Various items of an Oktoberfest nature to ruminate on.

First up, Kevin McCloskey submitted this a couple of weeks ago:

I’ve never heard of this combination before so I gave it a try. Sam Adams Octoberfest with Guiness. Like a black and tan but changing out the Bass with Octoberfest. These two brews are perfect together in my opinion. I call it simply a "Black October". Give a try, I think you will be hooked like I am.

Sounds intriguing, for sure. Of course, there’s no reason you couldn’t use any other combination of Oktoberfest and stout (though Guinness is traditional).

Next, I found this article on KYPost.com which is a quick and amusing read: "Oktoberfest Fun Facts".

During this year’s events, festival goers will eat eight miles of metts, 15 football fields of sauerkraut balls, five tons of potato pancakes, more than eight Boeing 747s of cream puffs, 5K of strudel, 1.3 tons of jumbo pickles, one ton of German potato salad and 700 pounds of Limburger cheese. Let’s hope there are some breath mints in there, too.

It also points to Oktoberfest Zinzinnati which starts tomorrow in—you guessed it—Cincinnati. It takes place this weekend, the 20th and 21st, and admission is free. This is one of the big festivals: it started in 1976 and has since grown to 500,000 participants, and they claim to be the largest in the U.S.

Other U.S. ‘Fests coming up:

• The Fremont Oktoberfest which started today and runs through the weekend, based in Seattle.
• Oktoberfest USA in La Crosse, Wisconsin, which started way back in 1961.
• Capital City Brewing is hosting an Oktoberfest in Arlington, Virginia (their 9th annual) on the 4th of October.
• And of course, my own hometown, Bend Oktoberfest, which is taking place downtown next weekend, the 26th and 27th.