Oktoberfest Party at Bayern

Saturday, Sep. 3, there will be a big kickoff to the Oktoberfest season at Bayern; a party with live Oom-Pah music, special beer offerings, a special menu from Edelweiss Bistro and more!

A live performance by the touring OomPah band S-Bahn (follow this link to check out their website) will entertain everyone at Bayern Brewing and this performance is planned to be in a special expanded beer garden in the parking lot and adjacent lot. Based out of the Pacific Northwest, they tour around the Western US (and beyond) and are slated to play the German Fest in Caras Park the following day. They're a lot of fun and many are excited for this performance. It is going to make a great party that much better.

Special beer offerings include the traditional wooden barrel tapping that will occur at the brewery weekly during the Oktoberfest season (September). The wooden barrel will contain (what else?) Bayern's Oktoberfest Lager, a dark "Fest Beer" fashioned after the beer that was served at the very first Oktoberfest celebrations in Munich, Germany. In addition, there will also be a firkin tapped containing Bourbon Vanilla Oktoberfest. We experimented with this and a few other cask-conditioned varieties, deciding that this one would be a real crowd pleaser for "Beer Nerds" as well as anyone who appreciates something interesting and new from Bayern.

The Edelweiss Bistro is planning some special menu items for the event. I'm not sure if they will also include most of their regular items or if they're just going to create one special, traditional plate offered at the event as they have done in the past. I will update this blog post with that information as soon as I find out. No matter what, its going to be super-tasty and complementary to the beer and the celebration in general.

For those of you who are concerned about missing the Griz game that evening, we plan to have a projection screen TV to show the game on a big screen outdoors as well as in the Taproom and the Bistro. You may be a bit distracted by all the other fun going on though!

Those who show up in Oktoberfest attire, such as the traditional Lederhosen, Dirndl (or something to the effect) will receive a free draft beer!

On a bit of a side note, you might like to read the Bayern Brewsletter from Fall 2009, which contains a bit of history about the very 1st Oktoberfest and why it is actually celebrated in September, even though it is called "Oktoberfest".

This may very well be the biggest, best Oktoberfest Party Bayern Brewing has thrown thus far. You won't want to miss it. Until then, ~Prost!