Sidebar:
Oktoberfest recipes

Munich’s Oktoberfest celebrates its 200th anniversary this year. Originally a public celebration of the wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria and Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen on 17 October, 1810, it did not feature any beer or food stands at all, but a horse race. 
 
This year a horse race in traditional costumes will celebrate that anniversary on the meadow that has carried the princess’ name ever since.
 
The Theresienwiese fairground or Wies’n is host to the largest people’s fair in the world with more than six million visitors during the two weeks. Wies’n is also what the locals call the festival.
 
Unlike its name indicates the Oktoberfest actually begins in September with the mayor of Munich tapping the first keg of beer shouting: O’zapft is (oh tsapfft is) or ‘it’s tapped’!
 
The Oktoberfest itself is not only about beer, food and a fun fair but also about Bavarian culture with traditional music and a procession in historical costumes called Trachten.
 
So no matter whether you go to Munich or you have your own Oktoberfest party, don your lederhosen or dirndl and sample some of the typical Oktoberfest brew together with some German food.
 
The beer
Only Munich’s six breweries are allowed to produce the special festival brew, which is high in alcohol (about 6 per cent) and served as a mass - a one litre stein. The dark amber or copper Oktoberfest beer is based on a traditional Maerzen or March recipe that contained more alcohol and hop to help preserve and mature the beer during the spring and summer months.
 
Typically the final barrels had to be emptied in September and October to make way for freshly brewed beers after the summer harvest, thus providing local brewers with the opportunity for a drinking festival.
 
Nowadays, the most popular beer at the Oktoberfest is the Bavarian pale ale known as Helles.

Weisswurst, pretzels and Helles
In contrast to what most foreigners might expect, the typical accompaniment of the Helles is not a sausage but a doughy pretzel called Brezn in the Bavarian dialect. The huge amount of salt on the Brezn will certainly contravene every European Union health norm, but it also gives fresh thirst for more beer.
 
Although no longer the crowd favourite as in the 1950s and 60s, there are still more than 100,000 sausages consumed each year at the Wies’n. But the most widely sold food at the fair is actually rotisserie chicken known as Hendl, accounting for half a million portions each year.
 
The more traditional food is Weisswurst, a veal sausage, that is not boiled but left in hot water for a few minutes. Its skin is not edible but the filling is delicious and usually consumed with sweet mustard and a Brezn. Locals at the Oktoberfest will often eat radishes and platters with bread, cheese and cold cuts, vinegar based potato salads or Obatzda, a cheese spread made from Camembert, onions, butter, salt and paprika.
 
More hearty dishes include oxen, red cabbage and dumplings, but there is also Steckerlfisch, a fish, such as mackerel, herring or freshwater alternatives, grilled on a stick over charcoal.

Beer halls
If you do go to the Oktoberfest, it is important to choose the right tent to get the desired party atmosphere. In some beer tents the teenage party atmosphere dominates - bear in mind in Germany you are allowed to drink beer from age 16 - in others the traditional Bavarian umpah band delivers the cultural ambience.
 
Although there is seating for over 70,000 people inside the various tents, they do fill up quickly and seating space has to be considered scarce, especially on weekends and during the evenings. It is therefore imperative to arrive early, ideally before midday. And no, in Germany that’s not too early for a beer.   WH