Oktoberfest Lineup

It’s Oktoberfest time! Oktoberfest was first held in 1810 as a celebration of the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. Citizens of Munich were invited to join in the festivities to celebrate the joyous event.

And that’s all well and good, but what Oktoberfest is really about is beer. Really good beer.

Nowadays Oktoberfest is the largest festival in the world, drawing 6 million people. Drinking beer.

One of the best times of my life was in Munich, where we partook in the real Oktoberfest experience. Huge tents with polka bands, radishes, pretzels, chicken, and people, having the time of their lives drinking… did I mention… beer.

At one point we sat in one of the major brewery tents with a billiards team from the Netherlands. They were friendly and, well, drunk, and they kept buying me radishes. Theo was a very large man, with a very large head, and he was wearing a tiny, tiny red hat that barely perched atop his head. They had, for reasons that seemed obscure at first, brought a 80+ year old lady with them. We drank wtih them for several hours before realizing that the 80 year old woman could drink the lot of us under the table.

My Hero.

In one of the tents we met a youngish German couple who dreamed of moving to Seattle. The gentleman was quick to tell Greg how lucky he was, as he didn’t need to split his beer with me – I was drinking my own beer, beer for beer, counter to the tradition of ordering one beer per couple.

As we wandered the brewery tents we were told that no one could smuggle the authentic and offical Oktoberfest mugs from the grounds. Never one to back down from a challenge, I plotted and planned, and drank enough to attempt the feat. As we walked out of the gates carrying 2 official mugs, we were applauded by the rest of the jovial crowd. We still have those mugs around here somewhere

If you like beer and fun, and an experience like no other that you are likely to face in your life, Oktoberfest is the place for you.

And speaking of beer, some of our favorites Oktoberfests include Spaten, Paulaner, and Capital Brewery beers. But for a real treat, try the Capital Autumnal fire, a doppelbock style Oktoberfest. But trust me, I’ll blog one day about that beer in it’s own entry – because it really deserves it!

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