Happy Oktoberfest 2026!

Started yesterday (19th of September to the 4th of October), Oktoberfest in Munich gives people the chance to drink some amazing German beers! Last year a pub near to me in Hastings held its Oktoberfest at the same time, but this year they are giving priority to the Hastings Tap Takeover (2nd to 4th October - website). Rumour has it that their Oktoberfest will be held soon.

As I said in my blog about Oktoberfest last year, Oktoberfest developed from October the 12th in 1810, which was a celebration for the wedding of Prince Regent Ludwig of Bavaria, later King Ludwig I, and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen, with festivities continuing until the 17th. It was enjoyed so much that an event was organised the following year, but the event was cancelled from 1813 due to the Napoleonic War, returning in 1819. A number of Oktoberfests were cancelled later on during the 2 World Wars of the 20th century, but the start of the event had already been brought forward to September in 1872, basically to ensure that the weather was warmer, usually finishing on the first Sunday in October. More of the history of Oktoberfest is shared on their website. Prost! 🍺

 

Don't forget there are many things that can go wrong drinking alcohol, be aware of limits and potential physical, social, and legal factors. The drinkaware website offers advice, tools to help, where to get support and 'facts' that you may not be aware of. Stay safe folks! 👌

Hastings Oktoberfest 2025

I hinted in  my last blog that I would be visiting Oktoberfest at The Prince Albert, 28 Cornwallis Street, Hastings TN34 1SS, 19-28 September 2025 (facebook), well I did on Friday 😉 and these are the beers I drank, thank you very much! 🍺🎉🍻

I didn't actually drink these beers in the order I'm reviewing them, the order I drank in confuses me, so I'll not confuse you, but here I am reviewing them in order of strength. First reviewing, from Bavaria, and Brauhaus Tegernsee, who see themselves as the 1675 successor to a much earlier brewery of the Benedictine monastery Tegernsee (website), and their merely 4.8% Tegernseer Hell. Pretty much a classic of the style, brewed with Hallertau hops (hopslist), and my notes simply say "clear pale golden colour, plenty of flavour, but light and refreshing and a dry slightly bitter finish" and pretty damn good to start off with, next time for me, and I did! 😉 

At 5.9% and a bit stronger than a traditional Munich Helles this was the next up in strength beer I drank, from Munich obviously, a brewery with a history going back to 1397, Spaten Brauerei (website) and their Oktoberfestbier, indeed, the first Oktoberfest bier ever! Sadly, they keep the hops used to themselves, but with a touch of light herbal flavour and very tasty, a slight maltiness to the aroma and a subtle honey to taste, plenty of body, and deep golden colour, you'll have noticed I came back for more of these 2 beers (below), very drinkable and my favourite! 😁

The Spatan, Paulaner and Hofbrau breweries are 3 of the 6 Munich breweries that are allowed to brew a protected Oktoberfestbier brand for Oktoberfest itself. The other 3 are Augustiner, Hacker-Pschorr which I drank last year (blog), and Lowenbrau (Oktoberfest website).

The penultimate beer here, although it was my first beer on Friday 😏 was from Paulaner Brauerei, which has a history dating back to 1634 (website), and their 6.0% Oktoberfest Bier, brewed with Herkules (hopslist) and Hallertauer Tradition (hopslist) hops. This has a slightly deeper golden colour than the others, with lightly toasted white bread in the aroma, and taste, and with a bit of caramel, almond, melon and black pepper in the taste too, plenty of flavour and body, and with a slightly dry bitter finish, nice one! 👍

Finally, the only one of these 4 that I drank at their Oktoberfest last year, also from a Munich brewery Hofbrau Munchen (website) and their 6.3% Hofbrau Oktoberfestbier, another festival 'special' beer brewed with Herkules (hopslist), Perle (hopslist), and Spalter Select (hopslist) hops. This is a pale golden colour with a subtle sweetness and hints of grapefruit and dried fruits to the taste, very refreshing, and 6.3% (!) so dangerous to drink. My notes say "so much better than the commercial lagers brewed over here." So obviously true, no comparison, I could drink this all day, prost! 🍻

I'm adding images of the Spaten Oktoberfestbier and Tegernseer Hell below, as I went back on Sunday and had these 2 beers again, and nice to see them in a glass, although I had already taken a mouthful of Hell before photographing, but you get the message. 😉

Spaten Oktoberfestbier

Tegernseer Hell

 

If you don't know why Oktoberfest is held mostly in September, I'll share that information, because I just had to look it up for myself. 😉 Oktoberfest developed from October the 12th in 1810, which was a celebration for the wedding of Prince Regent Ludwig of Bavaria, later King Ludwig I, and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen, with festivities continuing until the 17th, and finishing with a horse race! It was enjoyed so much that an event was organised the following year, but the event was cancelled from 1813 due to the Napoleonic War, returning in 1819. A number of Oktoberfests were cancelled later on during the 2 World Wars of the 20th century, but the start of the event had already been brought forward to September in 1872, basically to ensure that the weather was warmer, usually finishing on the first Sunday in October. 2025 sees the 190th Oktoberfest! More of the history of Oktoberfest is shared on their website.

If driving, the Prince Albert also has available a draught 0.4% Rothaus PILS. 👌

Cask Ale Week AND Oktoberfest Together!

Indeed, both on now-ish! National Cask Ale Week 18-28 September 2025 (website) is a time to celebrate drinking cask ales in pubs, so essentially very British, as cask ale is lauded as our national drink. I'll have to drink a few pints of ale this coming week then... 😉 

 Oktoberfest

And the 190th Oktoberfest begins tomorrow (20th September - October the 5th 2025), and the beer halls of Munchen will be brimming with beers and unfeasibly full litre steins (website), but!

A pub very close to where I live starts its own Oktoberfest celebrations TODAY! At the Prince Albert, 28 Cornwallis Street, Hastings TN34 1SS, the festival will run from today to the 28th of September 2025 (facebook). I wrote about the Prince Albert Oktoberfest 2024 in this blog last year, when some pretty impressive Bavarian beers were imbibed by me, including Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest Bier (6.0%) and Hofbrau Munchen Oktoberfestbier (6.3%), and some very decent German style food was eaten too! What do I do, choices!?! 😏

Whatever you do, have a great weekend and coming week, cheers folks! 🍺

Apologies - International Beer Day 2025 Yesterday!

Sorry I missed this, I had the wrong date marked in my diary. 😕 But Happy International Beer Day for yesterday! 🍺 Which should have been, and probably was elsewhere, a day of global celebration of beer (website). Indeed, the first Friday in August has been International Beer Day since 2013, a celebratory day created by Jesse Avshalomov at his local bar in Santa Cruz in California in 2007 (used to be August the 5th previously), you have to love those drinkers across the North Atlantic who suggest I celebrate drinking beer so regularly! 

The purpose of the day is to gather with others and enjoy a few beers and to celebrate the variety of beers available, and to celebrate those who brew, manage, and serve beer to us, not forgetting the wonderful pubs and bars where we drink. As Simon Difford suggests, let's raise a glass "to Beer, a drink that brings the world together." (diffordsguide) 🍻

But I did have a pint of ale yesterday, from a brewery I had never heard of, at my local 'local' The Prince Albert in central Hastings (blog). The ale, pump clip first image above, was from West Sussex brewery North Garden (website), Peaks (4.5%), an English Pale Ale, so brewed with English hops, which I presume are the same as for its stronger sibling Peaks Extra Pale Ale (4.8%); that is, Olicana (British Hop Association) and Harlequin (British Hop Association).

Or maybe not, on looking at the few reviews I could find, which suggest a paler beer than I drank (likely reviews of the Extra Pale Ale), although English Pale Ales are usually darker than the APAs that have been dominating the IPA name in recent times. The Peaks I drank was quite a deep copper colour, very much like a traditional IPA should be, and was, indeed, a bitter ale, like a traditional IPA would have been at the outset. Also, I didn't get the tropical fruit flavours you would expect with hops used like Olicana and Harlequin, so very likely more traditional English hops were used. However, the brewery's website doesn't help me at all, I can only go by what I was served, which was a bitter traditional English ale. Happy Beer Day Plus One, cheers! 😁