This year marks the 500th anniversary of the Reinheitsgebot, the Bavarian law that stated that only water, hops, and barley could be used in the production of bottom-fermented beer. This regulation protected the area’s bakers from competing with brewers for supplies of wheat and rye, but it also helped extinguish many colorful local beer styles and eventually encourage German brewers to ply their trade in less restrictive foreign countries, including the United States.
You’ll be able to reap the benefits of the Reinheitsgebot at Oktoberfest Fort Worth, where a plethora of both traditional European beers and American craft beers will be on tap for you to sample, as well as German food like the cream cheese fritters known as quarkballchen. In addition, there will be live music from Brave Combo as well as German bands like Das Ist Lustig and Alpenmusikanten. A 5K run will be held for those drinkers who want to run off their beer bellies, and various games will be played for your entertainment. Fort Worth ISD will even have a tent so you can learn some German sentences like “Ich habe meine Gelbwurst verloren.” (“I have lost my brain sausage.”) If you want to show up in lederhosen or a dirndl, your fellow festivalgoers will give you extra points for authenticity.
