My Oktoberfests

Pork and sausages.

Great with potato croquettes, frites, pork, roasted or fried chicken, fried fish, veal and all manner of sausages.

Brooklyn Oktoberfest is especially great with sausages, chicken, steaks, pork chops, and roasted meats.

Octoberfest or Marzen style beer is ideal with freshly grilled sausages or traditional German fare such as roast pig knuckles.

Ed Dopman, our San Francisco Beer Ranger and champion of the 2009 Ultimate Beer Ranger Challenge, recommends: Whenever I tuck into a pint of Hoptober, I like to pair it with: Italian fennel salami and Taleggio cheese on sourdough bread. Cured halibut and sardines with Ligurian olive oil and lemon juice. The five hops used in Hoptober provide just enough bitterness to cut the buttery, meaty flavors of Italian fennel salami, Taleggio cheese and sourdough bread. Their delicate floral aromas dance nicely with cured halibut and sardines while the slightly salty Ligurian olive oil is balanced by a squeeze of citrusy lemon juice. The four malts used in brewing this golden ale give just the right body to stand up to the autumn wind, while remaining delicate enough to quench one's thirst in the ocean air after a bike ride to the beach... Matt Hinman, Executive chef of The Happy Gnome in St. Paul, Minnesota, recommends: Veal Chop and Duck Sausage, caramelized onion bulgur wheat, garlic braised spinach, black garlic butter, bordelaise sauce, cherry gastrique. The veal and the duck have such delicate flavors that the sweetness of the Hoptoberfest complements and makes the meat taste even more succulent. A bulgur wheat with caramelized onions works as a base to bring out the toasted malt in the beer. Spinach and the bordelaise sauce give a nice earthy richness that coats the mouth and begs for another swig of Hoptober. The black garlic butter and cherry gastrique act as yin and yang to the subdued hop character, teasing the tongue with acidity that complements the hops, while the sweet fig-like garlic butter adds some weight and richness contrasting the hops and completing the whole flavor profile of the dish.