Sept. 28 marked our first foray into Oktoberfest, as well as the first time I’ve ever received a sunburn in late September.
The festival proceeded like all suburban festivals should—with a bunch of tents set up in a park in the furthest reaches of the city, and a huge sound stage with middle-aged rockers playing Bachman-Turner Overdrive covers to senior citizens and a few drunken mothers.
Fortunately, the festival was distinguished by lederhosen and funny hats, as well as a huge focus on local craft beer. We took the liberty of working our way through the best that the three breweries on-hand had to offer.
At Ottawa’s local Broadhead Brewing Company, one of the three main suppliers for the event, they pushed out a terrific seasonal called the harvest ale.
“It’s an amber ale,” explains brewery co-founder Josh Larocque. “[The hops are] whole cones, they’re not pelletized . . . The leaf is still fresh, there’s a much greener flavour to them.”
The beer itself was one of the main standouts at the festival, and it’s a shame that you would need to go to their brewery on West Hunt Club in order to get more. It had an earthy, rich taste without being overly hoppy, and was perfect for late-afternoon drinking, though possibly a little too heavy for festival-based binge drinking.
Another great standout was Big Rig Brewery’s hefe. This beer is what all festival beers should be. It was refreshing and easy to drink, though it lacked the fruity, almost banana-like taste of other hefeweizen, notably Granville Island’s famous effort.
It was also unexpectedly carbonated, reaching almost soda pop levels, which threw me off, but made the beer more refreshing nonetheless. Much like the harvest ale, however, to try this beer you would need to go on a pilgrimage to their brewery, which is out beside the IKEA in western Ottawa.
The brewers themselves say they were thrilled with the outpouring of public support for their beer, which is not widely distributed throughout the province.
“The patrons that come in here and have fun and try the beers, we’ve had great positive feedback,” co-founder of Hogsback Brewing Company, Frank Costello said. “We were happy to be part of it this year.”
Hogsback offered a number of beers, including a funky ale made with toasted coconut. Also on tap was its easy-drinking flagship lager and a nut brown. We usually find lager a little boring, but Hogsback’s proved very popular, as festival-goers lined up for the easy-to-drink beverage.
If there ever was a way to spend a sunny afternoon in late September, it would be in a beer tent, listening to dad rock and drinking craft beer. The funny hats and lederhosen were just an added bonus.
—@alexsbrockman
—@DKolanko
