Paris Hilton banned from Oktoberfest
By Rocky | September 22, 2007
Good to see the Germans have got good taste. Last year the controversial celebrity gatecrashed the Munich festival in a very tacky gold traditional Bavarian dress to promote some sort of canned wine. Organisers and the public were not impressed and have banned celebrity promotions from this years festival in the wake of her stunt. Some people thought it was a shame they didn’t drown her in weissbier, but why waste perfectly good beer.
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Munich in readiness for Oktoberfest 2007
By Rocky | September 22, 2007
The countdown is on to the climax of months of planning and preperation for the 2007 Oktoberfest in Munich Germany. It’s less than three hours till the Lord Mayor of Munich taps the first keg and declares “O’zapft is!” (Bavarian: “It’s tapped!”). the world’s biggest folk festival open for another year. Over the next 16 days over 6 million people will drink a third of Munich’s yearly beer intake in the grounds of the Theresenwiese.
Only local Munich breweries serve beer at the festival and many serve a special Oktoberfest brew for the occasion, this beer is slightly darker and a bit stronger than their normal brews and is in a one-liter glass tankard called a Maß.
There are 14 large tents including The Hippodrom, Armbrustschützenzelt, Hofbräu Festzelt, Hacker-Festzelt, Schottenhamel, Winzerer Fähndl, Schützen-Festzelt, Käfers Wiesn Schänke, Weinzelt, Löwenbräu-Festhalle, Bräurosl, Augustiner-Festhalle, Ochsenbraterei and Fischer Vroni plus many smaller tents. Some of these larger tents are able to seat 4 - 5000 people in one sitting.
Over the festival Hoppsy will have several reports live from the 2007 Oktoberfest.
Official Site: http://www.oktoberfest.de/en/02/
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Oktoberfest starts next week!
By Rocky | September 15, 2007
Next Wednesday the barrel gets tapped and the festivities begin for the 174th Oktoberfest in Munich Theresienwiese festival grounds. This years fest will see over 6 million people visit the 42 hectare park over its 12 days. That’s half a million people a day!. In that time 6 million litres of beer, (30% of Munich’s annual consumption) quarter of a million sausages, 100 oxen, and half a million roast chickens will be served by over 1600 waitresses. The site has 1800 toilets and seating for over 100,000 people. 12000 people are employed during the festival including cleaners, ride operators, food vendors, security and tent staff. Last year over 200,000 mugs were retrieved by security guards from would be thieves, this year there will be a 50 Euro fine to crack down on people pinching the mugs. Plenty are on sale for souvenirs and all at pretty reasonable prices.
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EMU Bitter - It’s like an old mate
By wattsy | September 14, 2007
Western Australia’s Emu Bitter dates back to 1923 with its sharp hoppyness and bitter aftertaste this beer is very popular in the West. It hasn’t made much inroads into the eastern states of Victoria due to the huge loyalty and strenght of Lion Natha’s other brands and of course Carlton United. The beer has a 4.6% alcohol content and is brewed by the Swan Brewery in Perth. Colloquially Emu Bitter is known as “EB” or “Kenny”, we are not sure why Kenny, we would have prefered Barry..Barry the Beer sounds much better!
Official Site: http://www.emubitter.com.au
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Make a boat from those empty beer cans
By Rocky | September 9, 2007
Late July every year Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia is home to one of the worlds greatest events. The annual Beer Can Regatta. This event has been running for over 30 years and has raised thousands of dollars for the Lions Club’s community projects in the region. The event was spawned out of Cyclone Tracey in 1974. Thousands of interstate workers came to Darwin to help with the rebuild and after a hard days work they boys needed a beer or two to finish the day. There was a huge abundance of empty beer cans so some clever bloke called Lutz Frankensfeld thought the beer cans needed to go to a good use as there were no suitable recycling programs at the time. Lutz came up with the plan to turn the beer cans into boats and race them in a family day. Now some of the boats measure 12 metres long and are quiet sea worthy and take thousands of empty beer cans to build.
For more information visit their official website: http://www.beercanregatta.org.au/
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Oktoberfest fun at the Hippodrom
By Rocky | September 8, 2007
The Oktoberfest opens its gates on the 22nd - only 2 weeks away. So we continue or feature stories, today we talk about hte Hippodrom. The Hippodrom is one of the more elaborate of the huge Oktoberfest tents which are erected each year for the annual OkKtoberfest. The hippodrom dates back to 1902 and has been at Oktoberfest ever since serving the fineset Bavarian, veal sausages, pretzels and famous Fraziskaner Wheat Beer. 4200 people are seated each of the 4 daily sittings, the Bavarian Brunch, Lunchtime and the Happy Hippo Hour the evening sitting which books out months before the event. This year’s Oktoberfest is the 174th and will see over 6 million visitors through the gates during its 2 weeks of celebration from the 22nd of September.
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A day at the races
By Rocky | August 31, 2007
There’s no more fun than a day at the races, you have the horses, the fashion on the field and the party animals. These beer tellytubbies were spotted at the Geelong Cup which is one of the biggest country race meetings in Australia. Thousands turn out for the social event of the year in their finest dress or party costume. Country racing in Australia is one big party where people from all walks of life come together and have a great day in the sun enjoying a few cold beers and wines and hopefully going home with a pocket full of cash from picking a winning horse. We are not quiet sure if these tellytubbies need a straw to drink their beer but i’m sure they found a way.
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One month to Oktoberfest!
By Rocky | August 22, 2007
If you have been a regular reader of Hoppsy you will have noticed we are getting very excited about Oktoberfest the world’s biggest beer party and the tapping of the first barrel is only one month away. The Oktoberfest is not only about beer drinking it is infact a family event with heaps to do for people of all ages. There are some of the worlds most amazing carnival rides, food, arcade sideshows even a flea circus. One of Europe’s biggest ferris wheels is on hand for spectacular views and of course the huge beer tents. The event is one big happy festival with many people donning their traditional Bavarian dress for the occasion. Whether you drink beer or are young or old you will certainly enjoy your time at Munich’s favorite festival.
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Toast the King with a beer
By Rocky | August 16, 2007
With today being the 30th Anniversary of Elvis’s untimely death we wanted to do something special to commemorate the King of Rock and Roll. We know Elvis loved the fried chicken and the burgers but with all our research we couldn’t really see that he was a big beer drinker so we didn’t know how to tie Elvis into Hoppsy. But with some clever research through our photograph database and found this great picture. It isn’t really Elvis but its the next best thing and he’s singing at the Sydney Oktoberfest on the HB stage. The Sydney Australia Oktoberfest is held in a weekend late September/ early October at the Fairfield Showground about half an hour out of town. This year the festivities start on the 29th. Not sure if Elvis is attending this year but there will be plenty of beer, pork knuckles and sausages to the delight of the thousands who attend.
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Oktoberfest only 50 days away
By Rocky | August 4, 2007
All is nearly in readiness for the 174th Oktoberfest, and it is only 50 days away. Over the next 50 days Hoppsy will have plenty of tips for any of our readers who are lucky enough to be joining estimated 6 million people enjoying the celebrations in Munich. Bookings for the huge tents are filling fast so there’s no time to waste- you need to get your bookings underway as if you haven’t got a seat it isn’t too easy to find a beer. Entry to the festival and all the tents are free you just need to buy your food and drink along the way.
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