The BA guidelines called for an amber or bronze-colored lager with a firm, lightly roasted malt body. Take a sip of some of the best American versions - Samuel Adams Oktoberfest or Victory Festbier - and that's what you get.
But anyone who has been to Munich, Germany's, Oktoberfest in recent years could tell you that the beer they're serving in those giant tents is pale, almost blond.
The German judges spoke up and, in a move that was unnoticed outside of brewing circles, the BA rewrote the guidelines for Oktoberfestbier. Starting at last year's Great American Beer Festival in Denver, which also follows the BA style guidelines, the prototypical Munich festival beer would be (gasp!) golden.
To understand the significance of the change, you have to appreciate the style's storied history.
For the first 60 years of the annual Oktoberfest celebration, Bavaria drank dark brown beer, just as it had for centuries. The color was the product of deeply roasted malt.
By the mid-19th century, though, as new roasting methods were developed, European brewers were perfecting lighter-colored lagers. In Bohemia and elsewhere, golden pilsner was gaining popularity. In Vienna, brewing pioneer Anton Dreher had developed a classic, red-hued lager.
In 1872, Josef Sedlmayr brought the new style to Munich's festival.
Sedlmayr was the son of one of the world's great brewing legends, Gabriel I, the former brewmaster of the Bavarian royal court and head of the Spaten brewery. (It is the elder Sedlmayr's initials, GS, that are emblazoned on the brewery's bottles to this day.)
