The most wonderful time for a beer
So, it’s been a couple of weeks since the discussion of pumpkin beers went around. Did you try any? What did you think?
I tried one of the beers on offer at the NLC and for me it was enjoyable, but my significant other said it tasted like a New England candle and handed it over to me after one sip.
As I said, it tends to be a polarizing style and that was certainly obvious in this case. So, while you’re planning your Halloween costume, what else comes to mind in the big world of beer?
Yes, of course I’m talking about Oktoberfest! Most people who drink beer have heard of Oktoberfest.
As many people are aware, the actual Oktoberfest is a massive event that happens every year in Munich on the 77-acre Theresienwiese, which was named after the bride of the original wedding event: Princess Therese of Sachsen-Hildburghausen.
This particular event happened on Oct. 17, 1810 when Crown Prince Ludwig married her to cement political ties as was common in earlier eras.
His father, Maximilian I Joseph, put together a two-day festival to celebrate the wedding and it was a good one, with free food and beer offered at four different locations as well as a horse race that happened on the current Theresienwiese.
It’s obvious that the original event was a success as it’s still going strong 200-plus years later, and it’s a monster. Can you imagine a beer event lasting 16 to 18 days?
In modern times it takes up the last two weeks of September up to the first Sunday in October, a time change from mid-October back in the day to take advantage of better weather.
What makes this thing truly amazing is that they average roughly 6 million visitors per year; the record is 7.1 million back in 1985.
That is a massive amount of people drinking a massive amount of beer when you consider that an average 16-day event sells 6.5 million servings of one-litre glasses, often called masskrugs. I don’t know about you, but that concept boggles my mind.
Locally they call it the Wiesn or, in English, “meadow.” It is touted as the largest folk festival in Germany and they make it a lot of fun with huge beer tents.
With only Munich’s largest breweries legally being allowed to set up, they have it figured out when it comes to packing in the bodies.
For example, Schottenhamel seats 6,000 people inside, and for the hardier or late, 4,000 in the outdoor beer garden.
Some might remember the Hofbrau beer that went through the NLC awhile back; they’re there, too, with almost 7,000 folks inside and just over 3,000 outside.
There are a number of these breweries and they host many, many people.
The actual beer styles found at the event have changed over the years. Originally it was a dunkel or dark beer that held favour for the first 60 years or so; then, at a later event, Spaten brewery ran out of dark lager and the owner of sister brewery Spaten-Leistbrau offered up his son’s strong bock beer which remained popular until the First World War.
After the Second World War, red/brown marzenbiers were the dominant style, but they fell by the wayside after 1990 when the golden-coloured fest beers more closely related to helles beers became the norm, as they still are.
If you would like to attend, you might also want to consider Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont., which holds the biggest Bavarian event in North America from Oct. 9-17. It’s a little closer and is sure to be a lot of fun.