Giving Oktoberfest another chance
I make sure I try something I hate every so often, to make sure I still hate it. It's a philosophy of mine.
If it weren't for this, I'd be under the mistaken impression I don't like gravy. Growing up, I never liked gravy, so I thought (logically) that I don't like gravy. But as adult, I tried gravy and liked it. That lead to experimentation, which lead to me discovering that gravy is actually delicious. Turns out, I just don't like my grandmother's gravy. So there you go. Important discovery, just by trying something I "hated".
In that line of thinking, I thought I'd give Oktoberfest another chance. I'd gone a couple of times early in my university career, but my recollection was that it mostly sucked. My measure of a good beer festival is having either good beer or cheap beer, but back in 2002 Oktoberfest had neither. It was mostly overpriced Molson Canadian. But hey, there are lots of places which celebrate Oktoberfest, maybe I should give it another chance. So tonight I was at the Transylvania club, giving Oktoberfest another chance.
The thing about trying things you hate every so often, is sometimes you find you still hate them.
Most importantly, the beer situation hadn't improved. The hall only had two beers on tap: Molson and Coors. I thought I'd died and gone to hell. Even worse, they did not have a single German beer on hand. The waitress said this, and I didn't believe that could be true, so I asked at the bar. The bartender paused like she was embarrassed, and then confirmed: no German beer.
What are we doing at a German-inspired beer festival without any German beer? It's madness.
So I got a pint of Strongbow, and later a small cup of Heineken (note: I've been informed that Heineken is Dutch) and paid $6.50 for the privilege each time. Other people got pitchers of beer, and paid $18 for them. The pricing gets even more atrocious when you consider that we paid $17 just to get in the door, and that Molson's name was plastered all over the place. On banners, on posters, on the damned cups. Everywhere.
Combine all that with a band so loud as to prevent conversation, and you get a big bowl of Not My Scene At All. I will note that it seemed to get better the more I worked through my beer, but that's probably the point. At this moment, the place is probably packed with drunks who think Oktoberfest was a great idea.
There were three saving graces. One, I was there with the Polish club, so I got to meet some cool Poles from UW and McMaster. Which made it better, but also made me wish I could take them to Huether instead, with its inexpensive delicious beer, and lack of loud music.
Two, I tried sauerkraut again. It was another thing that I "hate". But after tonight, sauerkraut has been upgraded from "I hate it" to "I could take it or leave it." So I did reverse my opinion on one thing.
Finally, one cool thing were the dancers. Every so often, the dance floor would be cleared for professional dancers. Most of the time, they would dance to polka, which was more entertaining than it sounds. Some of the dancing was quite acrobatic. But at one point the polka stopped, and they started dancing to a famous song from a certain famous German metal band, and I thought that was pretty cool
Youtube link here.
So that was good, but I'm not sure if it was worth $17 to see in person. All in all, the event wasn't a complete waste of time, but my money could have been better spent. I'll probably pass on Oktoberfest for a few more years, unless someone can recommend a place which actually has German beer.
Seriously. Oktoberfest, no German beer. Unbelievable. It'd be like a Maple Syrup festival which only has Aunt Jemima's.
I'm cheating again. This post is backdated by about an hour. But I had a choice: write the post before midnight, or walk a girl home. It was an easy choice.
If it weren't for this, I'd be under the mistaken impression I don't like gravy. Growing up, I never liked gravy, so I thought (logically) that I don't like gravy. But as adult, I tried gravy and liked it. That lead to experimentation, which lead to me discovering that gravy is actually delicious. Turns out, I just don't like my grandmother's gravy. So there you go. Important discovery, just by trying something I "hated".
In that line of thinking, I thought I'd give Oktoberfest another chance. I'd gone a couple of times early in my university career, but my recollection was that it mostly sucked. My measure of a good beer festival is having either good beer or cheap beer, but back in 2002 Oktoberfest had neither. It was mostly overpriced Molson Canadian. But hey, there are lots of places which celebrate Oktoberfest, maybe I should give it another chance. So tonight I was at the Transylvania club, giving Oktoberfest another chance.
The thing about trying things you hate every so often, is sometimes you find you still hate them.
Most importantly, the beer situation hadn't improved. The hall only had two beers on tap: Molson and Coors. I thought I'd died and gone to hell. Even worse, they did not have a single German beer on hand. The waitress said this, and I didn't believe that could be true, so I asked at the bar. The bartender paused like she was embarrassed, and then confirmed: no German beer.
What are we doing at a German-inspired beer festival without any German beer? It's madness.
So I got a pint of Strongbow, and later a small cup of Heineken (note: I've been informed that Heineken is Dutch) and paid $6.50 for the privilege each time. Other people got pitchers of beer, and paid $18 for them. The pricing gets even more atrocious when you consider that we paid $17 just to get in the door, and that Molson's name was plastered all over the place. On banners, on posters, on the damned cups. Everywhere.
Combine all that with a band so loud as to prevent conversation, and you get a big bowl of Not My Scene At All. I will note that it seemed to get better the more I worked through my beer, but that's probably the point. At this moment, the place is probably packed with drunks who think Oktoberfest was a great idea.
There were three saving graces. One, I was there with the Polish club, so I got to meet some cool Poles from UW and McMaster. Which made it better, but also made me wish I could take them to Huether instead, with its inexpensive delicious beer, and lack of loud music.
Two, I tried sauerkraut again. It was another thing that I "hate". But after tonight, sauerkraut has been upgraded from "I hate it" to "I could take it or leave it." So I did reverse my opinion on one thing.
Finally, one cool thing were the dancers. Every so often, the dance floor would be cleared for professional dancers. Most of the time, they would dance to polka, which was more entertaining than it sounds. Some of the dancing was quite acrobatic. But at one point the polka stopped, and they started dancing to a famous song from a certain famous German metal band, and I thought that was pretty cool
Youtube link here.
Click to viewSo that was good, but I'm not sure if it was worth $17 to see in person. All in all, the event wasn't a complete waste of time, but my money could have been better spent. I'll probably pass on Oktoberfest for a few more years, unless someone can recommend a place which actually has German beer.
Seriously. Oktoberfest, no German beer. Unbelievable. It'd be like a Maple Syrup festival which only has Aunt Jemima's.
I'm cheating again. This post is backdated by about an hour. But I had a choice: write the post before midnight, or walk a girl home. It was an easy choice.