E-Mail This Article to a Friend Fall for it There’s still time to celebrate Oktoberfest in Boston BY GENEVIEVE RAJEWSKI
	Where to find the fests • Boston Beer Works, 61 Brookline Avenue, Boston, (617) 536-BEER; 112 Canal Street, Boston, (617) 896-BEER; www.beerworks.net. • Bukowski’s Tavern, 50 Dalton Street, Boston, (617) 437-9999; 1281 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, (617) 477-7077. • Jacob Wirth, 31 Stuart Street, Boston, (617) 338-8586; www.jacobwirth.com. • John Harvard’s Brew House, 33 Dunster Street, Cambridge, (617) 868-3585; www.johnharvards.com. • Sandrine’s Bistro, 8 Holyoke Street, Cambridge, (617) 497-5300; www.sandrines.com. • Sunset Grill & Tap, Brighton Avenue, Allston, (617) 254-1331. — GR

America certainly is a land of opportunity ... or, at least, a land of opportunists. And Boston is no exception. For proof, look no further than Oktoberfest, a nearly 200-year-old German tradition (happily) stripped of its agricultural trappings and (rightly) touted as a reason to drink good beer.

Oktoberfest dates back to October 1810, when Crown Prince Ludwig of Germany married Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. To celebrate the royal union, all of Munich was invited to attend the festivities, held on the fields in front of the city gates. It proved so popular that it became an annual event, Oktoberfest. In the festival’s second year, an agricultural show was added. (It’s still held every three years as part of Munich’s Oktoberfest.) Beer didn’t figure prominently into Oktoberfest until the late 1800s, when beer tents and halls became an integral part of the celebration.

Of course, Oktoberfest eventually crossed the Atlantic, and now festivities take place yearly in Boston and other US cities, with beer serving as the common denominator. But the brews appear well before October. "Oktoberfest starts in August these days," says Mark Kadish, owner of Sunset Grill & Tap. "Come August 31, you have Oktoberfest beers appearing at bars, much in the same way Christmas merchandise shows up in stores before Thanksgiving."

These beers are typically amber- or copper-colored, Kadish said, and they’re sweet but hoppy. Adds Jonny Blass, general manager of Jacob Wirth, "They are a nice fall, autumnal-style beer, started in March to be ready for this time of year."

Although Jacob Wirth always boasts an extensive menu of draught German beers, the restaurant will offer a special menu of Oktoberfest beers for six weeks. Blass says visitors will find Spaten Oktoberfestbier, Warsteiner Oktoberfest, Hofbrau Oktoberfest and Paulaner Oktoberfest-Bier on the menu, as well as domestic microbrews such as Harpoon Octoberfest, Samuel Adams Octoberfest, and Brooklyn Oktoberfest. To add to the Munich mood, every Oktoberfest beer will be served in an authentic half-liter German stein; there also will be a German sing-along night on October 22. Jacob Wirth’s traditional dishes include a German mixed grill, featuring grilled bratwurst and weisswurst served with sauerkraut, German potato salad, and pickled red cabbage; Jake’s Special, which includes knockwurst and bratwurst served with red beer sauce, sauerkraut, and German potato salad; and sauerbraten, which is sweet-and-sour braised beef round served over dill spaetzle topped with gingersnap sauce and red-cabbage garnish.

Until the end of October, Sunset Grill also will offer an extensive selection of both German and microbrew Oktoberfest beers. "The German beers are usually much lighter and more drinkable" than their American counterparts, notes Kadish. For German Oktoberfest beers, Sunset plans to carry Ayinger Oktober Fest-Märzen, Spaten Oktoberfestbier, and Warsteiner Oktoberfest, among others. The restaurant also will feature a rotation of microbrews, including standouts such as Brooklyn Oktoberfest, Magic Hat’s Jinx, Redhook Ale Brewery’s Hoptoberfest, and Stone Cat Octoberfest.

Patrons can expect to find Oktoberfest dinner specials at Sunset, as well as the popular German Oktoberfest sausage sampler. The appetizer plate features bratwurst, weisswurst, and several other sausages steamed in Oktoberfest beer, charred on the grill and served on sticks alongside hot slaw, beer-mustard sauce, and German egg-potato salad.

You can raise a beer and shout "Prost!" ("Cheers!") at several other local spots. Bukowski’s Tavern is carrying three or four German and microbrew Oktoberfest beers, such as Berkshire Oktoberfest, Casco Bay Oktoberfest, Paulaner Oktoberfest, and Spaten Oktoberfestbier. Sandrine’s Bistro is serving Paulaner Oktoberfest-Bier and Harpoon Octoberfest, both of which are well suited to washing down the Alsatian restaurant’s signature choucroute of weisswurst, bauernwurst, smoked pork loin, and hickory-smoked bacon alongside onions and sauerkraut. Finally, Boston Beer Works and John Harvard’s Brew House both brew their own Oktoberfest beers.

Genevieve Rajewski can be reached at ticktockwordshop@comcast.net.