Oktoberfest

Chris and I went to the Sierra Nevada Brewery Oktoberfest this evening at the brewery in a tent set up in their hop fields. Since there was no parking at the facility (reserved for the restaurant) we parked around the corner at Barnes and Noble and walked over when the event started at 4:00 pm. We were literally part of the first 10 people to arrive and initially had the whole place to ourselves.
Chris' first order of business was to head out back to get an Octoberfest with the first of our four drink tickets while I splurged on a stein full of iced tea.
Our tickets also included dinner and we figured out pretty quickly that the buffet line was open whenever we were ready.
You're looking at a mountain of kraut, sausage and beans, beer infused pulled pork, cucumber salad and German potato salad. You only get one trip through so you have to make it count!
Also in the tent was a display of blown glass beer steins that everybody got to vote on to decide which one the brewery would commission a limited run of for the gift shop.
Next to the display case was an actual glass blowing demonstration.
And you can't forget about the 'hardcore polka band'.


Much to our surprise we ran into a work friend who we spent most of the evening hanging out with.
What I liked most about the event was that there was no set schedule, you just milled around drinking your beer, checking out the glass blowing, making fun of people's outfits, and listening to the polka band. We made it four hours before calling it an evening and heading back home.