Snowbird Oktoberfest 2012

Oktoberfest always holds a special place in my heart.  I lived at Ramstein Germany from 1983 through 1988.  I was 11 to 15 years old.

I began my love of beer while living in Germany.  Now an important disclamer note here:  Germany has vastly different drinking laws than the United States.  I do not advocate changing the US drinking laws to match Germany's.  Also, some day I'll write a post about how I ended up in the emergency room after a night of binge drinking.

Not a fun memory.

Anyway... so I grew up drinking a lot of Dortmonder Exports and Schwartzlagers.  So when I get nostalgic, that's what I go for.

While living in Germany, I never made it to the actual Oktoberfest.  I don't think my mother was willing to risk having my brother an I exposed to that much drinking.  Also, the mid-1980s was a bad time for Americans living in Europe.  American military and their families were the targets of choice for Libyan sponsored terrorism.

Beehive Cheese

However Ramstein, the village we lived in, had two city festivals each year.  I also distinctly remember going to a wine festival at Bernkastel-Kues that had a very cool fireworks show.

So, I quite enjoy going to the Snowbird Oktoberfest.  This year we went two weekends in a row.  The first trip was on August 26 - the same day as the Utah Beer Festival.  After the debacle of the festival last year (stand in line for 60 minutes for a 4 ounce sample) I decided I was not going to go again until they fixed that.  Allegedly this year, they did.  I haven't met anyone personally that went.  But online a couple people have told me it was better this year.

Beef wurst and Bohemian Vienna Lager

On the first trip I had some roasted almonds, roasted pecans, a veal wurst, some sauerkraut, an Oktoberfest Black Bier from Uinta Brewing, and a Pumpkin Ale from Wasatch Brewing.

The second trip was on September 2.  My sister-in-law was in town from Phoenix and wanted to go have some beers.

On the second trip, I had a Barenjager shot, a beef wurst, a cheese plate from Beehive Cheese, an Oktoberfest and a Vienna Lager from Bohemian Brewery, and a Pumk'N from Uinta Brewing.

A quick rundown on the beers:

Bohemian Oktoberfest

1)  Uinta Oktoberfest Black Beer - a very nice beer.  Somewhat understated.  But I find it to be more of a Schwartzlager than an Oktoberfest.  Also, I don't think this is just a rebranding of their Baba Black Lager.  Baba is more chocolatey than this beer.

2)  Wasatch Brewing Pumpkin Ale - probably one of the better pumpkin ales that I have had.  I've written before that I'm not much of a pumpkin ale fan.  But recently, I've come to the conclusion that pumpkin ales are much more about getting the seasonings right than about getting the pumpkin right.  All the pumpkin seems to do is lend body to the ale.  It doesn't carry much flavor.

Uinta Punk'N

3)  Bohemian Oktoberfest and Vienna Lager - Oktoberfest's and Vienna Lagers are very similar beer styles.  The first is the Bavarian version and the latter is the Austrian version.   The Oktoberfest is a good beer.  The Vienna Lager is an excellent beer.  If you have to choose between the two, go with the Vienna.

4) Uinta Pumk'N - Its unusual for me to say, but I prefered the Wasatch Pumpkin.  Maybe I was too deep into my glass (already had two beers in me) or maybe it was a bad pour, but the seasoning of the Punk'N seemed grainy.  I don't think that I was actually tasting granules of seasoning, I was perceiving the flavor that way.