h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It's just a couple of weeks till my annual trip to Munich for the beer soaked fun fest that is - the Oktoberfest!!! I say annual, we didn't quite make it last year, but that just makes us all the more resolute to manage this year.

It's a revolutionary early-week approach this year. We arrive on Sunday and hope to try out some of the smaller tents on Monday and Tuesday. They're usually packed out at the busier times.

The whole thing kicks off next weekend, and we join in a week later. Drinking wellies at the ready....

ein, zwei, GSUFFA!!!!!

Hey, I wanna go!

Then go next year. This year my buddy Bill is coming over from Columbus Ohio, and he travelled all the way from California last time!!

Next year we're going to Italy for two weeks in the spring, so I won't be able to afford a second trip overseas.

Hard to b**** about going to Italy, tho!

Where, oh where are you, Psycho? You've been away longer than I was. Are you painting? Writing up your Second City trip for the Post? In training for Oktoberfest? I miss you.

Painting? Well, if we're being absolutely honest here, that would be no.

Writing up the Chicago trip? Actually yes. It's almost done, but then I pass it on to Zantic who will be adding her own personal experieces (such as an account of the first American hangover - mine was so long ago I've forgotten)

In training for Oktoberfest? Again, a bit of that. I have been out and about for a few days visiting people and stuff (hence no hootooing for a bit) including doing grappa shots with an old friend who just got engaged and finding new and exciting pubs with Zantic in Dundee. Specifically in preperation for Oktoberfest, the first on this year's Lowenbrau Festbier has arrived on these shores and I can confirm it's a-very-nice . And strong....

I'm mostly a beer wimp; nice smooth lager for me. Can't handle the dark heavy stuff.

I'm glad you're back! At least till you take off for Munich, and I'm looking forward to reading your Chicago report.

Oktoberfest bier is actually normally a slightly stronger than average pilsner beer. You can normally get a Weissbier too, but it's served in pints, rather than the litre 'masses' that the festbier comes in, and isn't recommended for sustained drinking....

Or you could resort to the Radler, which is essentially half beer and half European style lemonade (sprite without the lime).

I dunno, that might be *too* girlie. Like a wine cooler. Remember those? They ripped through the U.S. in the '80s.

Here, they've been replaced by alcopops. The mere mention of which will get you forcefully ejected from any beer tent at Oktoberfest

Tee hee! what's an alcopop? A frozen thingie?

Alcopops are about as strong as beer, but very sickly sweet, usually fruit flavoured and brightly coloured. The alcohol is barely noticable, but they are usually equivilent to a strong bottled beer, and they are marketed almost exclusively at young women.

Originally they were alcoholic versions of soft drinks, such as lemonade, but now they're basically just fizzy pop with alcohol in.

Yuck! I don't like sweetness and alcohol combined. When I make mojitos (Cuban drink: rum, mint, lime juice and club soda), I put in 1 teaspoon of sugar instead of the 2 teaspoons the recipe calls for. My husband puts in *3* teaspoons!

Here we have hard lemonade and hard cider, both of which are what you'd expect. I *do* like French cider, which tastes like wine.

Cider is *always* alcoholic in the UK! I was shocked to find that it's not normally so in the US....

A French cider I've come to love is Duche De Longueville, which one of our supermarket chains stocks. It's lovely...

Re U.K. cider: interesting! Yes, here we have pressed cider, in which they literally just squeeze apples and then bottle the juice. It's not nearly as sweet as apple juice (to which they add sugar and water), and it's lovely mulled with orange and lemon juice, cinnamon, cloves, etc., in the cold weather.

In the state of Vermont, where we're vacationing next month, they have a cider mill, with a little tap from which you can draw a small cup of cider straight from the apples! Delish. They also have *great* cider doughnuts. I'm looking forward to those. (Big Red may become big indeed. )

Ohhh./..I wanna try that mulled thing. Sounds really nice.
Pressed apply juice is just calle apple juice. Yoiu have to be careful over here when choosing your apple juice as it is generally just the clear stuff with added sugar. Nice, but not a treat.

Zantic

Can you write a recipe for that mulled apple thing please?

I can make that at my annual Christmas bash as something interesting for the drivers to drink

Sure, I'll check the recipe at home tonight (I'm at work right now). I've used it at Christmas parties, too, with a bottle of apple brandy on the side for people to spike it with if they want.

Bonus is it makes the house smell great too.

That'd be BigRed. Ta


Zantic Hoping that she ain't gonna be one of the 'designated drivers'

I bet it would be even better made with the alcoholic cider to start with.