I'm only here for the beer...

...but apparently, I'm late for the party.

Now that October has arrived, I started researching my planned post on Oktoberfest, only to find that it actually began in September.

According to Wikipedia:

Oktoberfest is a two-week festival held each year in Munich, Bavaria, Germany during late September and early October. It is one of the most famous events in the city and the world's largest fair, with some six million people attending every year. Other cities across the world also hold fairs, modeled after the Munich event, also called Oktoberfest.

When I first visited Germany, back in 1990, it really spoilt my palate for the swill that generally passes for beer in the U.S.

Fortunately, the "microbrewery revolution" soon followed, so my more discerning tastebuds were soon placated.

Before then, I had discovered bock beer, a seasonal offering; the first one I had was made by the Schmidt's brewing company, which mostly put out some of the worst beer I'd ever tasted, before or since. It was a hometown product in Philly, sometimes referred to as "Schuylkill Punch".

Also from Wikipedia:

Bock is a strong lager from Munich in Germany. The name is a corruption of the medieval German brewing town of Einbeck. The beer is usually darkened by high-coloured malts. Bock is traditionally brewed in the winter time for drinking during the Spring.

Bocks have a long history of being brewed and drunk by Catholic monks in Germany. During the Spring religious season of Lent, monks were required to fast. Bock beers are higher in food energy and nutrients than other beers, thus providing sustenance during the holiday.

But in the twentieth century, bock beers, mainly in the United States, gained an undeserved reputation for being brewed from the dregs of previous brewings. Many craft brewers, however, began to reverse that rumor and produced exceptional bock brews of their own.

Right now I've got a ¼ keg of Yuengling Lager in my beermeister, which I built out of an old refrigerator back in the 80's.

There are so many varieties of beer, I don't intend to cover them all.

That's the bailiwick of my cyberbud "Beerme", anyway...

Official Oktoberfest site
(English version)