IT’S ALL ABOUT THE BEER!

OKTOBERFESTS

Football season is in full swing; unless you’re the NY Football Giants and you’ve decided not to start playing; but autumn IS here and what that means there are a number of very very good reasons to drink beer. It's the time of Oktoberfests folks and here in southeastern Pennsylvania there are enough festivals dedicated to liquid gold there is no reason to book airline tickets to Munich Germany where the whole silly Bavarian bacchanalian celebration began nearly 200  years ago.

Here is a website about the original oom-pah party which began as a wedding celebration to a King Ludwig in 1810. This year's Oktoberbest in Munich began on September 16 and will go until October 3^rd.

OKTOBERFEST IN MUNICH

Want to see what you’re missing in Munich? Here’s a link to a webcam:

OKTOBERFEST LIVE CAM

NO BUDS FOR YOU

According to tradition only original Munich beer is sold at the beer tents and each maintain strict adherence to the "Reinheitsgebot", the Bavarian Purity Requirements for beer.  There are six breweries represented: Augustiner (a personal favorite), Hacker Pschorr, Hofbrau, Lowenbraur, Paulaner and Spaten. Not an IPA in the bunch. 

Here's a BBC article about the Reinheitsgebot:

PURITY LAWS

HOME IS WHERE THE BEER IS

Can’t make it to Munich? I didn't think so and neither can Team VFH and right about now you're thinking there's too much effort going on with beer between logistics and what can be drunk. But, here is a small collection of festivals dedicated to liquid bread in the Philadelphia area that is all about having some beers with friends:

PHILADELPHIA AREA OKTOBERFESTS

Autumn is a very popular time for beer and doubly so in this area that really likes its beer. It seems there's an Oktoberfest everywhere you look, even the Philadelphia Zoo had its own version of an Oktoberfest; alas too late for this year.

PHILADELPHIA ZOO EVENTS

RIDE SALLY RIDE

Heck, celebrations are literally down the street from us in Collegeville. The local Appalachian Brewing Company establishment (a small chain) is hosting their yearly Oktoberfest Ride for bicyclers on October 22nd. Though the Reinheitsgebot will NOT be represented here, you can literally hold your breath and walk from our place to APC. The challenging course which begins and ends at the brewery covers approximately 62 miles.

OKTOBERFEST RIDE AT APC

STOUDTS

A personal Oktoberfest favorite of mine is the month long celebration at Stoudts in Adamstown near Reading. I have gone a couple of times over the years. There's a large dance hall and music to go with the lederhosen and great beers. The highlight of the day is the parade of the roasted pig and the tasty beast leads a cha cha line through the place as the oom-pah band plays... I know I know there might be TOO much excitement. But heck, it's better than watching the Giants lose another game. Ein PROST!

STOUDTS OKTOBERFEST  

FUN-TOBER?

O'ZAPFT IS!

Your humble scribe of all things cheap and fun hasn’t had much fun lately. I’ve been sequestered in the dark cold confines of control rooms busily working, working, working. I’m “tapped out,” as it were. But, I know there is a big world there, like the one I see on TV, and people out there, somewhere, are having fun. If freed from these chains of commerce though, I have a fun wish list a mile long, but as this is October I’ll whittle it down to two favorites, Oktoberfest and apple picking.

GET YOUR OOMP-AH ON

Oktoberfest begins with the proclamation “O’Zapft Is!”… It is tapped. And, that’s about as much information about the traditions and history of this 16 day German celebration here. You can read about how it began in Munich in the early 1800’s elsewhere. You can fret that in America the beers served at the myriad of copycat fairs and harvests and Oktoberfests around the country may not have been brewed within the city limits of Munich or that German purity laws, or Reinheitsgebot, are ignored, but I won’t. You may even say that Oktoberfest begins in September and should be over by now, that no matter how many German Oomp-ah bands honk and chortle, no matter how many people cavort in a chicken dance, eat pretzels, follow around the two guys dancing with a roasted pig on a spit over their shoulders, no matter how many Alphorns warble, it can’t be Oktoberfest because it’s over! I say, I’m gonna elbow past you to get to the bar.

If I get out of this dark room anytime soon I’m going to try to hit three different places.

Zeppelin Hall Biergarten

One is the Zeppelin Hall Biergarten, 297 Grand Street, Jersey City, NJ. It’s loud and airy and a lot of fun. Live bands, but no lederhosen. It’s more hipster than anything else, but the array of beers is fascinating. They claim to have Oktoberfest festivities through to the next October. 

ZEPPELIN HALL - JERSEY CITY, NJ 

Radegast Hall & Biergarten

More traditional in its beer offerings, the Radegast Hall & Biergarten has a lot of German beers on tap. Located on the corner of North Third and Berry in the hipster capital of the world, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Radegast is vast, with live bands, but still no lederhosen. Food is exceptional here. Spring for the Currywurst or Venison Sausage!

RADEGAST HALL - WILLIAMSBURG

Stoudt’s Brewery

The Oktoberfest experience in Stoudt’s, North Reading Road, Adamstown, PA, is much more traditional and worth the long drive out there. Indeed, here you’ll find men in Lederhosen and families doing the chicken dance. They serve only their beer here, but when the two guys with a roasted pig on a spit slung between their shoulders shimmy along the dance floor you’ll swear you hit the jackpot by saving on the airfare to Munich. $30 gets you 3 drinks and a mug and all the knee slapping fun you can handle. 

Their Oktoberfest goes on every Sunday through to the end of the month.

 STOUDTS - ADAMSTOWN, PA

Tree-Licious Orchards

Apple picking is fun and I’ve been doing it for years with the kids. I remember great times trolling the rows with the kids communicating via walkie talkies as to where to find the best apples. Countless families have similar experiences, but for me what makes Tree-Licious in Port Murray, NJ special is its solitude. The rolling hills make for beautiful scenery and the rural setting makes for sparser crowds. There have been times our only other contact while at the farm was their Yellow Lab who would lope along with us. Supposedly they are only open on the weekend, but we always managed to talk our way in during the week. (There we go, the chains of commerce forcing me to work weekends even back then…sigh).

It’s too late for their Apple Festival held last weekend, but you can pick apples until November 22^nd.. Come for the apples, the cider and fresh baked goods, or just hang out in this beautiful setting in western Jersey. Earlier in the growing season you can pick your own peaches, plums and pears and for the first time this year through Halloween you can pick your own pumpkins.

This weekend, October 17^th, Tree-licious is holding their final Farm to Table dinner of the year. This BYOB series, features food grown on the farm, costs $35 per person. There will be live music.

TREELICIOUS ORCHARDS

Please! Some of you get out there and enjoy life! Please....