Wurstfest

I don't ONLY drink coffee

Matt likes coffee.

Matt also likes beer.

Especially when that beer is an imported Oktoberfest beer from one of the original fest bier brewers, Spaaten. But I will settle for Shiner’s Oktoberfest offering after I’ve waited 30 minutes to fill up my plastic novelty stein.

Ok everyone, taking a break from the coffee stuff to just talk about the chaos of the last few weeks and a fun little journey my family took over the weekend. Big life news, I’ve got a new job! I liked my old one, but when someone offers you more money and a promotion you should take it. I’m not sure if you’ve all noticed or not, but the supply chain has been in a state best described as “chaos” over the last year, and for those of us lucky to have experience getting things moved around the world our skills have become pretty in demand. So, off to greener pastures I shall go, and it’s a little bit of the reason why things have gone down to once a week recently, and for the near future.

Now, on to beer. For my lovely and loyal 45 readers (who increase in numbers in ways I’m still astonished to consider) who may not be from Texas we need to discuss some Texas history. When Texas was first settled way back in the day here in the central Texas hill country a surprising mix of Czechs and Germans settled in this beautiful area. They brought with them recipes from the old country that would become beloved in the hearts of many Texans. From the Czechs we received kolaches which are soft, sweet, warm pillows of all that is good and right in the world. From the Germans we received beer and schnitzel, and in a small town smack dab in the middle of Texas there is a celebration of that heritage, named Wurstfest.

At Wursfest the beer flows freely and pairs well with fried schnitzel, grilled wursts, and (if you like spoiled foods) smelly sauerkraut. Which you will happily wait in line for the better part of an hour to receive, but you’ll be kept entertained by the near constant din of accordion led polkas. For the young, and young at heart, there’s world class German baked goods from local German bakeries that do things the old way. You can wander the idyllic venue at your leisure with full beer stein in hand and think to yourself that it’s a shame this only happens once a year. You’d be correct in that line of thinking, of course.

This year was our first year back after a 5 (?) year hiatus. Having kids really puts a damper on your social life, but this year being the first that all of our kids were old enough not to absolutely hate the two hour (thanks to accidents and traffic) drive down to New Braunsfels where we met a couple other families with little ones. The kids had fun playing together and riding some rides, while the adults had lots of fun with beer and music. So much fun, in fact, that my sweet, little, feral children had to go well past their dinner time waiting for mom to get back with food. My dinner calories were of the liquid sort. After what must’ve felt like ages to the kiddos my wife returned with several sausages, baked treats, and soft, warm pretzels. I began to dole out bites of the food to my children when my precocious eldest child snatched my toasty pretzel out of my hands (like the wild animal she is) and proceeded to retreat to the cave-like reaches of our stroller wherein she devoured the entire thing while maintaining a death grip on its floured exterior. I cannot say for certain that she wasn’t growling bestially since all noise was being drowned out by a polka cover of a Van Halen classic (video of which exists but will not be posted here).

After eating we left and the kids cashed out on the way back home, where we proceeded to complete our meals with Taco Bell (naturally).

That’s pretty much all for this week. Thanks for reading, go find a local festival and enjoy yourself, it’s been a tough year and you deserve it! Until next time, I hope you have a great day, and thanks so much for reading.