What's Brewing

by REGINA HEFFINGTON
Lederhosen and Dirndl. No, that’s not a new law firm you see in advertisements on local TV. Savvy beer lovers know these are traditional Bavarian leather breeches for men and the corollary dress for ladies. As you frequent our community’s “brews and chews” establishments in October, you may see fellow patrons have donned these outfits to celebrate Oktoberfest- Jacksonville-style! Here are some of the upcoming events where you may glimpse these, assuming you don’t arrive in your own.
October 5 Engine 15 Brewing Company Oktoberfest Celebration 2-5 pm. E15 will be crowning a King and Queen for Oktoberfest and have a live Oompah band and other festivities.
October 5 Bold City Brewery Head over to the brewery for Sensory Saturday. Taproom opens at 1 pm, and Sweet Scarlett will be performing at 7 pm. Delicious grub from Jolly Mon Catering and free brewery tours from 2-5 pm. Bold City is open on Sunday’s for Game Day Growler Fills from 10 am-12 pm.
October 5 At the Jacksonville Beach location European Street Cafe brings you Oktoberfest 2013 for a Saturday of continental-style fun with entertainment provided by oompah band the Hungry Five and a visit from the Monster German Weiner. For more information visit europeanstreet.com.
October 6 Intuition Ale Works Oktoberfest at Memorial Park Intuition Ale’s third annual Oktoberfest celebration is on Sunday. Check out www.intuitionaleworks.com for details.
October 11 & 12 Jaxtoberfest Over the course of the weekend enjoy Jaxtoberfest in style. General admission on both days is $8. There are additional tickets to purchase for the games and contests to be held during the event. Be a Saturday VIP for $40. You will receive admission into Jaxtoberfest, access to the VIP area in front of the stage and the four VIP tents with exclusive Oktoberfest beer and food as well as access to private restrooms. The VIP option helps to pay for itself with a 22-ounce mug to fill up for same price as a 16-ounce mug. For more information on tickets, visit jaxtoberfest.com/buy-tickets.
October 12 Mile Marker Brewing Hoist up those pint glasses everyone! Mile Marker Brewing will be celebrating their two-year anniversary on Saturday. For more information visit www.milemarkerbrewing.com.
October 19 Bold City Brewery 5-Year Anniversary Celebration Bold City Brewery will be celebrating their 5-year anniversary starting at 1 pm. $2 pints all day, delicious food from Jolly Mon Catering, live bands including the typically incarcerated Bold City Bandits who are out this one day for good behavior.
October 19 European Street Cafe brings you Oktoberfest 2013 for a Saturday of continental-style fun at their Riverside location. For more information visit europeanstreet.com.
October 19 Runtoberfest 5K Race Register for the Runtoberfest 5K Race presented by Audi Jacksonville to benefit Challenged Athletes Foundation. The race will take place on Saturday at 6:30 pm starting at European Street Cafe on Park Street. Registration is $25. For more information and registration visit www.prsracetiming.com/1019—run4beer-runtoberfest-5k.html
October 26 Monkey’s Uncle in Mandarin presents the Inaugural Beer Olympics benefiting your Jacksonville Rollergirls and featuring some of your favorite bar games. Teams of five can sign up to compete. There will be tons of free beer, raffles and prizes. The top three teams will go home with some awesome swag. Sign your team up today!
October 30 Gas Full Service Restaurant in St. Augustine will be having a 6-course craft beer dinner featuring Bold City Brewery. The Gas staff will be in costume and encourage others to come dressed.
October 8, 15, 22 & 29 Intuition Cookbook and Taste Test Tuesdays The crew at Intuition Ale Works has been busy at work on the Intuition cookbook, to be released in December. Pre-sales will begin in October, but while you wait for a hard copy, join IAW every Tuesday for Taste Test Tuesdays. They’ll have samples of a few recipes that will be featured in the cookbook, so you can try them out and share your thoughts.
pumpkin beer
This time of year also brings out the following Pumpkin Beers from the Greater Jacksonville area breweries and pubs:
Aardwolf Brewing brewed a pilot batch of ERMAHGOURD Pumpkin Ale.
Bold City Brewery brewed their Pumpkin Ale, which is mildly spiced with a blend of pumpkin and seasonal flavors and will be tapped on October 10 at Bold City’s tap room.
Engine 15 Brewing Company Their seasonal beer The Pumpmaster is a spiced yam beer and will be released on Halloween night.
Green Room Brewing Double Pumpkin Jax-O-Lantern will go on tap Thursday, October 10. Jax-O-Lantern is a sweet, brown ale made with 50 pounds of pumpkin in the mash, along with nutmeg, candied ginger, cinnamon, allspice and clove.
Intuition Ale Works Punk Monk Dubbel is a seasonal, Belgian-style, dubbel pumpkin beer. IAW added 80 pounds of pumpkin to the mash and another 20 pounds to the kettle and used a specially formulated pumpkin pie spice blend to add hints of nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice and then aged it on vanilla beans for 10 days. This brew will be tapped later in October.
Kickbacks Gastropub Ask for the “rimmed glass” when you order the phenomenal Southern Tier Brewing Pumking Pumpkin Ale.
Pinglehead Brewing Company Their highly anticipated “pumpkin barleywine” will be brewed with local spices from All Spiced Up in San Marco and available in early October.
This Oktoberfest and Halloween season promises to be outstanding in the eyes and on the palates of craft beer lovers here in Jacksonville. Be sure and take advantage of all the exciting beer events and releases available this month. For a more expansive look at the season’s happenings and newly unveiled beers check out the online version of this article at www.folioweekly.com.
german tunes
The One Step Ahead of the Law Brass Band is a favorite local German band and always very busy, especially this time of year. Here is their early October schedule:
October 4th (7-10pm) at German Schnitzel Haus
October 5th (2-5 pm) at Engine 15
October 5th (6:30-9:30 pm) at Holy Spirit Catholic Church
October 12th (7-10pm) German Schnitzel Haus