Ok I know we said we would cover Spaten Oktoberfest, but neither Jim nor I could get it, so we took a bit of a detour talking about Penn Oktoberfest and a bit more of the history of Oktoberfest.
News
September 30th was the national toast to Mr. Michael Jackson. All around the country last night at pubs, bars, restaurants, and beer joints, glasses were raised to honor the legendary beer writer. It was said that Duvel, a belgian beer which we have not yet covered but will when we get to that series, was his favorite beer. I know that I am going to be raising my glass later this week to him, because its is better late than never.
Oktoberfests both Gross and Specific
- The actual Oktoberfest heald in Munich Germany each year is made up of 14 tents that each serves a separate purpose, from Schottenhamel which is considered the most important tent because it is where the festival starts, to the Augustiner-Festhalle tent which features the local beer Augustiner.
- Penn Brewery throws their own Oktoberfest in Pittsburg, PA. The brewery is located in an area of town that is within view of the old Hienz Plant and looks very much like an old bavarian brewery.
- The Penn Oktoberfest and the Penn Dark beers. The Penn Oktoberfest beer had a distinctive bready taste, while still have some light hop character. The Dark, a german dunkel by contrast had a bit more roasty flavor, but still some of the same smoothness that you would expect from a german lager beer.
- In addition to Penn Brewery, I visited Church Brew Works. There over a dinner of Sauerbraten and peppercorn spaetzel, I enjoyed their version of the Oktoberfest, which was much more hoppy than the Penn Brewerys verison.
- While we are talking about Oktoberfests, we thought it would be great to mention one that Jake and I have worked the past two years but are unable to this year, Capital City Brewing Company and Shirlingtons Oktoberfest. This is a great fest that has a great variety of beers from a variety of brewers. And of course, it had a pretty good selection of german food and a great umpa band.
Next Week
So next week, I promise we will be talking about Spaten Oktoberfest. No, really, I swear we are going to. Finally, its about time we go with a real German beer.
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