As the leaves start to fall from the trees, most people start clamouring for pumpkin spice latte at their local coffee shop, or even the annual availability of pumpkin ales from the craft breweries of the world.
I consider pumpkin spice anything to be a gimmicky abomination, so I spend this time of year drinking German beers and eating bratwurst in celebration everyone’s favourite lederhosen-clad holiday!
Oktoberfest’s regal beginnings were on October 12, 1810, as a public party in Munich for the royal wedding of Prince Ludwig of Bavaria to Princess Therese of Saxony. The anniversary of the event was celebrated each year with increasing enthusiasm.
Things started heating up in 1816 when carnival booths were added to the festival, and in 1819, the elder statesmen of Munich took over the festival management, making it an even more raucous affair.
It was back in 1816 that the city fathers of Munich decided to take advantage of the warmer weather in September, and extend the one-day event to start two weeks prior to the first Sunday in October. This year’s event will run from September 22 to October 7.
The event has been celebrated ever since, missing only 24 years out of the last 208 due to world-shattering events like wars, cholera epidemics, and the like. Munich still plays host to Oktoberfest, with nearly 30% of the annual beer production of the Munich breweries being consumed in that time.
The traditional beer consumed at Oktoberfest is not your average sipping beer – Oktoberfest is a time for swilling large mouthfuls from your stein glass to wash down spicy bratwurst sausages. Oktoberfest beers are derived from an old Vienna style of brew with a reddish hue caused by the sugars being caramelized while the beer is being brewed. Early Bavarian brewers picked up the style from their Austrian neighbors, and refined into the smooth-tasting lagers that are referred to as an Oktoberfest-style brew.
Oktoberfest-styled brews are a bit rare here in Alberta, but we do have a few local breweries making authentic German beers, which I have been enjoying in abundance this month.
Caravel Brewing opened up about a year ago, in the new business park just north of the Calgary airport. The brewery is named after the Caravel, a sailing ship used by Portuguese and Spanish explorers in the 15th century. Students of history may recall the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria, made famous as the fleet of Caravel ships used by Christopher Columbus when he sailed to the new world.
The Caravel Hazy Horizon Hefeweizen is made with the same old-world traditions of centuries past, with aromas of banana and cloves on the nose from the special yeast strain.
Pouring a hazy gold into the glass with a thick and fluffy head from the malted wheat, this is an easy-drinking ale for the macrobrew drinker, while being flavourful and complex enough for the beer snobs of the world.
Looking a little south to Turner Valley, Brauerei Fahr is perhaps the most authentic German brewery this side of Munich. The brewmaster grew up in a small German village, and moved to Alberta to complete a PhD in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Calgary.
While his schooling was originally intended to focus on industrial processing, the beer lovers of Alberta rejoiced when he decided to open a craft brewery in 2015, putting those engineering skills to good use in designing and constructing a brewery in the small town of Turner Valley, about an hour southwest of Chestermere.
While all the beers are German styles, my favourite is the Dunkelweizen, a dark wheat beer using a centuries-old strain of yeast sourced from the Weihenstephaner Brewery in Germany, which has been continuously operating for nearly a thousand years.
Dunkelweizen is a dark version of the Hefeweizen wheat beer style (dunkel=dark), and has the same banana and clove notes as the lighter Hefeweizen style, but adds toasted grains and burnt cocoa notes from the dark roasted malts.
Brauerei Fahr even puts out a seasonal Oktoberfest brew, a strong amber lager that weighs in at 6.1% ABV. This brew has been extensively lagered (aged) at cool temperatures for a smooth finish, so look for it at your friendly neighbourhood booze merchant for the most authentic frosty pint of Oktoberfest this side of Munich!
