Prince Ludwig to Princess Teresa of SassoniaHildburghausen. Talk about a wedding party—the entire city of Munich was invited to a field at the city’s gate that is now named Theresienwiese in the princess’s honor, later shortened to Wies’n. That year, and several years after, there was a horse race and a ginormous feast. The next year they did it again (because why not?) and the concept of the Oktoberfest was born. There have been breaks in the celebrations for epidemics and war, and the horse race part of it ended in 1960, but the event is as much a celebration of the agriculture and the Bavarian economy to this day. But yeah, there is a lot of beer. Because Germany.
E
The phrase O’zapft is! is Bavarian dialect for es ist angezapft in German. Anzapfen is a tap with a wooden hammer that is used to open a barrel of beer. So, basically when that sucker gets busted open by the mayor, it means “Let’s Party!” I don’t know about you, but I’m loving that phrase and now want to pack for my trip to Munich.
very year since 1950, in the city of Munich, Germany, the mayor busts open a barrel of beer with a hammer to kick off a two-week long celebration. You’re probably aware of what this is, of course. I’m not here to insult anyone’s beer intelligence. But for the record, Oktoberfest begins in September, and has done so since 1819. It lasts two weeks. There is a lot of beer flowing, to put it mildly. These days, it’s taken on a serious touristy edge, complete with carnival-style rides and whatnot, but it remains one of the best pure beer-based celebrations you can aspire to, should you have such a thing on your beer tourism bucket list like I do.
Now, mind you, because this a German celebration, there are certain rules that must be adhered to with regard to the beer. No, not the consumption of it. That you can do however much your heart and liver desire. But the beer itself, the “Oktoberfest,” is a specific style. It’s called a Märzen which means (traditionally) it’s brewed in March and stored through the summer months until it’s ready to consume in the fall. Obviously, this was done because when it was first consumed, there was no such thing as a giant refrigerated beer cooler; there were only underground caves for storage, so it made sense to brew it in the spring. It has a higher hop content than most traditional German beers and is also higher in alcohol— about six or seven percent.
It began in 1810 to celebrate the marriage of Crown
Now comes the fun part where I finally get to teach you
September 2019 | 29