Frühlingsfest
We spent most of the day today visiting a friend at his mom's great condo in San Francisco. There's something about being in a highrise with a view of the city that really turns me on, and I could have stayed for days. But, we had the little guy with us, so we entertained him down at Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39. It was cold and rainy, and even though we were totally stuffed from lunch at Tommy's Joynt (my SF favorite), we ducked into a place called Jack's for a little warm-up. There was something like 68 - 85 beers on tap there (it was hard to tell which sign was correct), which led to a discussion about Oktoberfest. The Colonel told us something so random and unbelievable about the meaning of the German festival, that I had to look it up as soon as I got home. I couldn't find any supporting evidence for his story, but I learned something else.
Frühlingsfest- "Spring festival"- started yesterday in Munich, Germany. Sometimes called Little Oktoberfest, Frühlingsfest is a two-week celebration welcoming the arrival of Spring.
I also learned a new word.
"Bierleichen"
During the regular Oktoberfest, this is the name given to those who drink beer until they pass out. It means "beer corpses."
6 comments:
I love cities with huge skyscrapers, I wish I could see skyscrapers from my window. :daydreaming: I'm still angry I didn't have the camera with me last time I went to Seattle, I wish I could show my friends where was I. Seattle it's not too far away but (like 40 miles) but we don't have time to go there too often...
oh, and no any earth day related post?
I want to know what The Colonel had to say...
When she was leaning over the couch looking at the view, I wiped the drool from the side of my face and reached out to...........
Oh, about the Oktober fest?
Well, I read this on a Lagunitas Oktober fest bottle. It was about 8 years ago and I had been drinking so,,,It said on the side of the bottle that way way back they used to make some of the beer out of Tubers. In October they would stash it in caves and let it ferment. I think then the would open the caves in October. Or something like that. So there was a double meaning in the name Oktuber = Oktober. Unfortunately we couldn't find a damn thing about it on the web. So now I'll have to wait until October to get the low-down straight from the bottle again.
Colonel....
Let me tell you a little about marketing...
:-)
I had the privilege of going to Fruhlingsfest this year for the first time. I was there on the 21st and it was a blast. It was 78 degrees and beautiful. There is also the LARGEST swap meet/flea market in Germany that same weekend on the same grounds. In the 2hrs (break from drinking) that I checked out the market I only saw about a 10th of it! I only managed to have 4 Liters of beer could have had more if I didn't check out the market. But yes it is a mini Oktoberfest. And as a brewer for many years I've never heard of Tubers in Oktoberfest beers. And furthermore the German purity law the Reinheitsgebot (from 1516) would not allow for tubers! Sounds like a marketing ploy to me. I've only heard of 2 theories on Ofest one being it started from a celebration of a new born of Royalty but more so it was a harvest celebration and the beers were made in March (Marzen)and stored in caves and drank through Summer (when brewing was not favorable) and went out with a bash in October when the weather permitted brewing and there would be fresh beers brewed. See http://www.beerhunter.com/styles/marzen.html
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