A Constant Visual Feast

“Lederhosen. Tyrolean hats. Dirndls. Keg tosses and Masskrugstemmen. Presumably, beards. These are counted among the tropes that come to mind each year during annual Oktoberfest celebrations, the world’s largest Volksfest, marrying a funfair atmosphere to a beer hall brouhaha. Plenty of breweries in the United States, even the ones that don’t strictly identify with German heritage, tend to commemorate the occasion anyway, for the simple reason of “why not?” That’s as good of a reason as any to throw a party—as far as the average craft brewery is concerned.

There is a strong association with Oktoberfest and the stereotypical conception of who, exactly, enjoys beer, and consequent to that is an equally strong association between beer and eastern European nationalities—for good reason, of course. The Germans do in fact know how to brew a mean lager. But beer history goes farther back than the end of the first millennium—say, ancient Mesopotamia—and cultures aside from European ones love a good, tall cold one: Japan, South Korea, and India all love beer, too.” (Full piece available over at JoySauce.)