05 October, 2010

Weihenstephaner Festbier, Dublin '10

Weihenstephaner Oktoberfest, Dublin.
My weekend in Kilkenny plans were a-skewed when the call came through for a ticket to the exclusive Weihenstephaner Festbier, Oktoberfest night in Ballsbridge, last Friday.
I arrived, as requested, at 6.15pm, only to discover that the Festival didn't kick-off until 7pm and I was the only invitee that hadn't brought a date along. I hung around the bar for all of 7 minutes until I discovered that my good pals from  'X' Off-Licence on the North-side were definitely joining me but not until they'd finished their 5th Paulaner stein down at The Church, behind Jervis Shopping centre.
I left the romantic beer festival in The Berkley and joined the Paulaner Oktoberfest crew for 2 half steins before making my slightly unsteady way back to enjoy the authentic German Festivities complete with bad German pop songs, dough pretzels, apple strudel, 30ft tables complete with German families eating sauerkraut and the odd lederhosen and Really, really good beer.
Weihenstephaner Festbier is a rich golden colour with quite a fat creamy head. It's only slightly carbonated and smells like fresh bread with some clove and spice. The palate is slightly sweet and has flavours of cake mix and ripe fruit. It's a big beer, loads of flavour. Incredibly easy to consume, as experimented by our table. See exhibit 3.1.
The night finished relatively early. I (Test example1) arrived home at 12.30pm- apparently, Test example2 fell asleep in an armchair in the lobby and awoke to an empty event at 1.45am, Test example3 managed to have a sleep whilst levitating above the white table cloth, glass in hand. Test example4 was the last I left behind, still sitting in an upright position and speaking coherently. Test example4 had had previous experience. 

exhibit 3.1

Weihenstephaner Festbier is a must try during this 2 week beer celebration. It's got everything I'd expect from an Oktoberfest. Well worth the spend at €2.99 bottle.
Will there be an invite to the Berkley Court next year? Very much doubt it. At one point Test example2 was tearing pretzels apart and throwing them at our German neighbours. There was also a couple of incidents with unsteady steins close to trouser pockets which could well have been mistaken as a misinterpreted armchair!
Oktoberfest is great fun, well worth having a party in honour. It's one of the only times of the year that we can get drunk and blame it on the hike in ABV and then get away with it!!
Prost!!!
Ruthxx














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