I don’t care what Al says, even if it is historical fact… the best Oktoberfest in the world is our little own Oktoberfest that my friends and I have each year where we ditch our normal lives for a weekend of pure regression into the past where we had little responsibility and behave like the men we are. 

A major theme of the weekend is, of course, beer. It started out as each of us providing four (4) 6-packs of a beer we thought no one else would bring. As memory serves, we have never had duplicates. With 4-packs and large 22+ oz bottles becoming more prevalent, we each tend to bring more varieties now. It is great fun to poke around in the cooler trying to figure out what we want to try next.

We also try to rate each beer and maintain a growing database so we can look back and see the best and the worst. As I blogged on Hop-Talk the other day, we will be having an Octoberfest Beer Battle and see who comes out on top. There will be lots of other beers to write about as well.

More on beer later… Let’s talk about why we do it.

When life is going so fast, children are growing up, and old friends are growing older, Octoberfest is about making it all stop for just a moment to just enjoy. This is another one of those times where you need to look at the big picture think about what is really important in life. On my death bed, go ahead and ask me, “would you rather have gotten the lawn mowed and the trim painted, or are you happier that you spent time hanging with your best friends?”

So what do we do? Well, another major theme for the weekend is games. Anything and everything from video games to card games to football games. We setup a large screen projector to watch the NY Giants, watch movies, and play video games. (and drink beer) It is a blast!

As you might expect, we get very little sleep this weekend and the following week at work is usually tough, but it is all worth it. I’m talking about my best friends here and we all live very far apart, so this one weekend each year means the world to me - to all of us.

The only thing I don’t like about Octoberfest weekend is the end; but I never regret it.

Next up in Part II… preparing and beer stories!

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