Drink das boot! It’s Oktobeerfest!

Oktoberfest in Germany lasts for almost three weeks and draws millions of people, making it world’s largest fair. Last night we did it 4000 miles away from Munich in four hours and with maybe fifty people. And we still had an amazing time! The Abbaye hosted its annual Oktoberfest celebration last night, creating a special menu to get us as close to Germany as possible with German style beers, food, and Das Boot!

The night started off with us perusing the beer menu, as per usual, and finding plenty of Oktoberfest beers to choose from. While only beer brewed in Munich may be served at the true festival, plenty have created Oktoberfest-style beers elsewhere, and we had our choice of both. It’s tough to choose between so many similar beers that all sound amazing, but we managed it somehow. I couldn’t get to all of them so let’s talk about the ones that I did. (I haven’t included links to several that are in German.)

Hacker-Pschoor Oktoberfest – Considering this is a genuine Oktoberfest beer from Munich I think I had expected something very different than what I’ve tried in the past. It did not live up to those expectations- that said, it was a very good beer. I think my disappointment was merely proof that the brewers stateside have done a great job of mimicking the original recipes. The Hacker-Pschoor was sweetly malted and finished slightly bitter. It was very fest-y.

Konig Ludwig Weisse – A light wheat beer to reset my palate before more fest biers, I really enjoyed this one. It had a lot of flavor going on. I kept searching for the banana flavor, which was there but hard to detect. It’s really tasty throughout with a yeasty finish that I didn’t love, however that just made me take another sip to get back to the initial flavors.

Erdinger Oktoberfest Weissbrau – Probably my least favorite of the beers I tried, this beer was golden and citrus with a dry finish. It was a strange combination since I would expect it to be more refreshing. Ox said it best when he described it as flat. Still better than Coors!

Paulener Oktoberfest – At first sip I really liked this beer. It had a dark caramel taste and was quite smooth. After a few more drinks I noticed the bitterness that was a little more than I like and what seemed like an excess of carbonation. There are a lot of great elements to this lager, but the bitter flavor overpowered them for me.

Enough beer talk for right now. Let’s talk about the food. They had a great menu of German flavor, including bratwurst and apple soup. As a vegetarian my options were quite limited but no matter; the veggie stuff looked amazing! I could choose between the vegetable brotzeit or the mushroom and gruyere strudel with rice and green beans. I chose the latter and I made a good choice. The Abbaye always offers a delicious menu, but their specials are over the top. This dish looked amazing before I even took a bite and my mouth was watering until I scooped up that last bit of rice. Flaky strudel crust housed oozing gruyere cheese and mushrooms, topped with a little sour cream and it was delectable! Kudos, Abbaye on another amazing dinner! (Now please add this to the regular menu!!)

After dinner it was time for the Das Boot competition! This year, everyone was being timed and competing individually instead of using teams of three. Apparently there were too many sickly drunks after the chugging contest. I hopped in on round one, taking a (what I thought was respectable) 19 seconds to chug my big boot full of Hacker-Pschoor. I was 4 out of 6 after round one, but I was swiftly knocked down after round two, when one gentleman housed his beer in 9 seconds flat! I’m not a big chugger, I knew that, but 9 seconds?? Well done, sir. Keeping us humble. I was out of the running for the final round, though I still enjoyed watching the rest of these wide-throated drinkers finishing the game with a three-on-three relay race. The winners got a big boot glass to take home as well as a gift certificate for the bar! That’s a good win. I got to take home the boot I chugged from as a consolation prize as well. Gotta start practicing for next year!

The rest of the evening was slow and steady as we nursed a few more drinks. Of the beers I didn’t order, I did get to try the Sly Fox Oktoberfest and the Acrobrau Zwickl Lager. The Sly Fox had a bit of a kick to it that I liked and the Acrobrau was a lighter, more complex beer. Hopefully I’ll get to try them out another time.

Brooklyn Oktoberfest – Brooklyn‘s take on the fest beer seems pretty true to the Munich style. It’s very brisk and somewhat carbonated. Not my favorite on the taps, but I had quite a few drinks by this point so I think my taste might have been compromised. It tasted slightly bitter but not so much that it bothered me and I think it was good beer to end the evening on.

Another great night at The Abbaye and another fun Oktoberfest celebration! You can always count on this place to keep it original and exciting. Can’t wait to come back for the U Buy the Glass night on Oct. 26. Come out and have some tasty beer at a delicious price! Until I see you there, drink up!

-Don