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!