LITTLETON, CO — If you thought Oktoberfest was solely in the fall, think again. Paulaner Brewery, Munich’s traditional Bavarian brewery, is celebrating Oktoberfest by taking its authentic traveling biergarten on a cross-country tour for a second year. Fully equipped with tables, taps, and an abundance of Paulaner kegs, this biergarten stops in 19 U.S. cities from late March to mid-October, bringing towns the chance to experience authentic German beer traditions.
With Paulaner’s traveling biergarten any town can be transformed into “Little Bavaria” in a few short hours. A quick unloading of the party truck and an upscale venue is built, complete with a sound system, Bavarian decorations, and traditional biergarten tables and benches that can host up to 400 guests.
This week, the party truck packs up the biergarten and heads north from Colorado to Minnesota to bring a taste of Bavaria to the towns of Stillwater and St. Paul. June 1-2 from 2-8 p.m. the Paulaner biergarten will be at Gasthaus Bavarian Hunter, a family owned German restaurant with a newly expanded deck nestled in a pine forest. Admission to the event is free and will include Paulaner Beer specials, bratwursts, live music, and loads of merriment for the entire family.
The next weekend the Paulaner Beer truck sets up camp in St. Paul at the Germanic American Institute for two days of running, biking, dancing, and drinking. Saturday, June 8 is the 6th Annual Lederhosenlauf 5K Run/Walk and Mile Fitness Walk through the Cathedral Hill area followed by a post-run beer and brat breakfast at the Paulaner Biergarten. The afternoon brings more for active enthusiasts to revel in the Bicyclists’ Biergarten and Bike 4 Bier event. Anyone who rides their bikes to the biergarten will enjoy a brat and a half price draft beer at $3 each as part of the Paulaner’s “Go Gr├╝n” eco-friendly movement. And the fun for the day doesn’t stop there. The evening offers live music, and German food and beer and the late night contains a Euro-pop dance party.
Sunday brings in more jollity with Deutshcer Tag, a full day of dancing to live music, imbibing beer, eating authentic German food, and playing games the whole family can enjoy.
From Minnesota, the truck continues to 12 more U.S. cities in Colorado, Texas, Illinois, Ohio, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Florida, and has its last call in Las Vegas in mid-October.
The origins of the Biergarten can be traced back to the 16th century in Munich. The Bavarian Brewing Ordinance was enacted in 1539 following a series of serious brewery fires and restricted beer brewing to the winter months between September and April. For the breweries, which needed stocks of cool beer for the summer, this presented an insurmountable problem. The solution was the underground beer cellar. The brewers protected their beer against the sun’s heat by planting large numbers of chestnut trees and spreading out light-coloured gravel. From 1812 onward, King Ludwig I of Bavaria permitted breweries to serve their own beer to guests on the land above the beer cellar. Hence, the Biergarten was born.
As the first warm rays of sunshine emerge each year, guests have always been attracted to Paulaner Biergartens all around the world to relax, to quench their thirst and to sample a little Bavarian savoir vivre. The Biergarten, which has represented freedom and serenity for 200 years, simply epitomizes the way of life in Bavaria. It also represents an attitude which anyone can adopt, whether old or young, rich or poor, local or from afar. This year in the U.S., Paulaner is continuing to bring the biergarten to local bars and restaurants to spread the cheer of Oktoberfest and the traditions of Bavaria far and wide. To find out where each Biergarten stop will be, “like us” on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/
Paulaner HP USA, purveyor of the world’s finest beers, is headquartered in Littleton, Colo., and imports Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr, Fuller’s, O’Hara’s Irish Stout, Fruli, Birra Dolomiti and Dixie beers, Vigna Dogarina, Cavallina and Dr. Peter Pootinger Riesling wines, and Fuchen herbal liqueur. This list of fine imports is now available throughout the United States at upscale, on-premise establishments. www.paulaner.com