Oktoberfest has started, what beer are you drinking?

It is not really like any other beer I have had except any of the beers brewed by monks during lent. Since they are supposed to moderate what they eat during that time as a sacrifice, they started a tradition of brewing beer that is really heavy so that they could presumably stay fat and round in monk tradition ..in the process they way up-ed the alcohol content...probably to alleviate the boredom of living in a monastery with a bunch of other smelly guys in robes Basically any beer which ends with -tor like Salva-tor or Impera-tor (which tastes awful) are beers brewed during this time period. In March there is a week long festival which is very similar to Oktoberfest except that there are virtually no foreigners there (except for me)and they serve the beer in 1 L Mass glasses. The deal is, the beer tastes great when it is cold but like dirty dishwater as it gets warmer.People drink the beer pretty fast as a result...I watched a scottish colleague of mine try to drink 4 L of the stuff when I challenged him...the last thing he said after he got about half way through his 3rd L was "rarhghaarahaaarhallllaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!"

Maybe this could be the beginning of a McFall Rosetta stone? He drinks a Liter and writes something down. I drink a liter and tell somebody sober what it means and they write it down and post it.

I think part of the reason that most europeans handle alcohol better is that they learn to drink in moderation early and usually for the taste. There are about 4,000 different beers in Germany alone, not because of a desire to get plastered but for the enjoyment of the taste. The same with wine. Most kids first drink with their families with a meal and learn to appreciate it. My experience growing up in New York was drinking was to to get as plastered as quickly and cheaply as possible. Here, I rarely see people (outside of Oktoberfest) getting hammered and stumbling around and nobody thinks it is cool if you get drunk and behave like an ass. I lived in Spain for a while to and it was the same there.

Heh heh...they sell Spaten in Idaho? Do they wear lederhosen and dirndl's to?

Well, if Mam is cool then I am not in the pitts. I didnt know yous gys were working off my last name as well. There was a peach tree in NJ not on Stone Mountain...So yes Mam could likely figure out that I was posting both from Dryden AND Ithaca but who else knew that this was the same passage from Sanford to Orlando(with one transfer)(FLA)BUT NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND? I did take a little Romulan ALE but this was not for my benefit.

Ah, good old Dryden...the town with the motto "under construction"
Let's see, if the neurons I burned out at Cornell at frat parties would fire again, I think the beer of choice in the Ithaca area was Rolling Rock or Genesee cream ale (note to self, never drink beer with "cream" in the name..ever)...though one could get Old Milwaukee for 1$ a bottle...the question being why would you want to?

No one would want to, but no one could see me turn on and off, the TI-83 "Window" settings, though the cost was a bit more than the IQ of the beer they were drinking. I havent looked at the selection lately nites are now nolonger the Cornell blue-light Safety Escorts and beer but wireless screen shots and purple cell phones. I ordered WINE instead but made it white.

Looks like I and some buddies are heading to Oktoberfest next Thursday...just look for the American NOT in lederhosen

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Heh heh...they sell Spaten in Idaho? Do they wear lederhosen and dirndl's to?

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Actually, yes they do. There is a small but fun Octoberfest celebration in downtown Boise each year with beer reps from local NW breweries as well as imported seasonal beers. They have Polka bands, sausages, beer on the cheap, lederhosen, and all things German. Only bad thing is they start around noon and close down by four, but at least it's something. The unofficial Octoberfest celebrations are a lot better. For a while we even mixed in a little greek and had an Octogafest. Wearing a toga got you a free liter mug of Spaten. Fun times, except for the obligatory hangovers.

there's a nifty liitle brewpub in miami called the abbey that has a delicious lent beer with figs and chocolate and raisins and yum.... it's also 11.9% alcohol. wee.

Dear Mammuthus,
I think you are way to generous on us Europeans in this regard. There's enough people who drink to get plastered. The main difference, as I see it, is the legal drinking age..As for beers, the original topic:
Regular (Maerzen, no idea what they call that in Bavaria): Murauer (local brand here in Austria), doesn't get any better than this.
Pils: obviously Pilsener, the original Cech one
Weissbier: I'm very partial to Schoefferhofer Weizen, I presume you're familiar with that
Dark: Not a great fan of dark beers, so I don't really have a favourite.regards
Alex

Hmm, I will have to try that "mixed drink", buz, thanks for the tip.

Hi Alex,
While there may be europeans that get plastered, you would have to go to an American college campus on any given weekend to see the scale of alcohol abuse for comparison. I have just never seen anything like that here. Even at Oktoberfest where people do get trashed, it is usually very peaceful. I have always been impressed by that. Thousands of people drunk and bumping into each other without it turning into a riot...except for the Hofbrauhaus where the Italians and Australians beat the snot out of each other....but that is confined to just one tent.I have passed through Pilsen but have never had a Czech Pilsner...but all Czech beer is good in my experience. Even though I am about 1 hour away from Austria, I have only been there 3 or 4 times and usually just for day trips in the Alps..so I am not really very familiar with Austrian beer..though I have heard of Schoefferhofer.

I'm planning to head to the Octoberfest bash at Boston's Harpoon Brewery next weekend. I'm sure it would look like a prayer meeting next to the real thing, but we do what we can.German-style beers are not particularly popular in the Anglophile Northeast, but every so often a good attempt at an American bock or Maerzen makes it to the taps. I'm sure the Cambridge Brewing Company will soon offer an autumn ale or two with a distinct German accent, and that will be nice. Harpoon's Octoberfest beer is a suitably malty offering, and their rare-but-delicious Munich Dark is as dunkel as you get around here. Lowell's Mill City brewery (may she rest in peace) used to brew a fantastic Pumpkinhead Lager that we used to buy by the case. A few of those and you were very generous to the trick-or-treaters, te lo digo.regards,
Esteban Hambre

Or one could head to Pennsylvania for some Malt Duck (Dan Carroll should like it since is also named after waterfowl)...I like the idea, take a can of Budweiser, put an umlaut over the "u" and sell it as a German import...that should piss the Germans off almost as much as the fact that during the next World Cup (no that is not the protective wear for well endowed men), Budweiser will be the only beer sold in all German stadiums as they are major sponsors of the event.In any event, after next Thursdays voyage to Oktoberfest I figure my posts on Friday will be McFallian in clarity and contracyclian in logic and warmth directed at others.This message has been edited by Mammuthus since as a preview of next Friday, he can't get the italics right, 09-24-2004 10:43 AMThis message has been edited by Mammuthus, 09-24-2004 10:44 AM