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!

We've been talking quite a bit lately about the timing of seasonal craft beers and the #CampaignForSeasonalBeer. Well let's jump off topic of worrying about stuff coming out early or on time or what-have-you and onto a more enjoyable topic: the fact that seasonal craft beers are delicious!

With that in mind, we want to hear what your favorite season for craft beers is! Is it Winter and the hearty stouts that come with it? Summer its refreshing, lighter fare? The pumpkin beers, Oktoberfests and more of Autumn? Or whatever brewers decide to send out in Spring? We know what ours is, but we want to hear from you!

As usual, vote below, then let us know let us know what beers from that season are your favorite on Twitter, on Facebook or in the comments below the poll. Cheers!

Some of you may remember the first time we worked with B. Good in our article, “Burgers and Beers, Need We Say More?” where we paired B. Good burgers with craft beer. Well fast forward a couple years, and we’re still in love with their food. Since we last wrote about their burgers, they’ve gone even more local and expanded their menu to include a lot more vegetables. They work to source whatever food then can from local sources when it’s in season. They’ve even gone as far as growing a small amount of their own vegetables atop a parking garage in downtown Boston to supply some of their stores for a couple of days...as Jeff is a former rooftop gardener, we love it!

“But it’s not summer burger season anymore...” you may say. Well, we say burgers aren’t just for summer! A great burger is a delicious thing year round, so we should celebrate them year round. And, also, B. Good is more than just burgers now, so we’re looking at more than just burgers...So read on and see how we pair their Local Strawberry Goat Cheese Salad, their year round El Guapo burger and their seasonal Autumn Sal Bacado burger! (For behind the scenes pictures of us putting these pairings together with Jon from B. Good, check our Facebook page here!)

Local Strawberry Goat Cheese Salad & Dogfish Head Festina Peche

B. Good’s strawberry goat cheese salad is a plate full of deliciousness with local strawberries, baby spinach, locally-made goat cheese, candied walnuts, caramelized onions and balsamic vinaigrette. With this much going on, it’s tough to find a beer to pair! We think, however, that you’ll find that the Dogfish Head Festina Peche nails it on the head. The beer is modeled after a German style of beer called berliner weisse, which is a tart and acidic, lower alcohol wheat beer. Dogfish Head has added some peaches to this one to make it their own.

The most obvious flavors are the fruit in the beer and in the salad. These two go together nicely to get you started on the right foot with this combo. It goes much deeper, though. The beer itself, aside from being tart, is rather dry so the candied walnuts and caramelized onions really serve to bring a bit of sweetness and earthiness to balance that and round out the flavors. Meanwhile, the acidity of the brew cuts right through the super creamy goat cheese, while the cheese tempers the acidic bite...you get delicious and creamy goat cheese with a great blend of peaches and a mellow, dampened tingling from the beer. The balsamic vinaigrette manages to play nicely with everything and do what a salad dressing should: not get in the way, just enhance the experience!

Our favorite thing about this pairing has to be how the goat cheese and acid in the beer interact in this one...it’s just crazy good!

El Guapo & Notch Session Pils

The El Guapo is a beef burger (in this case) with bacon, homemade jalapeno ranch, lettuce, tomato, onion and, which we got optionally, jalapeno slices and cheddar cheese. It’s spicy and tasty! The Notch Session Pils is an unfiltered Czech-style Pilsner, which means it’s a littler maltier than the pilsners that Americans are used to. This one has a decent bit of hops in it, though, which lowers any apparent sweetness. Plus, it comes in right below 4% abv, meaning you can drink it all night long!

With so much going on with this burger and so much heat, you can’t have much alcohol. That’s just a recipe for burning! Check, this pairing is set on that. Also, you need to cut through that creamy, spicy ranch sauce. Check, crisp pils cuts right through it AND the grease and salt from the bacon! Lastly, you need something simple enough that it won’t get in the way of everything going on with the burger. Done! Sometimes a great burger just calls for a delicious, yet subtle, beer and that’s what the Notch Session Pils is.

Our favorite thing about this pairing is how the Pils just comes in and cleans your tongue of the salt from the bacon, really letting you taste everything else even better.

Sal Bacado & Jolly Pumpkin Weizen Bam

Lastly, we have the Sal Bacado burger, a beef burger (as we asked for it) with local corn salsa, bacon and avocado. We’ve paired it with Jolly Pumpkin’s Weizen Bam, their take of a Saison/Hefeweizen blend barrel aged with wild yeast. It’s a tad funky, with the yeast characteristics you’d expect from BOTH a Hefeweizen and a Saison. It’s dry, effervescent and super bubbly!

Between the bacon and the salsa, this burger is fairly salty. The first thing the Weizen Bam does is help to manage that, which allows other flavors to shine. Also, the guacamole is super creamy and this lower alcohol, effervescent brew slices through that and really releases the flavors which would otherwise just coat your tongue. The funk and yeast of the beer also play a great antagonistic role against the earthier flavors of the roasted corn salsa and char on the burger...they’re not flavors you’d think would go together, but somehow they work fantastically! Honestly, this is one of those pairings that was either going to sing or flop, and it’s hitting the high note spot on!

Our favorite thing about this one? How unexpectedly well the roast/char and the yeast came together. Without that, this would have just been a bit average.

What do you think? Do you have a great restaurant we should try to work with for food pairings? Do you have a B. Good burger and beer pairing you like? Let us know your thoughts on Twitter, Facebook or in the comments below! Cheers!