By Joe Wiebe
Every year, on a Saturday in mid-September, the Mayor of Munich hammers a tap into a huge wooden cask of beer and yells out “O’zapft is!" meaning “It’s tapped!" in the local Austro-Bavarian dialect of German.
Over the next two-and-a-half weeks, more than six million people will visit the original – and world’s largest – Oktoberfest celebration in the heart of Munich and consume quantities of special beer brewed specially for the festival.
This year marks the 201st anniversary of the first Oktoberfest, which was held on October 12, 1810 to honour the marriage of Prince Ludwig of Bavaria to Maria Theresia of Austria-Este (Therese). The original celebration lasted six days, culminating in a horse race on the final day. Over centuries, the event was expanded and moved forward to begin in September, to take advantage of warmer weather. Munich’s Oktoberfest always ends on the first Sunday in October, except in years when that Sunday falls on October 1st or 2nd, as it does in 2011. Germany’s Reunification Day is October 3rd, so on those years the festival runs an extra day or two to finish up on the holiday.
Oktoberfest in Munich is not just about beer. The festival is family-friendly with legendary oompah-pah marching bands, carnival rides and games for people of all ages. Many traditional foods are served, including schweinebraten (roast pork), schweinshaxe (grilled ham hock), knödel (potato or bread dumplings), sauerkraut and Bavarian delicacies like weisswurst (white sausage). More than 500,000 chickens and 120 entire oxen are roasted each year, and, perhaps surprisingly, more than 100,000 litres of wine and sparkling wine are consumed on the festival grounds.
Festhallen
However, the main focus is, of course, the beer. Each year, 14 mammoth beer tents (actually semi-permanent buildings) and numerous smaller ones are erected on the Theresienwiese (literally Therese’s field, named after Price Ludwig’s bride), or the “Wiesn,” as the locals call it. These Festhallen are massive, ranging from about 1,000 seats up to close to 10,000, and they only serve beer from six Munich breweries: Augustiner, Hacker-Pschorr, Hofbräu, Löwenbräu, Paulaner and Spaten.
The tents fill up quickly, so without a reservation (which are taken months in advance), you need to get there early – by noon on a weekday and as early as 10:00 a.m. on a weekend. Once they are full, it is almost impossible to get in because people don’t give up their seats until the beer taps turn off at 11:30 p.m. Each tent has its own character and style, from the lion that roars and drinks from a glass above the entrance to the Löwenbräu tent to the colourful and trendy Hippodrom, the place to see and be seen among the younger singles. The Armbrustschützen tent features a crossbow competition and the Hacker-Festzelt tent is nicknamed “Himmel der Bayern” (Bavarian Heaven) because of its ceiling painted with clouds and stars.
Gemütlichkeit
This German word, which roughly translates in English to mean congeniality or cozy friendliness, is a popular expression at the Oktoberfest in Munich as well as at similar celebrations held all around the world. Here in Canada, the twin cities of Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, have hosted their own version since 1969, and claim it is the world’s second largest, with more than 700,000 annual visitors. The Canadian festival runs for nine days over Thanksgiving and features a parade, concerts, a Miss Oktoberfest pageant, barrel-rolling competitions and, of course, plenty of Festhallen in which to drink beer and enjoy the gemütlichkeit.
Prosit!
Finally, let’s talk about the beer! The kind served at Oktoberfest in Munich is a specific German style called Märzen, which dates back to pre-refrigeration days when brewers would produce one final, special batch of beer in March (hence the name) before it became too warm for them to brew. It would be stored in cool, ice-filled caves or cellars for consumption throughout the spring and summer. Brewed extra-strong with more hops than usual to help preserve it, the result was a delicious beer that matured especially well. When grain and hops were harvested in the fall, brewers needed to empty all the remaining casks for the new brewing season, so it made sense to throw a big party – a regular occurrence long before Oktoberfest began.
Märzenbier is darker than typical German lager – amber, almost orange in colour. It is also slightly stronger at about six percent alcohol by volume, something important to remember since it is often served in a one-litre glass called a masskrug. The price for one of these big beers at Oktoberfest (equivalent to about three typical bottles or cans of beer here in Canada) is just under nine euros, or about $12.50 CAD.
Only breweries that are based within Munich’s municipal boundaries have the right to serve beer at Oktoberfest, so you won’t find any mass-market, international brands there. Bavarian brewers pride themselves on the quality of their beer, so you can be sure that you won’t be disappointed.
More than seven million litres of beer were consumed at last year’s Oktoberfest. With that sort of success, most of the breweries generally don’t ship their special Märzenbier outside of Bavaria, so it is difficult to actually taste it anywhere else. All the more reason to make the journey! But in the meantime, you can get into the Oktoberfest spirit by trying some of the great German beers available right here in British Columbia.
Celebrate a little Oktoberfest with these beers available at BC Liquor Stores. (Hint: click on products to find out where to buy.)
Located in Friesing, about half an hour north of munich, weihenstephan claims to be the oldest brewery in the world, dating back nearly 1,000 years. this delicious, dark and cloudy wheat beer is one of their finest creations.
to drink this hefeweizen in the authentic German manner, pour most of it into a tall, thin glass, then twirl the remainder in the bottle to stir up the yeasty sediment. Finally, pour the rest into your glass, take a sip, and say, “Sehr Gut!”
one of Germany’s bestselling brands, warsteiner is the quintessential German Pilsner: light, crisp and very quaffable.
From another resident oktoberfest brewery, this golden beer is closer in style and body to the Märzen served in the munich Festhallen. it’s a delicious, refreshing beer, perfect with sausages or just on its own.
Löwenbräu is one of only six munich breweries allowed to serve beer at oktoberfest. while this light yellow lager is not as strong or rich as the style brewed for the oktoberfest, Löwenbräu original is still a fine example of the German helles style.
a hamburg brewery, you won’t find holsten in a munich Festhalle, but trying this festbock might be a good way to get into an oktoberfest mood. rich and malty with caramel and toffee tinges,this amber beer is the German equivalent to a scottish ale.
