Barntoberfest, 30th of September 2006

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Herzlich Willkommen

The Barn will host the very first Barn-Oktoberfest (Barntoberfest) on the 30th of September. Start shopping for your Lederhosens and Dirndls and bring your favorite beer steins. You can easily find these on eBay. Learn to Polka and show off your skills. More details to come...

Sabina and the Paulaner girls shows us how to drink beer.

Mr. Oktoberfritz

BARNTOBERFEST! Saturday, September 30, 2006!

The Barn and Friends are proud to announce our summer (well, actually the first weekend of fall) party!!!

We are going all out once again... Far out... International...

Presenting...BARNTOBERFEST! Saturday, September 30, 2006!

No reason to fly to Germany for Oktoberfest this year! With the help of some experienced "consultants", the Barn is bringing Bavaria to the Jersey shore!

Here's your chance to wear the Lederhosen and Dirndl you have in the closet! And break out that beer stein on your mantle collecting dust!

Join us for the celebration of Bavaria's favorite beverage in our giant beer tents. And feast on our buffet of Bavarian food!

Dancing to Polka and other authentic music. Maybe even live performances!

Not to mention the following tests of skill and stamina:

Yodeling Contest!
Bratwurst Eating Contest! (Style not quantity

)
Arm Wrestling Contest!
Best Costume (Men's and Woman's) Contest!
Tastiest Home Brewed Beers!
And most importantly - Beer Chugging!

As always, bring a bottle of your favorite German liquor for our ice slab! And a German dish to add to our authentic buffet.
Festivities will begin at 3 PM. The Barn will be asking a $10 donation at the door to help cover our expenses which are sure to be many!
The Barn welcomes everyone to sleep over after the party. No need to drive home! For those who prefer privacy, bring a tent to pitch on the lawn or reserve a room at the nearby Bed and Breakfast. Rates are reduced for fall.
If the weather is nice, we'll spend Sunday at the beach.
Stay tuned for more info. Much more to come! We are giving you months of notice - so please mark your calendars and join us! Get your plane tickets now out-of-towners!
"Ozapft is!"

Chris, Mark, Toka, Andy and Friends

P.S. - Yes, Octoberfest really does begin in September. For real!

The History of Oktoberfest

The first Oktoberfest started on October 12, 1810. It was given by Bavarian King Maximillian Joseph to celebrate the marriage of his son, the Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. The festivities ended on October 17th with a horse race. The following year the festival became an annual event in order to celebrate this wedding for all time.

At the time of the first festival, horse racing was beginning to die out in popularity, but Franz Baumgartner, corporal of the national guard, presented the idea of horse racing to the king, and the king loved the idea, so five days after the wedding, horse races were held on the meadow in front of the Sendlinger Tor, which is one of Munich's many gates. The Guard cavalry requested that the the grounds on which the races took place be named "Theresienwiese" in honor of the crown princess. To this day, Oktoberfest still takes place on the Theresienwiese, or what locals of Munich like to refer to as "die Wiesn" (the meadow) for short. Wiesn is now just another word for Oktoberfest. In 1811 an agricultural fair was added to the races and by 1818 the first carousel and two swings were added for amusement, as well as some small beer stands which grew rapidly in number. In 1896 the beer stands were replaced by the first beer tents. The horse races were removed in 1938, but the rest of the traditions still survive to this day.

At exactly 11 a.m. the Oktoberfest opening day ceremonies begin with the Oktoberfest Costume and Riflemen's Parade. This parade involves about 1,000 participants, including the landlords' families in decorated carriages, the horse-drawn drays of the Munich breweries, waitresses on decorated floats, and all the beer tent bands. The parade ends at the Schottenhamel tent at noon, which is the oldest private tent at Oktoberfest, where the lord mayor of Munich has the honor of tapping the first keg of Oktoberfest beer. A cannon is fired twelve times, and then the mayor taps the first keg and declares, "Ozapft is!", which means "The keg is tapped!" Once this barrel is tapped, all visitors are then allowed to order beer. On the second day there is a parade called the Trachtenfest, which is a celebration of traditional costumes. German men wear Lederhosen, which are leather shorts usually worn with suspenders, white shirts and knee-high stockings. German women often wear a colorful Dirndl, which is a flowery folk dress. On the second Sunday of Oktoberfest all of the bands performing during the sixteen days perform at a one-hour concert at the main entrance to the festivities.

Now you might be wondering, if these festivities started in October, and is called Oktoberfest, then why do they now start in September? The answer is that the festivities have been made longer, and by moving it into September, visitors can enjoy the outside gardens and tents longer because the weather conditions are much warmer in September than in October. Now the Oktoberfest is sixteen days of events and always starts on a Saturday in September and ends on the first Sunday in October.

St. Pauli Girl 2006
Brittany Evans

Polka MP3s

The Barn's MP3 Player

Dates

The Oktoberfest will take place according to the following chart:

Year	Dates	Special Features
2006	Sep. 16th - Oct. 3rd	18 Days
2007	Sep. 22nd - Oct. 7th
2008	Sep. 20th - Oct. 5th
2009	Sep. 19th - Oct. 4th
2010	Sep. 18th - Oct. 3rd	200 Year Anniversary
2011	Sep. 17th - Oct. 3rd	17 Days
2012	Sep. 22nd - Oct. 7th
2013	Sep. 21st - Oct. 6th

Year	Dates
2014	Sep. 20th - Oct. 5th
2015	Sep. 19th - Oct. 4th

Links

* Oktoberfest from Wikipedia	* Search eBay for Lederhosens and Dirndls
* Learn how to Polka

Beer Types

Ale: Fermented at higher temperatures with a top fermented yeast giving it a fruity characteristic.
*Bock:* The first beer that is drawn in the spring from the vats. Strong in flavor and dark in color.
*Hefeweizen:* German for "yeast-wheat". Rich, smooth and refreshing.
Lager: Bottom fermented and aged for a longer period of time.
*Lambic:* A fruit fermented style of wheat beer unique to Belgium.
*Micro-Brewed or Crafted Beers:* Produced in small batches in order to preserve the unique flavor and quality.
*Pilsner:* Golden colored, dry and bottom fermented.
*Porter:* Dark ale brewed with a roasted, bittersweet taste. A lighter-bodied companion to stout.
*Stout:* An extra dark, almost black, top-fermented brew. Full flavored, hearty, roasted malt and bitter.

The Reinheitsgebot purity law, decreed by Duke Wilhelm IV in 1516, states that only four ingredients are allowed in the beer brewing process: water, hops, yeast and barley (malt). German beers brewed abroad, like Löwenbräu, have added preservatives, which double the hangover effect. All of Bavaria’s 40 types of beer belong to two main types of beer; lager and ale. Ale is the oldest type of beer and involves the top fermentation process where yeast floats in the brew and is used to transform sugars into alcohol. It contains barley, hops, and water. This method was popular in the early days due to the fact that it isn’t temperature sensitive, and therefore can be brewed at any time of year. In Germany it is known as Altbier (old beer), although it is virtually non-existent in Bavaria. Most English beers and American micro brews belong to this type. Lager beer was invented in the 19th century in Plzen, Czech Republic, hence the name Pilsener. It involves a different method of fermentation where yeast settles at bottom. Unlike ale, lager (which means storage) is brewed in temperature-controlled conditions and then stored. Popular Munich beers Helles is the most popular Munich beer although it’s not very old (it was introduced in 1895) and is a lager. This crowd-pleaser is a translucent gold colour and comes in at least a 0.5 litre glass and for special festivals and in beergardens in a Maß litre stein. This beer contains about 5 percent alcohol, has a light taste, and is really ideal in warm weather. It must be served with 1-2cm of foam or it is considered flat. In other parts of Germany, beer is served in a tiny 0.2-0.3l glass, much to the consternation of the Bavarians. Pilsener is known in Germany as Pils and is considered by most Bavarians to be a yuppie beer. It comes in a 0.3l-fluted glass complete with a lacy doily. This lager is the same colour as Helles, but has a slightly bitter taste due to its having more hops. It’s also smaller, but despite that fact, takes longer to pour. Dunkles dark beer is a deep rich, brown lager beer, which gets its dark colour from burnt malt. Not as black and heavy as a stout (like Guinness), dunkles has a sweet flavour, and only 4.3 percent alcohol. Weizen (wheat beer) or or Hefeweizen (yeast wheat beer) came to be called Weissbier in Bavaria. A proper Weissbier is honey-coloured and is so opaque that you can’t read a book through it. Yeast adds to the sweet, almost banana-like flavour. It also comes in a delicious dark version, Dunkles Weissbier. It should always come in an elegant tall bell shape glass. It cannot be drunk from the bottle as it is necessary to stir up the yeast to activate the flavour, so it should be partly poured into a glass at a steep angle. Then the yeast is shaken up and poured on as a delicious four-centimetre foam head. A true Bavarian would not be caught dead with a lemon slice in their beer, but many oddball variations have come about: Weissbier with cola (Neger), with 7up (Russian) or with (gag!) banana juice. There is also a Leichtes Weissbier (light wheatbeer); not lower calorie, but lower alcohol. Kristallweizen, which is crystal clear Weissbier with the hefe (yeast) filtered out is only popular in Northern Germany. It is lower calorie, but the filtering takes out some flavour. Starkbierzeit & Salvator - the Terminator beer Starkbier Bock and Doppelbock are the strongest Munich beers, containing 6-7 percent and 9 percent alcohol respectively. They are dark amber and have a heavy malty taste. Kulmbach is said to be the strongest bock lager worldwide at 9.2 percent. These lagers originate from Paulaner monks who brewed it in 1634 and are most popular during the Lenten Starkbierzeit ‘strong beer time’, which begins on or before St. Joseph’s Day (March 19). Märzen is a type of Bock named after the month of March because Monks consumed it during Lent. The most famous Starkbeer is Salvator, produced by Paulaner and when served by the Maβ (litre) quite dangerous. Other breweries have come up with copycat Starkbiers using the –ator suffix: Augustiner's Maximator; Löwenbräu's Triumphator; Unions-Bräu's Unimator. But only the original, Paulaner Salvator serves Starkbier all year round. Other silly names include: Animator, Optimator, Delicator, Aviator, Celebrator, Operator, Prädikator and Jubilator. The drinking song In order to get the most out of your beer drinking experience it’s a good idea to learn the Bavarian drinking song: Ein Prosit ein Prosit gemüdlichkeit, Ein Prosit ein Prosit gemütlichkeit... einz, zwei, drei, suffa! In English that's: A toast, a toast, that cosy feeling… A toast, a toast, good vibes…one, two, three chug it down!). Now you can sing along instead of just mouthing the words while you bounce up and down on the bench with the others.