My wife and I along with some friends made a trip out to Amana, IA this past Friday and Saturday to immerse ourselves in their annual Oktoberfest. Needless to say we had a great time. Some of you maybe wondering what is there to do at an Oktoberfest besides sit and drink beer. I can gladly say that there are many other activities to do.
My wife and I arrived in Amana a little after 1pm and our friends had all ready established base camp on the yard of Millstream Brewing. We have a fold up shelter that we set our chairs in, this year the weather was decent except for the wind on Friday. Shortly after we completed home base it was time for the first event of Oktoberfest.
At 1:45pm Friday the first keg is loaded, blessed and leaves Millstream for the Festhalle Barn. As we walked behind the wagon we were lead in song by the Burgermeister. The keg arrives and is ceremoniously taken into the Festhalle and then tapped. The first keg is a free keg, so needless to say the tap is never shut off and surprisingly everyone that wanted a beer was able to have one. It was only a matter of minutes until the keg ran dry. We stayed at the Festhalle and enjoyed some of the entertainment.
The first band we saw was Barefoot Becky and the Ivanhoe Dutchmen. I cannot say if the they were Dutch men, but Becky was definitely barefoot. After the set was done we were able to get a picture with Becky.
We headed back to home base to sit back and enjoy some beer, coming from our own 1/6 barrel purchased from Millstream. Yes of course it was a keg of Oktoberfest and we all agreed it was a very good year for the beer. The beer was nicely malty and sweet. It also had just enough hop bitterness to offset the malty sweetness. The beer was very easy to drink. While we at home base we were able to commune with many of the people around us at the Millstream biergarten. After a bit of time we decided to head back to the Festhalle.
At the Festhalle we saw a very fun Polka party band from Minnesota, Alpensterne. Yes I did say a Polka party band; there is such a thing and they fit it to a "t". It is a 3 piece band: a singer/ horn player, an accordion player and a drummer. After a while we decided to head back to the hotel and call it a night. But before a night was called we made a stop at the hotel bar and surprising to us they had $1 draft beer specials, including Amana's Schild Brau.
Day 2 we made it up to Amana a short time before the parade was finished, so we had to wait a few minutes before we could head to our home base. We were able to basically follow right behind the parade and almost become part of it. Thankfully we were watching the numerous pedestrians in the streets, because they were not watching us. Eventually we parked, set up our chairs in the shelter and then watch one of the couples race in the Brat race. It was a relay race that had to be run in a brat suit. Entertaining, but our friends did not make it out of their heat. We walked around town for a short time and we wound back up at the Festhalle, enjoying the music from new our friends in Alpensterne.
During the set there was a gentleman signing up people for a bratwurst eating contest. Two of our friends entered and one of them even placed in the top three. He wound up eating almost three feet of bratwurst and the buns. We then headed back to base camp for some socializing and then we had an emergency; the keg ran dry. Luckily Millstream was willing to sell us another 1/6 barrel. So as the keg was being secured, most of us went over to the keg toss and log sawing.
Eventually with our group all in attendance several began to participate. In our group we had the Men's and Women's two-man log sawing champions and the second place finisher in the Women's keg toss. So we have some athletes in our group. No that does not include me.
Back to home base for a while then off to the Festhalle to see this awe inspiring German Brass Band, Die Freistadt Alte Kameraden, out of Wisconsin. The highlight of this band is when the Brass section wanders through the Festhalle while playing, it just brings goosebumps to me hearing it. They finish then it was Alpensterne again playing.
All through our time at Oktoberfest we keep running into the Burgermeister and his wife. They are a very nice couple and became very friendly with our group. So every time we saw them we always had time for a discussion of how things were going. So it was no surprise that he came over and stood and talked with us for awhile during a break in the music.
Also I even surprised my wife with my abilities at the Festhalle. One of friends is a good Polka dancer and had danced with her a couple of times. But when he was dancing with his girlfriend she decided she wanted to dance a polka, so we went out to the dance floor. She was surprised that I could hold my own when it comes to the Polka, because otherwise I am far from a good dancer. So we wound up dancing to several Polkas.
Overall I know we all had a wonderful time at Oktoberfest. If you are able to make it to Amana or someplace else I strongly suggest you go and enjoy. I know my wife and I still have plans to go to the original Oktoberfest in Munich in the future, but that will have to wait for awhile.
QC Beerguy
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