The first beer fest either of us here at Drink Craft Beer ever went to was when Jeff poured beer at the 2005 Maine Brewers Fest for the now defunct Sparhawk Beer Company. Since then, we've gone to, and worked at, many fests and traveled the country looking for great craft beer. With that said, the Maine Brewers Fest still holds a special place in Jeff's heart as his first fest. It's not a fest for beer geeks where there are tons of rare, never before tasted beers. It's a fest for people who love to drink craft beer and want to get a feel for the local Maine beer scene.

We've scored two tickets to the Evening Session of the fest and we're giving them away to one lucky winner! The fest takes place on Saturday, November 5th and the evening session is from 6:30-10pm. To enter to win, all you have to do is sign up for our email list below. We'll pick one winner and email you to get an address to send tickets to. Winner will be announced on Thursday, October 20th.

This fest sells out every year, so make sure you don't get left without tickets! There's also a VIP event on Friday evening where you'll get to meet and interact with a bunch of the brewers! Go to the Maine Brewers Fest website to buy your own tickets.

You must be 21 to win. You only win tickets. Transportation, any lodging you need, or anything else is not included.

We've discussed past litigation in the beer world here before, specifically when Samuel Adams sued San Tan Brewing regarding a drinking glass design. Well now Sam Adams is in the court room again. Their opponent is much bigger this time, though, and we want to know what you think!

A high level sales and marketing employee left Boston Beer Company (brewers of Samuel Adams) to go work at Anchor Brewing Company (you can read the article here). He had signed a non-compete not to work in the "better beer category" for one year, but still left Samuel Adams to go directly to Anchor. In response, Boston Beer Co. filed for an injunction to keep him from working for a year.

What do you think? Should Samuel Adams have filed the injunction to enforce their non-compete clause? Or is this outside of how you think the craft beer industry should operate? We want to know, so vote below then tell us why on Twitter, on Facebook or in the comments below the poll. Cheers!

I’ve wanted to go to Oktoberfest for years, but something always got in the way, money, friends bailing out, it was always something...until this year. A friend of mine emailed me early this year asking if I was interested, I jumped at the chance and crossed my fingers this trip would actually come to fruition. Since I’ve come back from the trip I always get asked the same few questions so I’m going to tackle those right now.

Q: Do women really wear the dresses that, ummm shall we say show off their assets?
A. Yes, they’re called dirndls and I would say most women wear them

Q. Do men really wear lederhosen?
A. You bet! If I did the trip again I would have tried to buy some ahead of time. In Munich a traditional outfit will cost you around $400 US, I just couldn’t justify that.

Q. Is it as crazy and fun as it looks in the movies/TV?
A. Yes, this is one rare instance in life where the stereotypes are all true and that’s a good thing. Nothing can prepare you for the actual experience of being there.

We arrived at Oktoberfest at 11am on a Friday morning. If you’re reading this and thinking, wow that’s early, you’re right, but there’s a reason. In order to eat or drink at Oktoberfest you must be sitting at a table in a tent. Most of the tables are by reservation only and are completely booked a year in advance. We did not have a reservation so we had to get there early to grab one of the limited open tables. Nothing prepared me for the size of the “tents” at Oktoberfest. I’ve never seen anything like this called a tent, think aircraft hanger. Based on a recommendation by a friend from Munich we went to the Augustiner tent. As we walked in the sounds of hundreds of clinking glasses and thousands of voices greeted us. We found a seat after some time searching and got down to business. Our waitress arrived and I used one few but very important German phrases I know “sechs maß bitte” (six liters please). Moments later she returned with six beers in hand, an impressive feat given how heavy these beers are. The first sip was pure bliss. Was it the best beer I’ve ever had? No, but in that moment it was, there’s no other beer that could have possible been and better at that place at that point in time.

As we enjoyed our first beer the brass band began playing, by noon the entire tent was full and Oktoberfest was in full swing. Words can’t describe how packed the tents get. The tables are small and narrow and there’s less than an inch separating each one. This results in you sitting back to back with the people next to you. In any other situation this would likely feel claustrophobic but somehow here you just felt connected to your fellow man. What makes this so special is that everyone in the tent is there for the exact same reason. The people behind me were from Switzerland and I quickly became friends with them. We chatted about our travels, our excitement at finally making it to Oktoberfest and where we were from. The people on the other side of me were from Cambridge, MA one town over from where I live and it turned out they followed Drink Craft Beer on Twitter, crazy!

Now a couple beers in, we were in desperate need of food. As good as the beer is, the food is arguably better. People always think brats when they think German food but let me tell you, it’s all about the schweinshaxe (pork knuckle). This is a cut of meat from the lower part of the leg which is brined and then cooked over high heat. The result is a ridiculously good. It’s cooked skin on so there’s crispy pig skin covering deliciously fatty pork underneath. If for some reason this doesn’t sound amazing (something is wrong with you) grab a half chicken instead which is almost as good.

After some number of hours of eating, drinking, singing, participating in chugging contests while standing on tables while crowds cheered and general craziness we left the tent and explored the fairgrounds. There’s food and beer vendors outside of the tents as well as ferris wheels, roller coasters and all sorts of other rides. Oktoberfest was everything I wanted it to be and more. Looking back now there’s a few tips I’d give to anyone thinking of going.

1. Make sure you allocate two days for Oktoberfest. Munich is an awesome city and there’s so much else to do that I couldn’t justify going back a second day given my limited time there, but I would have liked to spend more time outside the tent and perhaps checked out a different tent one day.

2. Get a reservation. It’s hard to plan that far in advance but if I was planning the trip now I’d definitely do it.

3. Get the proper clothes, a dirndl if you’re female lederhosen if you’re male.

As I finish this article I can’t help wanting to go back, and for me that’s a rarity. I generally find that once I’ve gone somewhere once it’s rare that I go back, I’d rather go do something new. I find myself wanting to go back though, there’s so many other tents to explore, so many new people I could meet, so many experiences awaiting me if I return. And I think that’s the magic of Oktoberfest, that’s why so many locals come back again and again year after year. There really is something truly special about this event that makes it like nothing anywhere else. And that’s why you should go.

Prost!

We woke up in Boston today to barely 40°F AND it's September. To us, that can only mean one thing: it's a very special time of year known as pumpkin beer season (aka Autumn)!

We've already gone through and told you our favorite pumpkin brews, but now we want to know yours!

As usual, vote below, then let us know why you voted that way (or, if you chose "Other," what your favorite is) on Twitter, on Facebook or in the comments below the poll. Cheers!