Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/157485
g e . e t p a r s h n g r h s y , s p g s r d d l a e h - e , e l d s n h y First opened in 1902, the lively Hippodrom tent is popular among the young and young at heart. are, fill up quickly in the evenings. (Plus, tables can be reserved several months in advance.) After trying in vain to talk or bribe our way in, Peter suggests we instead go to the nearby Paulaner Bräuhaus for dinner and come back later. The place is only a 10-minute walk away and turns out to be a brewpub with a beer garden, where we devour a meal of schnitzel washed down with Paulaner's Oktoberfest Märzen, the same as the one served in their tent on the Wies'n. The brew is delicious: dark amber in colour, medium-bodied and slightly sweet. Peter proclaims Paulaner the best of Munich's brewers and we Canadians don't quibble. Per capita, Germans drink more beer than anyone in the world, except for the Czechs and Irish. The country boasts more than 1,200 breweries crafting 5,000 brands. Every town seems to have its own unique brew, and beer halls, pubs and Biergartens abound. In southern Germany, you find a trio of beer styles at nearly every pub, beer garden and restaurant: Helles, Dunkel and Weisse. Helles lager is light in colour, but flavourful, with a sweet maltiness and slightly spicy hop finish. Dunkel, a darker, maltier lager, is the original German beer, dating back hundreds of years, before the advent Ap-travel/Alamy/All Canada Photos p36-43_Oktoberfest.indd 41 of clear glassware and newer brewing techniques made lighter coloured beers more popular. Some have a toffee/caramel sweetness, while others a roasted quality. Both Helles and Dunkel are generally brewed to about five per cent alcohol. Oktoberfest Märzen was originally a souped-up version of Dunkel, but nowadays it falls between the two styles, a little darker and more flavourful than a Helles, but brewed a little stronger, at around six per cent alcohol. Weisse is an effervescent wheat ale that can be clear (Kristallweizen), but is more often cloudy with yeast (Hefeweizen), giving it a unique clove or banana/bubblegum flavour. Another popular style, although more prevalent in northern and eastern Germany, is the Pils (or pilsner), which is similar to the big brewery lagers produced in North America. After supper, we return to the Wies'n and manage to get into the Hofbräu tent. Outside, a two-metre-tall gold crown (Hofbräu's logo, dating back to its origins as Bavaria's royal court brewery) outlined in neon looms above the hall's white-painted facade. Inside, it's a cacophony of music, singing and shouting. Tables stretch as far as the eye can see, under huge baskets of hop plants hanging from the green-andwhite ceiling. At first, we can't find an empty spot, which is a problem, because you can't buy beer anywhere but at a table. But then a black-aproned server, balancing GOING PL ACES >> Fa l l 2 0 1 3 41 13-08-14 1:27 PM