Oktoberfest Party 2012

My brewing hobby of 2012 has allowed my to brew a lot different styles and utilize a lot of different brewing-methods.  The highlight of my brewing year has to of been back in March when I brewed a double decocted all grain Oktoberfest.  It was a long and tiring brew day, and I barely got to taste the beer before this past weekend.  You see, I was saving it for a special party, Ashley's and my inaugural Oktoberfest!

For the event I brewed two batches of Oktoberfest, a Raspberry Hefeweizen, and a Belgian Dubbel.  20 gallons in total.  I wanted to share these brews with my brewthers and brewisters before the party.  Sadly they could not be in Arkansas for the party so I sent them some samples and we had a google hang-out a few nights ahead of time.  After drawing the samples, I was probably down to about 17 gallons of brew, or just a little more than a full sized keg.

This party also served as an event to officially break-in my kegerator.  If you remember, I got this kegerator over a year ago.  While it has served me well in holding many bottles of beer and also being a great fermentation chamber, I had yet to serve any brews from the classy brass draught tower.  So all my Oktoberfest offerings were kegged for this momentous occasion.

Ashley and I had a lot of fun (and a little stress) doing all the prep-work for this party.  We wanted the house to be very welcoming, the food to be tasty, and beer to be perfect.  We re-arranged the living room to open up the space a lot more, de-cluttered, and got everything cozy.  We made fresh baked soft pretzels, German potato salad, beer dip, pumpkin dip, pigs-n-a-blanket, chips and salsa, etc.  Friends brought chili cheese dips, casseroles, sauerkraut, dessert cakes, and festive spirits.  I had Thurn's Specialty Meats out of Columbus, OH air-mail me some delicious bratwursts for the grill.  Ashley made a tasty Sangria for those not to keen on brew, and I made a quick batch of root beer for all the kids who would be at the party.

The party kicked off around 3pm and went for several hours.  The homebrew and food was very well received.  We kicked both kegs of Oktoberfest and put serious dents in the RaspHefe and Belgian kegs.  Though originally thinking we had way too much food, there was very little left behind when all was said and done.

It was really a great party and all the pre-work leading up to it was certainly worth while.  Though we missed being able to party with our distant friends and family, we were grateful for all the locals who came and helped us eat and drink and celebrate a wonderful Oktober.  All for now, enjoy the pics!

The google hang-out veering off-course as usual.

House Outside Compliments of Ashley

House Inside also Compliments of Ashley, though we
picked the couch and rug together!

Mercedes woke up ready to party.

Mixin the pretzel dough

Pretzels formed

Pretzels baked

Sangria fruit ready for some wine

One of Ashley's best friends, Lara, came to party from OK city.

Raspberry Hefeweizen (ended up being a little to Razzy...almost like a wine cooler).

My good friend, Dustin, enjoying a liter of Muhleisen Extract Oktoberfest

And that right there is a liter of Muhleisen Hochkurz Double Decocted All Grain Oktoberfest.  I was really happy with how this one turned out.

MHDDAGO in the boot (for me) and a friend's MEO liter half gone.

The pretzels were really very tasty and all 36 disappeared pretty quick.

Nathaniel, a crazy Aussie, exemplifies the joy of the Oktoberfest party.

The vinyls only turned for about 15 minutes because I drank too much and didn't stay on top of it.