Oktoberfest

This Is Wunderbar!

              (Scroll down to "The Playlist" and hit play before reading... works better that way!)

It's that time of year kids... Time to head over to the Brew Pub... Brats and Beer for everybody!!! Nothing like you and a few million or so of your new best friends drinking and singing about beer and well... drinking.  

Starting way back in 1810 folks would gather in Munich from the middle of September through the first weekend of October to celebrate this great festival. But, hey it's never to late to celebrate drinking beer. Of course, in Munich, they celebrate for 16 days and in 2013 they served over 7.7 million liters of beer. Guess we better get started... 

And what could be better for Oktoberfest than Beer Braised Brats, some beer-hall music and let's see... oh yeah, BEER!

The beer's flowing and... The pots are on!

The Plate... 

Beer Braised Bratwurst

What's better than hanging out drinking beer and eating Brats?... How about just making brats with beer. Couldn't hurt. This is a great little recipe and if you can get 'em the pretzel rolls are an awesome addition.

What you need... 

8 fresh bratwurst
8 good hard rolls or pretzel rolls
2 cans lager or a pilsner beer
3 medium Granny Smith apples / peeled and sliced
3 onions / sliced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
2 tbsp vegetable oil

What you do...

Preheat your grill to medium-high.
On the stove, bring the beer to a simmer in a pot with the apples, one of the sliced onions, salt and pepper.
Add in the Brats to braise, turning once (about 10-15 minutes).
Brown the bratwurst on the grill to add color and texture (about 5 minutes).

Add the rest of the onions to the oil in a skillet and stir to combine. Add salt and pepper.

Cook over medium-low heat until the bottoms of the onions begin to caramelize (10 minutes).

Stir only once. 

Serve brats on a roll or bun. Add stone ground mustard and put caramelized onions over the top of the brats.

The Playlist... 

Oktoberfest

Ok, for all of you folks in the good ole USA, an Oktoberfest playlist is a lot like a tailgate party playlist. Actually, the only difference between the two is one is in a "Beer Garden" and the other in a parking lot. 

So, with that in mind, we start off with "I Salute You (Ein Prosit). This is THE song of Oktoberfest as it is played like clockwork in the beer garden every 15 minutes.  The song starts repeating Ein Prosit Der Gemutlichkeit... meaning-I salute to our friendship and good times. And the second part of the song is a countdown to G'suffa (take a drink). 

Now that you have that part down (and you're taking a big drink at least every 15 minutes)... let's continue. Basically all you need to do is throw on a bunch of sing-a-longs and some drinking music and have fun. 

Here is one strange entry... John Denver is apparently still very popular in Europe and "Country Roads" is still played every year. 

Just remember that there is never any Polka music played... Polka music is Czech and Polish. The traditional music here will be German Oompah... just saying. 

The "Playlist" runs on Spotify- Click on the link to listen to Oktoberfest

The Bar... 

How Bout Some "Helles"?

There are over 4000 types of Bavarian beer, so how can we pick just one. 

As a public service we have provided a guide to help you navigate through the variations to choose one that's just right. 

Just click on the link Bavarian Beer and get drinking.  

Oh Yeah...

G'suffa... Helles Is Good!

Please... Day Drink Responsibly 

& 

Keep On Cookin'!