Let's Get Crafty

What Oktoberfest Means to Me

Remember those terrible assignments in school? I hated them. Mainly because the subject was always dictated to you. It was things like country, family, friends, school, or worse, the church.

One such assignment stands out to me from elementary school. e name of our school was Broadview Elementary. It was right down the road from the Broadview Inn, a local pub. e joke was that the school was named a er the pub, which is hilarious when you are seven years old. e assignment was called “What Broadview Means to Me.” e students got to vote on the best essay, which was to then be submitted to a state contest. e title of my essay was “What Broadview Means to Me, A Penitentiary.” I likened the school to a prison. I described it as a place void of freedom. A building where the expression of ideas was restricted, and democracy was dead. We were to read our essays to the class. My classmates roared with laughter and cheered at the end of my dissertation. If they could have, they would have hoisted me on their shoulders and carried me through the halls of the school. I was a hero. No, I was a god! I was Zeus, using my pen to hurl my lightning bolts and smite my enemies. Well, at least I thought I was. Even though I won, the school never submitted my essay. e teacher just rolled her eyes and said, “Very nice, Timmy.” e kid who was awarded the win wrote about how nice the teachers were and about how much she loved spelling, math, and Pizza Wednesday. Really? No one loved math! ey were looking for conformity, not creativity.

I’ve come to terms with it now. Well, at least a er I wrote that last paragraph I did. Writing can be a wonderful form of therapy. I now understand the importance of such assignments. Even though it was appreciated by those whom it was meant to entertain, my

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Here are a few of my favorite local breweries that offer great fest beers.

Port City Brewing As always, Port City is offering a great line of German beers for Oktoberfest. Among them, their Great American Beer Festival Bronze Medal Award winning Oktoberfest Marzen Style Lager, made with both Munich and Vienna Malt. Their Swarzbier is a black lager that is deep brown in color and smooth in taste, with notes of coffee and toasted malt. This one will run out before the others, so grab one soon. Their German Pilsner is fantastic and harkens to the types of beer you would get at the festival in Munich. They also offer a Hefeweizen, and the Rauch Marzen, a smoked version of their Oktoberfest bier. Denizens Brewing Co. Denizens Brewing Company has two beers from their Hike the Alps series just in time for Oktoberfest. The rst is their Marzen. Brewed with a unique Bavarian lager yeast, this fest beer showcases a sweet bready malt pro le balanced by oral hops. The other is their Hike the Alps Rauchbier. Brewed with European smoked malted barley, this red colored lager has a bready malt sweetness balanced by the avor and aroma of wood re smoke. Denizen Brewing is always a great choice for an afternoon or evening brew. Aslin Beer Company Aslin Beer Company also has a fun variety of Oktoberfest releases. Their Festbier is a traditional German style Golden Lager, very similar to what you’d get at the tents in Munich. They also have Doch, a traditional German Marzen, and Much Ado, a German style Helles lager. Full Basic, a dark Czech lager, is also being released with their Oktoberfest beers. Aslin Beer Company consistently makes good beer.

essay was doomed from the start. You will never ingratiate yourself to anyone by disparaging them. e assignment ended up being a very good life lesson.

Now, please allow me to write about something that is dear to my heart. Something that touches my very soul, Oktoberfest.

Oktoberfest is a gathering of love and friendship. It is a time for families and friends to come together and celebrate life itself. e rst Oktoberfest was a wedding reception a er all. e soon-to-be Bavarian King Louis I was set to wed Princes eresa von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. Wedding receptions are celebrations of love, life, and the joining of families. e Germans try to end the festival as close to Reuni cation Day, October 3rd, as possible. Oktoberfest is the perfect way to celebrate the rejoining of their country. It is a festival that embodies the meaning of community. Plus, it’s the best beer you’re ever going to drink!

My buddy Devo and I have gone to the festival in Munich on several occasions. On the rst day of one of our trips, we got to the festival around 11 AM. We tried several tents but could not nd a table. One of the rules is that you must be at a table to drink. However, a tent waitress, or Beir Frau, has a lot of leeway when it comes to the rules. We entered the Augustiner Beer Tent for one last try. A Beir Frau recognized us from the previous year. She ran up, hugged us, got us a beer, and told us that she would nd us a seat. We were overjoyed. As I was enjoying my liter of fest beer, I looked over at Devo. He was wiping his eyes.

“Are you crying?” I chuckled.

“A little,” he said. “I can’t help it. I love it here. I feel like a kid at Christmas.”

What a great analogy. e feeling of joy on Christmas morning for a child is quite similar. Oktoberfest is joyful. Food, drink, and merriment abound. Song and laughter ll the air. It’s truly the world’s biggest kegger. People from almost every country attend, even the French. e Germans really don’t like them, but a couple do occasionally show up.

Oktoberfest beers are traditionally lagers. e Marzen-style lager, the original fest beer, is amber in color and malty with a medium body. It is by far the American brewers favored style. e German brewers lean toward lighter lagers nowadays. Lagers that are much more suited for all day drinking. Many American brewers will o er these as well. So, get out and enjoy the many Fest Beers and events that your local cra breweries will be o ering. Invite your friends and family! at’s what Oktoberfest is all about! And unlike Christmas, Oktoberfest is a two-week event that includes three weekends. In Munich alone, ve to six million people attend and over seven million liters of beer are poured.

Maybe Christmas should take note.

A BIT OF HISTORY FROM PAGE 9

policies.” e survey “measured support for over two dozen gunrelated policies and found high levels of support for most.”

In 2019 U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) introduced S.66, a bill which “makes it a crime to knowingly import, sell, manufacture, transfer, or possess a semiautomatic assault weapon (SAW) or large capacity ammunition feeding device (LCAFD).” It died. Now U.S. Representative Don Beyer (D-VA8), a member of the House Ways and Means Committee proposes H.R.8051, a bill “to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to impose an additional 1,000 percent excise tax on the sale of large capacity ammunition feeding devices and semiautomatic assault weapons….” e goal: to slow the sale of such.

“I am deeply concerned that the gun manufacturers continue to pro t from the sale of weapons of war,” Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney [DNY], House Committee on Oversight and Reform said. Five of the leading U.S. manufacturers of AR-15 assault style weapons “have brought in a combined total of at least $1.7 billion in revenue over the past decade.”

“ e U.S. Senate on April 12, 1934, established a committee to investigate the manufacture and sale of munitions in the U.S., speci cally the extent to which this trade in uenced and pro ted from the role taken by the U.S. in WWI,” Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., wrote. Two months later Congress passed the National Firearms Act [NFA].

“ e original Act imposed a tax on the making and transfer of de ned rearms, as well as a special (occupational) tax on persons and entities engaged in the business of importing, manufacturing, and dealing in NFA rearms,” the ATF explained.

“As the legislative history of the law discloses, its underlying purpose was to curtail, if not prohibit, transactions in NFA rearms,” the ATF continued. “Congress found these rearms to pose a signi cant crime problem [including] the 1929 St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.” Seven people were killed in the Massacre, one third the number killed in Uvalde.

Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, P.L. 117-159 on June 25, 2022. Given the gunshots West Old Town Alexandria residents randomly hear the law is welcome news. e House passed H.R. 1808 the Assault Weapons Ban of 2022, 217-213 on July 29. Senate action waits.

Tim’s Whiskey and Cigar Recommendations

What whiskey is going to go best with your Oktoberfest beer? Call me crazy, but the best whiskeys to drink with fest beers are Irish potstilled whiskeys. Don’t stop reading, hear me out. ese whiskeys are made with un-malted barley and complement the fest beers very well. You’re getting the best of Germany and Ireland. What’s better than that?

Jameson Black Barrel Irish Whiskey is is a blended Irish whiskey that is double distilled and matured in deep charred oak barrels. It contains a large portion of Irish pot-still whiskey, so it’s perfect to pair with an Oktoberfest lager. e whiskey is thick on the palate and has a long nish, the lagers tend to be crisp and nish quickly. e peach, coconut, and cinnamon notes complement the lager’s maltiness. A delicious Irish and German blend, who would have thought. Padron Series 5000 Natural Cigar

I wanted a second opinion when selecting this cigar. I consulted with my friend John Pann, one of the owners of John Crouch Tobacconist in Old Town Alexandria. John is my go-to on these matters. We discussed the German lagers, and John immediately went for the Padron Series 5000 Natural Cigar. ese wonderful full-bodied smokes do not overpower. With notes of co ee, chocolate, walnut. and nutmeg, they are a very smooth smoke with a buttery nish that seduces the palate. A great accompaniment to both your fest beer and Irish whiskey. Enjoy. is cigar, and many other ne cigars, are available at John Crouch Tobacconist 215 King St. Alexandria, VA 22314

About the Author: Timothy Long is an educator, writer, consultant, and experienced restaurant operator. Email: tlong@belmarinnovations.com. Instagram and Twitter: @wvutimmy. Blog: What is that y doing in my soup?

Sarah Becker started writing for e Economist while a graduate student in England. Similar publications followed. She joined the Crier in 1996 while serving on the Alexandria Convention and Visitors Association Board. Her interest in antiquities began as a World Bank hire, with Indonesia’s need to generate hard currency. Balinese history, i.e. tourism provided the means. e New York Times describes Becker’s book, O Your Du s & Up the Assets, as “a blueprint for thousands of nonpro t managers.” A former museum director, SLAM’s saving grace Sarah received Alexandria’s Salute to Women Award in 2007. Email: abito istory53@gmail.com