Dinkel Acker Pils

We finally made it through security at the airport in our inebriated manner and found the bar. Due to the fact that BA cannot seem to operate to any form of schedule we had time to fit in another beer, this time Dinkel Acker Pils (4.9% abv) which again didn't really measure up compared to all the fest marzens we had been quaffing all week. Still in our state we didn't care. I ended up necking mine as we got called for boarding. Even though we were visibly impaired by alcohol, the trolley dolly's on BA still fed us a few cans of London Pride on the flight. Bonus! Website

Stuttgarter Hofbräu Volksfestbier

We managed to sleep in on the Sat morning, which was also the last day of our tour. We eventually made it into town, by walking through the nice park that traverses all the way through the city. Upon reaching the other end of the park we found a sausage shop in the station. Rich opted for currywurst - he is fascinated by the slice and spice machine that cuts up and seasons the sausage, apparently its a sign of quality, who am I to argue?? I opted for a random sausage called a rindwurst or something similar, it went down ok. We then wandered through the main centre of the town and finally headed back to Canstatter wassn to grab some lunch at the fest. This time we chose the Stuttgarter Hoffbrau tent owned by a dude called Hans-Peter Grandl. It was about 11 am and full to the brim already, we settled on a table that was reserved from 4pm. We still had to pack up out tent and get to the airport for our 6.30 flight so we thought we would be long gone by then. The beer in this tent was similar to the Schwarbenbrau, and I couldn't tell the difference although they did serve in glass kruges (its 5.5% abv as well). I also smashed down half a chicken which definitely hit the spot! We got chatting to some German guys next to us, who were friendly. They couldn't understand me, as I have an Australian accent! I found this rather strange, as it has definitely flattened out after living in the UK for a number of years. Anyway to cut the story short, 5 Kruges later we were still there and it was quarter past four and we were asked to vacate the table. realising that we had lost track of time, we sped back to the campsite and pulled the tent down, packed our bags and bid Stuttgart good bye as we headed to the airport. Being pissed and in a rush is a bad idea, as we made a schoolboy error and took the wrong U-bahn which cost us some more time. Luckily enough on arrival at the airport our flight had been delayed and we proceeded to the departure lounge. http://www.stuttgarter-hofbraeu.de/The kegs are delivered every mornibg by horse and cart!

Schwaben Bräu Volksfestbier

We finally made it to Stuttgart and caught the U-bahn across to Mercedestasse to try and find the camping ground. we soon found out that the camping ground backed on to the festival grounds - ripper. Upon locating reception we were informed that by a big burley German dude that if we didn't have a reservation then their was no place there for us. At this stage we were a little peeved - there is no mention of reservation on the camping ground website, and the Stuttgart tourism website mentions that the camping ground does not take reservations! After a little bit of chatting, we were permitted to stay one night due to the small is size of our tent and the fact that we had no chance of finding any other lodgings in Stuttgart that late in the evening, especially during the volksfest. Anyhow, we set our tent up quick smart and set out to explore the party!

For those of you who are unaware of the Cannstatter Volksfest, it an annual two week festival in Stuttgart, that starts a week after Oktoberfest. Although the Volkfest is not strictly speaking a beer festival, it is considered by many to be the second largest beer festival in the world after the Munich Oktoberfest. It attracts about 5 million people each year of which next to none are tourists. So basically its nearly as big as Oktoberfest, but you don't get hoards of backpackers, Aussies, Kiwis and college boys from the USA. For more detailed information, you can check out the Wikipedia entry.

After refueling on some currywurst, we hit the tents! The first couple of tents we tried to enter we were turned away from. I am not sure if this is because;

(a) We are not German?

(b) We were half cut after drinking all day?

(c) They were reservation only, and it was the opening evening of the fest?

Anyhow we were finally let into the Schwaben Bräu tent, and a nice local family let us sit at their reserved table. The first thing we noticed was that the beers were being served in porcelain kruges here, which are way heavier and keep the beer way colder than glass.The second was that it was a lot more rowdy that Oktoberfest! Everyone was getting into it. The beer was pretty similar in style to Oktoberfest beers, but only 5.5%, but was still malty in a Marzen style.

We made a few friends throughout he evening and stayed until stumps. I ended up acquiring a T-shirt that loosely translates to "What's your name" in drunk style slurred German on it.. classic. Being quite tanked up, we refueled on a meter long bratwurst baguette and headed back to our tent. At least Stuttgart was not as cold as Munich!

Crazy going on within the Schwarbenbrau tent! http://www.schwabenbraeu.de/

Hacker-Pschorr Hell

The time came to finally say goodbye to Munich and the Oktoberfest and head for greener pastures in Stuttgart - just in time to catch the opening of the Canstatter Volksfest. Before we headed on our way we decided to pick up some roadies/travellers for the two hour train ride. The station newsagents had an offer on Hacker-Pschoor Helles, which was too much of a temptation to resist and I bought a few bottles. Again this beer failed to live up to the awesome fest beers we had been quaffing over the last few days, but still was very respectable by any standards. I guess when in an environment that is packed with really good beers, you start to take things for granted! Anyhow the train ride didn't last long and we even made friends with a few German Squaddies on the way. Oh, also worth mentioning, the bottles were cool swing tops!