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Märzen Madness and Florida Festbier


Limericks for Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest beckons anew
With festivities, hullabaloo.
I’ll parse Märzens for you
So you’ll know what to do
At your bottle shop picking out brew.

If you can’t fly to Munich, don’t worry—
American brewers have scurried
To release in due season
The beer lover’s reason
For drinking outdoors before flurries.



When it’s Autumn and weather behaves,
Tis the malts that the beer lover craves.
Don’t put pumpkin in beer!
(That’s for baked goods, my dear.)
Märzen madness tastes good, not depraved.

I’ve a trio of them that I tried,
Independents that I verified—
Ranging sweeter to less so
(More roasty, more bread dough),
These Märzenbiers drunk side-by-side.

The one from Sam Adams is smooth
And fulfills the demanding sweet tooth.
It pours dark-amber clear—
A straight-on Märzenbier—
Like a liquid dessert (that’s the truth).

The Märzen from Founders brings glow
To Oktoberfest tables I know.
It’s sweet-forward, a wisp
of tang finish that’s crisp—
And it meets all the Reinheitsgebot.

From Left Hand comes a Märzen that’s tarter
To boost your Oktoberfest larder.
It’s more golden than red
With a lively tongue spread,
Lightly bold: a stylistic departer.

If you don’t enjoy Märzens, don’t fear!
Pour yourself a refreshing Festbier
Like this one from Green Bench.
It will certainly quench
Your drier Fest cravings this year.

A Floridian quaffable lager,
It’s Vienna-meets-Helles. I’ll wager
That its audible bubbles
Your pleasure redoubles.
Let’s Oktoberfest, lager engagers!


MARSHA BRYANT writes about modernism, poetry, women's writing, popular culture, and pedagogy. Her recent essays have appeared in Feminist Modernist Studies, The Classics in Modernist Translation, and The Conversation. Bryant is Associate Editor of Contemporary Women's Writing, and Professor of English & Distinguished Teaching Scholar at the University of Florida.


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