BOSTON, MA: “I know everything about Jim Koch” (09/11/09-09/13/09)

Oktoberfest comes but once a year. In the grand old tradition of the German festival, Sam Adams holds their celebration in September, NOT October. Two days of music, games and rowdiness take over the Boston Plaza Castle and magical unicorns and rainbows create the happiest happiness in all the land.

I arrived late Friday night and met up with my dear friend Laura, who after letting me settle in, whisked me away to a bar whose name escapes me, but whose images will not. Almost immediately upon stepping inside, Laura and I were accosted by a man I thought was Eastern European. Turns out he was just a terrible dancer. His friend, however, had some great moves. This might have been fact, or it might have been because I found out he works in the art department at Sam Adams. Either way, we didn’t hang around long, as social graces at Solas, a more laid back, Irish pub, were beckoning.

Considering we closed the bar and were up until all hours, we did fairly well making it to brunch at a reasonable hour. Maybe the fact that it was well into morning when we went to bed contributed to my having two breakfasts later that day. At the same time. No, I really do want eggs, vegetables, home fries, toast, a full stack of pancakes, and a superfluous fruit salad. Do I look like I’m finished? Come back when you hear scraping on the plate. It was awesome.

After paying the remarkably inexpensive tab (the place caters to the firehouse next door), Laura and I headed over to my uncle’s home in the Back Bay, where we were able to spend some time with my aunt, uncle, and two cousins: Ryne and Cooper. My aunt Christine, aside from having great taste in men (read: Uncle Ed), shares a birthday with me. She is gorgeous and has a similar sense of humor to me (read: sick). Thus, she is one of my all time favorite family members (and I do have a ranking system). Ryne, one of the sweetest guys I know, is 16. Cooper is recently 5, which explains why when I gave Cooper his birthday present he played with the box. But at least I got to see the moves he learned in karate (pronounced kah-rah-tay).

Spending time with them allowed us all to catch up on news involving family and Spongebob Squarepants. Cooper had some additional secret news for me. I cannot tell any of the secrets I learned from him, but I can tell you the feds will never catch him- he’s that good at being sneaky. I knew these were secrets, and not to share with the world when he jumped on me, held my face in place, and began talking in my ear. The TOP SECRET secrets were the only ones that were whispered. When Cooper was ready for me to tell him a secret, he threw his ear to my face. My nose eventually recovered. Sadly, after three hours and a cartoon documentary on Egypt, Laura and I had to head out. This was much to Cooper’s chagrin, as he had just cast us as key players in a film he was directing.

A quick stop to peek at the gurgling cods at Shreve, Crump and Low was followed by OKTOBERFEST AT THE BOSTON PLAZA CASTLE.

The Castle was festooned in flags and images of Bavaria, Jim Koch, and the brewer and patriot himself: good ol’ Sam. Your prize of admission, a beer stein filled with Oktoberfest, a felt mountaineer hat, and more stickers than you can imagine. There was a band on one wall playing all the latest and greatest in polka, tables the size of houses selling beer, and trivia lined up against the walls. I love trivia. I’m not good at a lot, but I’m good at trivia. Kind of. I just really love Sam Adams (I’ve been on the tour three times- which is a lot for someone who doesn’t live in Boston). Laura and I strolled up to the trivia tent, where I promptly challenged “give me a hard one, I know everything about Sam.” He tried. He failed. I dominated and won a beer koozie. Laura also impressed him with her skills and we toasted our koozies and steins in JUBILATION! Spanning the length of the hall, German beer hall tables had been set up to accommodate the hordes, and we had the biggest game of flip cup going in all the land with so many new friends. Eventually, however, the event became overwhelming and we said goodbye to Sam.

We spent that evening at “Drink,” which has no menu. You just go in and order what you want or what you’re feeling like and they make it. Naturally, I got a mint julep, because I love the south, and one day I will be one of them- you know- one of those people of the south…

Amazingly, we were in bed by eleven, which was perfect for our morning plans of a walking tour through Brookline (Laura’s hood) and brunch at Tattee, an Israeli coffee shop with coffee served in bowls the size of my head. No- seriously. This amount of caffeine was just the amount of substance I needed to say good-bye to Laura and head over to lunch with Kate Shanahan, another long lost friend.

Kate and I ate interesting Thai food in Quincy Market, which I’m surprised didn’t kill me. We had a nice long chat about the reality tv show for little people (that was filming right next to us) before I went on my way, back to the big bad city.

I like Boston. Honestly, I do. I like it more and more every time Oktoberfest rolls around.

*All images courtesy of wikipedia.org