Contemplating hoppy Märzens, or fall/autumn IPAs

Deschutes Brewery Hopzeit Autumn IPA

While tippling a bottle of Deschutes Brewery‘s Hopzeit Autumn IPA the other night (one that the brewery sent me), I was reflecting on the fact that I ran across two other fall seasonals also essentially labeling themselves “hoppy Märzens” recently. (Here’s a bit of background from Hopzeit’s release two years ago.) At the Columbia Beverage trade show, these were BridgePort Brewing‘s Hoptoberfest IPA and Two Beer Brewing‘s Northwest Oktoberfest.

Hoptoberfest is described as a “hoppy, Märzen-inspired IPA” and it happens to be a fresh hop beer as well. Even though I only had a sample, it did indeed seem that there was a Märzen malt body with a crisp bitterness and floral finishing hops. Because it was billed as a hoppy Märzen I thought of Hopzeit, though the beer itself didn’t remind me of Hopzeit, if that makes sense. It’s a solid beer and falls well into this category of “autumn IPA” to my mind.

Two Beers Brewing, out of Seattle, isn’t calling its Northwest Oktoberfest anything “IPA” related but there is an emphasis on “Northwest” — meaning, hops. The description I found on Untappd reads, “With biscuity malt on the palate, we’ve added our own touch to this Bavarian lager by dry-hopping with Ahtanum and Citra hops.” And indeed, I found it to be noticeably hoppy, as well as a bit on the dry side. Maybe not enough to fully consider it in this IPA-like category but definitely going for that fusion.

Three beers does not a trend make. And I’ve seen other beers labeled “autumn IPA” that are simply seasonally-released IPAs, without attempting to Märzenize them. But I’m intrigued by this idea of Märzen IPA, or autumn IPA, or hoppy Märzen, or whatever you want to call it. I observed with Hopzeit that perhaps it’s reminiscent of Sticke Alt, perhaps an Americanized version. Which, yes, means attaching the “IPA” label to it in some form.

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