“We are celebrating Oktoberfest here at Brews of the World this year to showcase the finest beer that German has to offer,” states Robin Ludlow. “We have always longed to host an event like this and this year we are finally able to do it.”
For those unfamiliar with the concept of Oktoberfest, Robin explains: “It is a German folk festival held annually in Munich, usually lasting sixteen to eighteen days ending on the first Sunday in October. The festival originated on 12 October 1810 to celebrate the marriage of the Crown Prince of Bavaria.”
“Even before the original Brews of the World opened as a shop, we wanted to do Oktoberfest,” agrees Chris McCormack. “We are big fans of German beer, the history and traditions. There are so many stories, so many different styles, with an amazing range of flavours, aromas from the five basic ingredients of malted barley, wheat, hops, water and yeast. It is something that has fascinated us. Burton beer was exported all over the world, so we thought we’d do it the other way and bring Bavarian beers to Burton.”
The event started on Friday and goes on for ten days.
“We never do anything by halves!” laughs Chris. “Now we’ve got the extra ten taps, we can do events like this, tastings, tap takeovers …”
Oktoberfest is a massive party, with music, food, beer and merry making. The modern festival involves six Munich breweries.
“Augustiner, Hacker-Pschorr, Hofbräu, Löwenbräu, Paulaner, and Spaten,” Chris lists. “We have three of the Oktoberfest beers on, I believe that Augustiner haven’t made on this year, although we do have Augustiner Helles in bottle.”
Brews of the World have stocked German beer from when they started in November 2017.
“We’ve always made a point of having German beer on sale, we started with the shop and had a range of bottles,” says Chris. “When the bar opened we always made a point of having one Helles Lager and one Wheat Beer on tap. We hope it brings sone colour to the local beer scene. The pubs in Burton are largely based on Cask Ale but there is a big fan base for Craft Beer and we hope this is just another feather in the Bavarian hat of Burton!”
Along with the three Oktoberfest beers, there is a vast selection of other beers to try.
“We’ve gone pretty much across the board,” reveals Chris. “We’ve a Dunkel (dark lager), a smoked beer called Schlenkerla Kräusen, Jever Pilsner which is very bitter, Fruh Kolsch, we’ve also got Hallo Ich Bin Raspberry Berliner from Mikkeller which is an imitation as we couldn’t get the real beer … so a diverse range.”
The Beertonian has long held the opinion that bland British Lager has given the style a bad name, something Chris agrees with.
“When it is ‘Brewed under license’ in particular!”
So what advice is there for those who are put off by the British versions of Carling, Carlsberg, Fosters etc.?
“The go-to would be the Tegernsee Helles, if you are unsure give it a try, have a half and you might find something you really like,” says Chris with an air of authority, before adding the following with a chuckle. “We try to give the impression that we know what we are talking about! Lager beer takes as much skill to produce as any other beer, a real lager is up there with Cask Ale, it does deserve recognition.”
In typical Brews of the World style, they are still catering for every palate.
“If someone wants traditional Cask Ale we have options from Burton Town Brewery, their Modwena Stout went down well yesterday and we have their Kolsch Lager on too. We’ve got Craft Beers, including a Blue Raspberry Ice Slush Sour from Play Brew Co. which is a shocking green colour, there’s traditional Cider, we’ve even got Gin!”
So far Oktoberfest has been really well supported, both Friday and Saturday nights have seen the place full.
“We had a few poke their head in the door but it was too busy, they came back later which was encouraging. I see big times ahead; I think the local beer scene is on the cusp of something special,” suggests Chris.
Why not pop in this week and support this local business by sinking a few steins? Brews of the World not only have a unique vision in the town but have made a lot of progress in the last six months and surely this is only just the start.
Ein Prosit!