– An Easy Spread –

It’s October and I’m trying to find a way to get in the spirit of this wonderful month-long (well, at least for us Americans) drinking holiday, so I decided to go on a quest for Octoberfest (or Oktoberfest, for you Germans) beer. Basically the idea was to go to several different places and see/taste their different types of Octoberfest beer to see how America handles this tradition. First, a short history of the real Oktoberfest in Germany. Oktoberfest is a 16-day festival (one of, if not the, largest in the world) held in Munich, Germany every year (on the 16 days leading up to and including the first Sunday in October.) The festival started off as a marriage reception for King Ludwig I and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen (geez, what a mouthful!) It includes food, games, rides, entertainment, and, of course, the most important aspect: BEER! The festival officially begins after the tapping of the Oktoberfest beer keg every year. Visit the festival site to learn more about this festival.

Below is a short list of places in the DC area where you can find Octoberfest (since America bastardized the name) beer. I also tried to keep a keen eye out for happy hour specials and drink prices, since I know everyone is on a budget these days.

The Brickskeller Dining House & Down Home Saloon

1523 22^nd St. NW
Washington, DC 20037
(202) 293-1885

The Brickskeller’s sister company is R.F.D Washington, located at: 810 7^th St. NW (near the MCI center)

The Brickskeller is a popular pub house featuring a humongous selection of beer on draft and in a bottle; their web site claims to have served over 5000 different beers since the opening of the establishment in 1957. (I’d hate to have to stock the beer at this place!) My rough count of their current listed beers resulted in somewhere around 1,100 different types of beer, ranging from normal/popular beers like Michelob Light and Corona to rarities like Ridgeway Santa’s Butt Winter Porter and Flying Dog Tire Bite Ale. Click on the link above to go to their web site and see the entire list of selections for yourself.

There were, surprisingly, multiple different types of Oatmeal Ales and Apple Cider Ales, yet not that many (explicitly stated) Oktoberfest beers. In fact, I could only find one: ALLGAUER Oktoberfest. However, the following list identifies some beers that seem to be in the Oktoberfest/Halloween/Fall spirit:

• GEORGE GALE Festival Mild
• I J AMSTERDAM Columbus
• J W LEE Harvest Ale (8 different types)
• MOORHOUSE’S Black Cat
• MOORHOUSE’s Pendle Witches Brew
• WYCHWOOD Hobgoblin Ale
• WYCHWOOD Scarecrow

There are no prices for the beer listed on their site (and I was way too intimidated to visit the place myself, as I drink, *blush*, Bud Light on a regular basis), but the entrée prices average about $7-8. Thus, it is probably safe to say that the beer prices are not ridiculous. Although, I wouldn’t be surprised to find a higher than normal price tag on some of the really rare ones. Who am I kidding… they are all rare to me; I only recognized around 15 of them!

Ragtime

1345 N. Courthouse Rd.
Arlington, VA 22201
(703) 243-4003

Ragtime is a quaint little place–almost like the bar from the show Cheers–in Courthouse. It’s nice because it is a little off the main strip, so it doesn’t get as crowded as most of the other places downtown. I stopped in here to “pre-game” before going to a concert…don’t laugh. They are open until 2 a.m. every day and have live acoustic music pretty much every Tuesday through Saturday. Happy hour is until 8 p.m., Monday through Friday, when you can get $2 Seasonal beers (including Sam’s Octoberfest and Bell’s Oktoberfest, for a limited time.) They also have some specials on appetizers on certain days.

Galaxy Hut

2711 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington, VA 22201
(703) 525-8646

This place definitely must be a cyber-café- turned bar. It is no bigger than your living room and features an array of artsy, smartsy, (weird) paintings of such things as…I can’t even remember. But they’re out there. Other entertainment includes a pinball and Ms. Pac-man machine, and (keeping with the theme of their name) a gallaga/space invaders arcade game (whatever that is). I would not be surprised if I saw someone in a space alien suit there. At the same time, however, the atmosphere is very relaxed- like at a hookah bar.

As for alcohol, they offer 20 beers on tap and 30 bottled beers (but no liquor!) Out of these, I found four that were Oktoberfest/Fall-like:

• $6: Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale
• $6: Dogfish Head Punkin’ Ale
• $6: Southern Tier Harvest Ale
• $4.50: Bell’s Oktoberfest

Feeling daring, I tried the Dogfish Head Punkin’ Ale. It tasted like I imagine a pureed pumpkin would taste like. It had a 7% alcohol content, but I couldn’t taste a hint of that.

After 11 p.m. they reduce their food menu options down to French fries, tater tots, and onion rings. Tater tots were my choice, and my were they delicious! There is also live music every Sunday and Monday night. They are open from 5 p.m. until 2 a.m. daily, and happy hour runs until 8 p.m., offering $3 off pitchers.

On a completely random note, their web site is amazingly trendy, considering it is a little hole-in-the-wall type of place.

Hunan Number One Restaurant & Bar

3033 Wilson Blvd. Suite E
Arlington, VA 22201
(703) 528-1177

Hunan is a typical Chinese restaurant with the same food that you can get at any other Chinese restaurant. The only exception is that from Wednesday through Saturday nights it is completely filled with drunk people. Hunan offers one of the best happy hours in the area: 32 oz. draft beers for $3.95-$5.25, depending on the type of beer, from 11a.m. to 8:30 p.m. every day. That’s like getting three beers for the price of one! And you don’t really know how big a 32oz. beer is until you see it; you have to hold it with two hands. They only have four beers on draft (House light, Yuengling, Blue Moon, and Stella Artois), but did I mention 32 oz. for around $4? Right now they have Sam Adam’s Octoberfest on draft (although I’m not sure which other beer it is replacing). If you’re not a beer person, you can go and get ½ off all bottles of wine and still be merry! They also have happy hour specials on food, such as 8 pieces of sushi for $2.95. Oh, and just to keep this bandwagon going- there is free parking(at night) in a public garage located behind the restaurant, unlike so many other places in Clarendon. This is a lifesaver for people like me who can’t parallel park.

Ok, so I know what you’re thinking- I only visited places in Arlington. That’s not entirely true. I also went to T.G.I Friday’s and Clyde’s in Tysons Corner, a rough spot called Hawk ‘n’ Dove in DC, and a few others, but I tried to pick the places that had the biggest selections of beer (especially Octoberfest) and/or had really good happy hours. Out of all of these, though, Total Wine takes the cake. They have the biggest selection of Octoberfest beer (at least 25 different kinds) for less than $2 per bottle. You can even browse the singles shelves and “create your own” 6-pack of different types. So, unless you have to be in public because you crave the attention, or people stepping on your feet, or the random drunk girl spilling beer all over your pants, I would suggest gathering some friends and heading to your local Total Wine to check out their Octoberfest selection.

Check out this quiz to see how Oktoberfest-savvy you are!

Stephanie is an English graduate student at George Mason University who loves her family, friends, and dogs. When she’s not going to class or bartending, she enjoys reading, watching movies, and snowboarding.

The Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons Octoberfest image is from the user Senatory86 and is freely available at Wikipedia under the creative commons cc-by-sa 2.5 license.