allows you to drink a few and still have your wits about you.8

Final Grade: 46 (of 50) - awesome beer.