Unleash your inner Bavarian this Oktoberfest at Bavarian Bier Cafe

I do enjoy the Bavarian Bier Cafes. Even though there is a rapidly developing world of craft beer with the huge range of hoptastic beers that is bringing, the Germans are still the masters of the everyday culture of beer. The well-made, but flavoursome lagers, the hefe- and dunkel weizens, the dunkel and the bock are classics and worth a place in every beer fridge alongside the latest hopbomb. I was lucky enough to be invited to present at the Bavarian Bier Cafe's Oktoberfest launch at Brisbane and the Gold Coast, including tapping the first keg at Brisbane. This was a big honour, performed in Munich by the mayor. As you can see from the photo on the link Munich Mayor, Christian Nagy, was photographed before the tapping started. I wonder whether his tapping was as spectacular as mine however!

Anyway, however inelegantly it was done, O'zapft (The keg is tapped!) Head along to the Bavarian Eagle Street or Broadbeach to check it out. I will be hosting a dinner at the Eagle Street Pier BBC on 18th October from 6pm if you'd like to come along and join us. Details and booking info below.

Media Release

Unleash your inner Bavarian this Oktoberfest at Bavarian Bier Cafe

It’s time to release your lederhosen-wearing, pretzel-loving, stein-swigging, yodeling inner Bavarian because Oktoberfest is coming to town!

Oktoberfest will be officially launched at Bavarian Bier Café – Eagle Street Pier on Saturday, 22 September, and gives you the chance to join in the world’s biggest festival, which first began in Munich in 1810 to celebrate the marriage of Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen.

Throughout its six-week long Oktoberfest celebration, Bavarian Bier Café will bring the best of Bavaria to you with hearty menu specials, fun and family-friendly events, entertainment, and a range of authentic Oktoberfestbiers imported directly from Munich.

“We are absolutely passionate about all things Bavarian and want our guests to have the chance to celebrate the world’s greatest festival in true style,” said Dom Dighton, Bavarian Bier Café’s bier professor.

“That means simply choosing your venue, gathering a group of friends and being prepared to celebrate Oktoberfest properly in our contemporary settings.”

Here’s the lowdown on what to expect at Oktoberfest’s ‘home away from home’:

The Bier

• Each week of Oktoberfest, one of five exclusive Oktoberfest biers will be highlighted for patrons to enjoy - Spaten, Paulaner, Hofbräu, Hacker-Pschorr, or Lowenbräu.
• Bavarian Bier Café’s Bier Meisters will also host impromptu mini bier academies and educate bier lovers in the best way possible - tastings!

The Food

• Bavarian Bier Café will continue its reputation for perfecting Pure Bier and Pure Food matches with an authentic Oktoberfest menu of a la carte specialties all the way from Munich, and Bier Meisters available to recommend the perfect bier to complement a meal.

The Parties

• Join Beer Expert Matt Kirkegaard for a sit down 3 course Bavarian dinner perfectly matched with PURE Bavarian Oktoberfest bier and learn the secrets to brewing and tasting, Bavarian Style! $50 a ticket, Thursday 18th October from 6pm.
• Get your dirndls and lederhosen on for the inaugural Alpine Party! From 6.00pm on Saturday, 29 September, the ticketed event will be THE event of Oktoberfest, with a piccolo of Henkel sparkling wine on arrival, Bavarian canapés, and party tunes set to amp up the Alpine-themed atmosphere. Tickets are $20. Tickets to both events can be purchased by telephoning 3339 09 00.

The Family-friendly fun

• Family-friendly Oktoberfest activities will ensure parents enjoy an Oktoberfest outing as much as the kids!
• Face-painting: Every Oktoberfest Sunday from 12 noon to 3pm (starting 23 September)
• Sweet pretzel making: Every Oktoberfest Sunday from 10am to 2pm (starting 30 September)
• Kinder menu: Available every day, Bavarian Bier Café’s Kinder menu offers perfect meals for little tummies – think chicken schnitzel, fish, Frankfurter sausage, Bolognese, linguine and more – and all for $7.00 or less.

For more information about Oktoberfest 2012.

Note to editor: While each venue is distinctly different, all Bavarian Bier Cafés are united by a commitment to Pure Food, Pure Bier and Pure Passion. By sharing our passion for the very best bits of Bavaria, our guests get to experience fresh and flavoursome food, first-class beverages and the warm hospitality for which Bavaria is renowned.

Big Helga

I'm at The Matilda Bay Garage in Dandenong for the launch of their new beer, Big Helga, a dry Munich-style lager for Oktoberfest.  Following the success of Fat Yak last year it will be interesting to see how it tastes and if it reverses the trend so far this summer from the national brewers for ultra-bland beers.

Here's the official release...tasting notes to follow as soon as I try it for myself...

Fall in love with Big Helga – just like we did all those years ago Meet Big Helga – once you’ve met her you will never forget her . . . that’s for sure.

Strong-bodied, well-rounded and full of character, a nod to the Munich Oktoberfest lagers, Big Helga is Matilda Bay’s newest brew in an on-going journey of discovery and exploration of the world’s greatest beer styles.

Making her debut in October (no surprises there) at some of the best bars across Australia, the story of Big Helga begins with a Matilda Bay brewer who took a break, went in search of inspiration and found it in Munich at Oktoberfest, where he fell in love with a lofty blonde beer maid named Helga. . . well that’s the story he told us on his return.

Helga, he said, through misty eyes and with a croaky voice, could carry 12 steins of beer while his mates struggled with two. Helga was large, certainly, but she had a heart of pure Munich gold. Helga, he reminisced, should come to Australia one day and meet his parents . . .

She never came. So he made a beer in her honour instead.

Big Helga is brewed with malted barley and noble hops. It is kettle-hopped and after being lovingly nurtured during fermentation, it is then dry-hopped producing a fruity and fresh aromatic lager.

Big Helga is now available nationally at bars and pubs – any place where the finest beers are sold. She is only on tap but one day, we hope, if the good drinkers of Australia love Helga like we do, she will be available in bottle as well . . . Helga in a bottle, almost too good to be true.

Big Helga is perfectly suited to BBQ gourmet sausages (German of course) but she also loves curries, tapas, the occasional Thai salad and has even been known to go off with some Mexican . . . she is nothing if not versatile.

Here’s to you Big Helga – welcome to Australia.