OKTOBERFEST!

This weekend Cincinnati will celebrate Oktoberfest. The official celebration in Munich starts this weekend as well. In honor of this wonderful festival, I am posting some information about the event.

Oktoberfest History

The very first Oktoberfest celebration was on October 12, 1810, held in honor of the wedding of Prince Ludwig (later King Ludwig I) and Princess Therese of Sachsen-Hildburghausen in Bavaria, city of Munich. The festival returned for 1811 and 1812, but it was called off in 1812 due to involvement in the Napoleonic war. In the year 1816 the town took over control of the management of the festivities and determined the event would occur each year. Since at least 1872, the celebration has started on a Saturday in September, lasting 16 days, and typically ending on the first Sunday in October. The festival moved to September due to the better weather. The event has been canceled 24 times due to disease, war or emergency.

Bad Beer

In the years 1946-1948 Munich celebrated "Autumn Fest" but Oktoberfest beer was not permitted and beer alcohol content was limited to less than 2%.

Too Much Beer

There is a medical tent setup to deal with those that drink too much. Here is a new word for you, the drunk people are called "Bierleichen" (beer corpses.)

Huge Festival

It is considered the Largest People's Fair in the World, with six million visitors. The 64,000 square meters of ground where Oktoberfest is celebrated are named Theresienwiese after the Princess and bride of Prince Ludwig. There are 14 large semi-permanent tents setup to sell beer or wine. There is seating for approximately 100,000 people.

Beer, Beer and more Beer

There are six Oktoberfest breweries, Spaten, Augustiner, Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr, Hofbräuhaus and Löwenbräu. In total they sell more than 6 million mugs of beer. The city government approved the sale of beer at the festival in 1880. In 1892 beer was first served in glass mugs. The mugs are made of a heavy glass with the brewery logo on the side. It is against the law to steal the mugs, but most can be purchased. Police will search bags for stolen mugs and issues fines.

Das Boot

The word Das Boot is now famous thanks to two movies, the anti-war German submarine movie in 1981 and the 2006 comedy Beerfest. Das Bot is a German word meaning "the boat." In Beerfest "Das Boot" was the name for the glass boot of beer. Drinking out a boot-shaped glass is common at parties in German, Austrian and Swiss bars around the world. The small boot holds a pint, while the traditional large boot holds 2 liters. Legend has it that back in WWI German soldiers had no glasses to drink their beer, so they filled up their boot and drank, and "Das Boot" was started. If you have not seen Beerfest you may not know how to handle the air bubble that builds up in the toe of the glass boot.

Brats

Bratwursts were first sold at booths in 1881. The word bratwurst is derived from Old High German, brät is a fine chopped meat and wurst is sausage.

Other Cities

There are other cities around the world that celebrate Oktoberfest such as Cincinnati, Ohio; Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, Canada; Blumenau, Brazil; La Crosse, Wisconsin; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Appleton, Wisconsin; Addison, Texas; Shiner, TX; Helen, Georgia; Newport, Rhode Island; Irondequoit, New York; Hermann, Missouri; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Hickory, North Carolina; Campbell, California; and Denver, Colorado. There are also large celebrations in Australia and Argentina.

Oktoberfest-Zinzinnati

The current version held in Cincinnati traces back to 1976 and claims to be the largest Oktoberfest in North American with 500,000 people. The most popular food item at the festival in Cincinnati is the mettwurst. The mettwurst is a strong flavored sausage made with raw minced pork that is curred and smoked. The word mettwurst is derived from Low German and Old Saxon mett means minced pork without bacon, similar to the Old Saxon word meti which means food. Mettwurst can be cooked, spread over rye bread or eaten raw.

Enjoy Oktoberfest. It is a short season, so stop by one of your local beer carry-outs or bars to try some great beer this month. Or better yet go to an Oktoberfest festival!

Wee Heavy #22 Scotch Ale

Procedure
This was the third all grain beer. I was assisted by Scott with this beer. I roasted some pilsner malt before doing the mash. The same lauter tun was used, although it required two staggered sessions, due to the large amount of grains, 22 pounds! I did the hop additions as noted in the recipe. I had a two week primary and two week secondary. It took the beer almost 4 weeks to properly carbonate, not sure why.

The Name

(the label)

The full name of this beer is Wee Heavy #22 90 Schilling Scotch Ale. I simply call it Wee Heavy #22. Wee Heavy and 90 Schilling are designations given to a Scottish Ales with certain alcohol, in this case 8%. The #22 refers to the fact that this beer used 22 pounds of grain, which is almost twice what I have used for other beers.

Review
This turned out well and is getting rave reviews. It has such a unique "sweet malt" taste and the hops are very low. The carbonation is perfect. It has a dark color. There is a hint of a smoky smell, which is actually from the yeast, not the roasted malt. Most people, including myself, have not had the pleasure of getting to drink that many Scottish beers, so this is a nice alternative to traditional beers. This is a good dessert or after dinner beer, perhaps with a cigar. Although you would not likely drink more than one a night.

WHEAT-EES Hefeweizen

Procedure
This was my second all grain. I milled the grains at the store and used Nick's lauter tun to extract the sugars. I did a 90 minute boil with my new large 8-9 gallon pot on the burner. I did the hop additions as specified in the directions. I was not able to fit all of the sugar water in the pot, but as it boiled down I added more to the pot. Eventually 9 gallons boiled down to 4.5 gallons of wort. I have video and pictures up on this previous post describing how active this beer was during primary fermentation.

The Name

(the label)

I enjoyed making this label. When looking for clipart for wheat, I kept running into Wheeties box pictures, so I decided I would do my own version. Instead of an athlete, like the cereal, I have a picture of some old farmers drinking some beer. I claim they are German farmers, but no one believes me.

Review
This is one of my favorite beers I have made. I think it is a very accurate and tastes like a German brand such as Paulaner. It is a nice light summer beer, that was refreshing every time I had one. In fact I was very reluctant to distribute this one, because I wanted it all to myself! I only will drink it out of my proper wheat glass, so I get the desired appearance, head and aroma.
It has a great cloudy appearance.

In tastings, other people have not rated this as highly as me. That being said, most people that have tasted the beer don't drink a lot of wheat beers, so it may be a bit out of the norm. Also, when people have tasted it, they are comparing to my other offerings, which have a much stronger taste. It also tasted different than most American Wheat beers.

I will post other reviews soon.

Bring It On! ESB

Recipe
Will be posted soon.

Procedure
This was our first all grain recipe. Nick devised a lauter tun from a piece of copper, a cork, some tubing, a clamp, and a bottling bucket. I described the lauter tun in this post. Once we extracted the sugars we started the boil. I did not have my new 8-9 gallon pot, so we used two burners and two 5 gallon posts. We split the hops between the two pots. We implemented a secondary fermentation.

The Name

(the label)

I called this "Bring It On!" because it was our first attempt at an all-grain. I was saying to the world, "Bring It On!" Just like King Kong, who is pictured on the label.

Review
There have been good reviews. Extra Special Bitters (ESB) have a unique taste. They in fact are not bitter. It has a very malty taste. The carbonation is low. It has a dark brown color. I think our first all-grain was a big success!

I'll post other reviews soon.