American Oktoberfest puts a new spin on an old European tradition

Sure, Oktoberfest is a seasonal festival with predetermined dates and practices. But just as Americans put their stamp on traditional beers, the autumn beer season here has become a thing unto itself.

It probably is time to recognize that what might be called American Oktoberfest has its own set of rules, dates and practices that differ as much as American craft breweries themselves.

The traditional Oktoberfest was part harvest festival, part party. Though it began “officially” in Munich as a massive wedding celebration in 1810, the practice of enjoying the last of the summer beer as a community probably predates that by a couple hundred years. Tradition holds that fall festivals in what became Germany sprung up as brewers needed to empty out the old kegs so they could begin laying up beer for the winter.

Whatever the most distant origins, the point is that communities took the opportunity to have a sprawling harvest festival while the weather was still pleasant. In fact, the quest for fair weather is why the Munich festival migrated from mid-October to the third week in September more than a hundred years ago.

American Oktoberfest has become something altogether different from, but recognizable to, its European ancestor.

As a specifically German-American cultural celebration, Oktoberfests have been an important way for Germans to celebrate their heritage and for non-Germans to help them do it for most of the last century. The rise of craft beer culture, though recent, has added to and altered this tradition.

We’re effectively celebrating something different, in pieces, for a longer period of time. The attitude is the same — enjoy the last of the summer in case winter isn’t kind — but the execution recognizes the diversity of American public life. Festivals happen in their own times and places based on what the local communities have to celebrate.

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American autumn craft beer festivals tend to be more about the specific community than the availability of beer. Municipalities have learned that craft beer festivals are not drunk fests and that they give towns or regions the chance to really shine and show themselves off as destinations. Once the economic development aspect of beer festivals makes itself clear, what little public objection there is tends to melt away. As they say, nothing succeeds like success.

Whether they are locals or visitors, craft beer festival attendees have disposable income and the will to embrace the celebratory atmosphere, not just the beers. People make a weekend of it. This year, there are multiple beer festivals every weekend in the Mid-Atlantic. Each of them with a similar aim: to celebrate the season and to provide some good beer.

As with many of our ideals, American Oktoberfest is fuzzy, almost a relative concept. It kicks off in early September and probably ends the first week in November, making it as much a tendency as an event. In Germany, where Oktoberfest lasts a little more than two weeks you have to make a choice about where and when to celebrate it. Here a reveler can attend two different beer festivals every weekend for the better part of autumn.

Fall beer festivals also are increasingly about place and beer, rather than just about beer alone. In many cases they feature beers that were made in the very town (or at least county) that’s having the celebration, making civic pride and self-reliance front and center. Spending an afternoon drinking beer brewed by your neighbors, eating food prepared by them, buying their art and listening to their music has a real homey feeling about it.

Moreover, visitors have the opposite impression: This what the people here are like. This is what they make and value. This is how they celebrate. Beer festivals establish an open connection between regional cultures and form a starting point for people who may otherwise think they have nothing in common.

If you’ve been wary about participating in a local beer festival, here are some quick pointers.

You don’t have to finish tasting a beer you don’t like. No one will have their feelings hurt if you discretely pour beer on the ground. There’s a craft beer for everyone, but sometimes you have to try a bunch until you find it.

Make a note of the beers and styles of beers you do like, so you can look for them in the future.

Most important, take your time. Make sure to enjoy the music and conversation with friends and strangers. Talk to artisans and maybe sample something from one of the food vendors you normally wouldn’t. Immerse yourself in the craft beer culture and you’re certain to have a good time, and making the effort to enjoy yourself is really the only rule for participating in American Oktoberfest.