Saint Arnold Brewing, the oldest craft brewery in the state of Texas, is set to release the latest in its Icon series. The new beer is Icon Red, a Marzen style beer available just in time for the Oktoberfest season.
Marzen style beers have their origins in Germany. We like to refer to these beers as Oktoberfest, but Marzen is the original name. Dating back to the 1500’s, Marzen beers, named for the month of March, were traditionally the last beer brewed during this early spring month. This was significant because March brewed beer would last until September, right in time to celebrate the fall season.
Icon Red stays true to the German roots of this widely celebrated beer. Saint Arnold founder and brewer Brock Wagner wanted to brew a Marzen beer using 100 percent Munich malt and he wanted a beer that was brewed using the same methods that made the original Oktoberfest beers in Germany so special.
“This is a version of Märzen style beer that I have always wanted to do,” said Wagner. “Our goal was to create depth and complexity in this beer which has a very simple recipe.”
Icon Red, as promised, is brewed with an all Munich malt recipe. The recipe includes Perle and Hersbrucker hops along with a Bavarian lager yeast- the same yeast used in other Saint Arnold beers like 5 O’Clock Pils, Spring Bock, and Summer Pils. The result is a beer that contains 5.8 percent alcohol by volume and 21 IBU of bitterness. Most importantly, Icon Red is German to its very core, with all of its ingredients coming from the European heartland.
Saint Arnold Icon beers are a series of different beers that rotate throughout the year. They are usually available for about three months at a time and are distributed in bottles and on draft. For more information on the Icon series, visit online at http://www.saintarnold.com/icon/.
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