This weekend I paid a visit to Oktoberfest in Fremont. There were a lot of great beers to choose from and they did a good job keeping order in the beer pouring booths. It was clear which line lead to which beer, and the pouring staff were courteous and many were knowledgeable about the beers they were serving.  The weather was perfect for brewfesting and, when the sun went down, mood lighting illuminated the streets of Fremont and enabled the festival to keep rolling along.

My main complaint (which is the same from prior years) is the tiny size of the beer tasting mugs. The small cup size forces you to spend most of your time in lines. This is frustrating since there are other forms of entertainment (contests and bands), but you must sip your 4 ounce beverage slowly if you choose to take in a band and enjoy a beer simultaneously. Brewfests that serve in 14 ounce cups (with a 4 ounce fill line) are much more conducive to entertainment acts because you can enjoy tastes (1 token each) until you wish to enjoy other festivities, then fill your mug and hang out for a while (usually 4 tokens for a full fill).

All in all, it was a great event and I didn’t even catch the Texas Chainsaw Pumpkin Carving this year. It has come a very long way since my scathing review of 2007 (even though the price for entry has actually increased since then).  Did you miss Fremont Oktoberfest this year? Check out the video below for a taste.

Categories: beer
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