All the Oktoberfest brews and celebrations at North Jersey's craft breweries: Our guide

Don't let the name fool you: Oktoberfest starts in September in North Jersey. You don't want to miss out.

Most North Jersey breweries are releasing Oktoberfest beers (m?rzens and festbiers) this year, and many have them on tap right now. And of the dozen breweries here holding Oktoberfest celebrations, many are happening in mid-September (and, in fact, the OG Oktoberfest in Munich begins September 21).

It's a wonderful time of beer. The festivities — from lederhosen and dirndl costume contests to stein-hoisting competitions and liters of beer consumed from glass boots — are silly, fun and provide a good reason to get out of the house. And the batches of the roasty, toasty m?rzens and crisp festbiers from North Jersey breweries are made for the temperate, breezy days of September.

Here's what you need to know to get your hands on great local Oktoberfest beer in North Jersey this year and where to celebrate Oktoberfest at a brewery.

What is Oktoberfest beer?

Let's define some terms just so we're all on the same page. Oktoberfest is not quite a beer category itself; it's an annual celebration in Munich, Germany (and now, seemingly everywhere else), that dates back to a royal Bavarian wedding in October of 1810. That celebration was so much fun, folks decided to celebrate it every fall from then on.

A common beer consumed during these celebrations was (and continues to be) m?rzen, an amber-bodied lager with a unique story. Due to an old Bavarian brewing ordinance, brewers couldn't make beer in the summer months, and so they made batches of this m?rzen lager in the spring (m?rzen is German for March), let it slowly lager over the summer and then put kegs of it in cold storage until they were tapped at Oktoberfests.

Brewers today don't make m?rzen in that manner — they have neither the space nor the time to sit on beer for four months or more, and it doesn't necessarily equate to a better product. Today's m?rzens are developed on typical lager timelines: four to eight weeks.

You'll see one other distinct style marketed as an Oktoberfest beer: Festbier, a cousin of m?rzen lighter in body and color. Depending on the maker of any given m?rzen or festbier, you might not be able to tell the difference. After a few of them, you won't care.

North Jersey brewers on their Oktoberfest releases

One gets the sense that brewers geek out on making m?rzens and festbiers, due in part to the fact that they're old, time-tested styles with a rabid fan base this time of year. Greg Zaccardi of Butler's Ramstein Beer/High Point Brewing trained in Germany and brought German-style beer to North Jersey in 1996. He brews in accordance with the Reinheitsgebot, or German brewing purity law, which, among other things, limits acceptable brewing ingredients to water, barley and hops.

"The classic, traditional beer purity law, that's the foundation of my thinking when I approach any recipe or style," Zaccardi says. "It has its footing in the classical sense but with a creative American flair to it."

Ramstein's Oktoberfest "reflects the original style" — it was lagered for five weeks then filtered, resulting in a crisp sip with rich malty and toasty notes.

Over in Little Ferry, Brix City Brewing changed its recipe for this year's m?rzen and the results are fantastic. Head Brewer Jorge Santana says he "went a very technical direction with it," taking a traditional recipe and putting it through a "really complex mashing regime." That process included decoction — boiling grain — with which Brix City brewers have been experimenting. The result was a lighter and crisper, but no less flavorful, m?rzen.

"I think what sets this one apart form other ones is that I went a little bit lighter. It's still on the amber side of things but because of the mashing process, it dried out a ton so it's not sweet or cloying like a lot of the other m?rzens you see on the market," Santana says. "It dried out a lot, but because of that decoction, because of boiling that grain, you get that caramel or toffee flavor without it lingering or being too sweet on the palate."

Over at Magnify Brewing in Fairfield, Tasting Room Manager Mikey Thompson says their festbier, Oktober Surprise, will drink to most people like a maltier version of their fan-favorite pilsner, Refresh. It's a good one to try if you're trying to figure out what makes a festbier different than a m?rzen: it's lighter in color, a little grassier on the palate and, without being saturated in malt, it's a bit zippier on the tongue.

"We do it every year," Thompson says of producing Oktober Surprise. "It's a maltier festbier lager, slightly lighter in color but a really nice, easy-drinking lager."

One of the best m?rzens I tried early in Oktoberfest season is the Oaktoberfest from Oakflower Brewing in Millington. I'm not alone: it was rated the best m?rzen in the state from the Untappd community last year. It's got a thick, aromatic head, a nutty and malty palate and a ridiculously crisp finish.

Oktoberfest beer releases from North Jersey breweries

• 902 Brewing, Jersey City: Oktoberfest (5.2% Vienna lager), a touch of melon with a bready, slightly malty taste.

• Autodidact Beer, Morris Plains: Engle (5% m?rzen), a roasty and earthy lager with a hint of sweet caramel.

• Bolero Snort Brewery, Carlstadt: Fest (4.9% festbier), a "pale German party lager."

• Brix City Brewing, Little Ferry: Oktoberfest (5% m?rzen), amber-colored lager that boasts a clean, rich profile with toasty, bready notes and a restrained bitterness.

• Chilton Mill Brewing, Long Valley: Oktoberfest (5.8% m?rzen), smooth and clean with a deep, roasty malt flavor.

• Departed Soles Brewing, Jersey City: Mars'N Attacks! (5.8% m?rzen), a gluten-free version.

• Five Dimes Brewery, Westwood: Fest Bier (5.2% festbier), medium-bodied amber lager with a clean biscuity taste, and M?rzen (6% m?rzen), toasty, caramel flavors from the malt, complemented by floral and spicy notes.

• Fort Nonsense Brewing, Randolph: Unsinn Machen (5.8% m?rzen), a traditional amber lager.

• Four City Brewing, Orange: Eagle Rocktoberfest (5.8% m?rzen), sweet, malty breadiness with a clean finish.

• Gearblock Brewing, Waldwick: Tushek (5.2% Vienna lager), malt-forward with a classic blend of German malts and hops and notes of biscuit and caramel.

• Glenbrook Brewery, Morristown: Oktoberfest (5.7% m?rzen), walnut-colored and malty with Bavarian hops.

• Hackensack Brewing, Hackensack: Mr. Oktober (5.4% m?rzen), a malty, sweet amber lager with notes of toasted biscuit.

• Hoboken Brewing, Hoboken: Oktoberfest (5.8% m?rzen), crisp and malty, made with all German grain and yeast.

• Jersey Girl Brewing, Budd Lake: (5.9% m?rzen), a medium-bodied amber lager with a bready, malty finish.

• Magnify Brewing, Fairfield: Oktober Surprise (5% festbier), a straight-forward, malty autumnal sipper.

• Montclair Brewery, Montclair: MB Lager (7% Munich dunkel), rich aroma and smooth mouthfeel with notes of light caramel, honey and bread.

• Oakflower Brewing, Millington: Oaktoberfest (5.5% m?rzen), medium-bodied with notes of bread crust, honey, baking spice and graham crackers.

• Ramstein Beer, Butler: Oktoberfest (6.5% m?rzen), an amber lager with rich malty aroma, a toasty palate, and subtle hoppy finish.

• Seven Tribesmen Brewery, Wayne: Harvest Days (5.3% m?rzen), malt-forward on the tongue with a hoppy finish.

2024 Oktoberfest events at North Jersey breweries

• Bolero Snort, Carlstadt: Noon-8 p.m., Sept. 14. Live music, food trucks, new brews, local vendors and a stein-hoisting competition. Carlstadt Village Green.

• Magnify Brewing, Fairfield: 2-6 p.m., Sept. 14. Live music, stein-holding competition, costume contest, food trucks and branded half-liter steins. 1275 Bloomfield Ave Building 7 Unit 40C, Fairfield.

• Ramstein Brewhaus, Butler: 2-5 p.m., Sept. 14. Free admission, food trucks, ceremonial barrel tapping by the mayor, free Oktoberfest glasses for first 100 attendees, music and more. 22 Park Place, Building 7, Butler.

• Seven Tribesmen Brewery, Wayne: Sept. 20-22, and Sept. 27-29. Food trucks, music, a sanctioned stein-holding competition and custom one-liter steins. 1151 NJ-23, Wayne.

• Brix City Brewing, Little Ferry: 12-10 p.m., Sept. 21. New beers, stein-hoisting competition, decorated taproom, food vendors and live music. Brix City Taproom, 4 Alsan Way, Little Ferry.

• Chilton Mill Brewing, Long Valley: 3-10 p.m on Sept. 21, 12-6 p.m. on Sept. 22. German lagers, stein-hoisting competition with prizes and live music. 59 E. Mill Road, Long Valley.

• Fort Nonsense Brewing, Randolph: Sept. 21-22. Sixteen beers on tap, live music, stein specials, stein-holding competitions with prizes, lawn games and make-your-own flower crowns on Sept. 21. 220 Franklin Road, Randolph.

• Montclair Brewery, Montclair: 1-10 p.m., Sept. 28. German-style beer, live music, food trucks, costume and stein-holding contests and outdoor games. 101 Walnut Street, Montclair.

• Autodidact Beer, Morris Plains. 12-11 p.m., Oct. 5. Boot glasses, live music, food trucks and Oktoberfest beer releases. 1745 Route 10 Suite 6, Morris Plains.

• Diamond Spring Brewery, Denville. 12-10 p.m. on Oct. 5, 12-6 p.m. on Oct. 6. 50 Broadway, Denville.

• Glenbrook Brewery, Morristown. Oct. 4-6. Beer, German music, stein-holding contests, German food, trivia, games and more. 95 Morris St., Morristown.

• Five Dimes Brewery, Westwood. Oct. 12. 247 Westwood Ave., Westwood.

Matt Cortina is a food writer for NorthJersey.com/The Record. Reach him at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: North Jersey Oktoberfest 2024: Where to go and what to drink