Welcome to March, to Autumn, to the changing of the seasons, but most of all welcome to Märzen time.

At Aunty Jacks we take particular pride in the beers we make and perhaps no more so than in our very own Mair St Märzen. This beer is designed upon the classic Bavarian style that made the Oktoberfest celebrations so famous. It is a malt-driven lager of higher strength that exhibits more complex flavours and depth than a modern pale lager.

Our first iteration of Märzen was in fact our commissioning brew, a chance to test out the equipment and tidy up and leaks or blind spots before running a commercial batch. By using a more highly kilned malt for most of the grist and pushing the limits for how much extract the brewhouse could produce, what we managed was an elegant chestnut hued wort which had pleasant biscuit, slight toffee notes.

Upon fermenting the commission-brew the body of the finished beer was full, the aromas were more refined, and the taste was surprisingly clean for all the malt density. From here we knew the newly installed brewhouse played well with Märzen beer!

In Australia it is common for Märzen or Oktoberfest brewing to be reserved for the once a year festivals around September-October where brewers don their lederhosen and ham it up to the polka tunes. Our concept was slightly different – by brewing this for consumption in March as well we would be enjoying the beer in the correct seasonal climate as our counterparts in the Northern Hemisphere. This developed into our taproom pouring Märzen for 2 stretches of the year, increasing its popularity to the point we realised, it pretty much needed year round coverage!

From this ability to brew our Märzen more frequently and fine tune what was already a flavourful drop, we were extremely fortunate and humbled to receive a gold medal at the 2023 AIBAs and in turn the Champion Trophy for ‘Best European style Lager’. Not bad for a brewhouse situated in the heart of Ballarat CBD, brewing Märzen* just off Mair** St.

*(pronounced “mare-tsen”)

**(pronounced “mare”)