It's that time of the year when breweries, pubs and bar come over all Bavarian. Oompah bands will play, leather shorts will be slapped during dances, wurst and pork will be consumed, lager will be drunk and litre and half-litre steins will be bought and refilled at special prices.

  The 200th Oktoberfest in Munich finishes this weekend, when most of WA is only just beginning the beer celebration. The Monk in Fremantle is an exception. It brewed traditional, unfiltered orangey-hued Marzen (5.3 per cent) that went on tap as its festivities opened on September 18, the day Munich's Oktoberfest started, to run until Sunday October 3.

  Brewer Justin Fox achieved what he calls moderate bitterness in the malt-driven festival lager through a combination of German Hallertau and Tettnang hops with late addition of Mittelfruh for subtle aroma. He's also selected four top German bottled beers to complement festivities - Weltenburger, Lowenbrau, Hofbrau and Shofferhoffer.

   Marzen is the beer style most associated with the Munich knees-up. It can vary in colour, strength and flavour. Among the best-known brands is Hofbrau Oktoberfest, brewed in Munich. It's imported by Perth's FM Liquor, whose manager Craig Wells placed plentiful supplies here before he flew out to Munich to down a few of the 550,000 litres expected to be drunk by Oktoberfest revellers in the Hofbrau tent

  Hofbrau Oktoberfest is a Marzen, pretty strong at 6.3 per cent, big on malt with a haybarn aroma with sweet toffee and baked bread notes. Light, almost brassy, in colour under pure white foam, the lager has so much body that a steinful would probably be as filling as a meal for most people.

  Hofbrau draught Oktoberfest is on tap at 15 bars - bowling and ethnic clubs as well as pubs - throughout the metro area and also in York and Dunsborough. Packaged Hofbrau Oktoberfest - in 330ml green and 500ml brown bottles - are on sale at more than 70 outlets from Joondalup in the north to Esperance in the south, Scarborough in the west to Kalgoorlie in the east. Some of the pubs - including The Moon & Sixpence in Perth and Vernon Arms, Baldivis - will go the whole Bavarian hog, with bunting, music, prizes and, naturally, steins.

  Local craft breweries are up to the mark with their own festival lagers. Elmar's in The Valley has been conditioning its Oktoberfest 4.8 per cent Marzen in tanks at the Swan Valley brewery since March, in the Bavarian tradition, as befits a German-themed venue. “This beer displays a rich amber colour with a clean, light, malty, yet very thirst quenching character, followed by a delicate but firm hop flavour,” the brewer notes.

  Duckstein brewery at Saracen Estate, near, also has released a special brew to join its other German beers at both the Margaret River and Swan Valley venues. It's described as “a light chocolate coloured Marzen, light on hops with a little flora, very malt driven and easy to drink”.

  Last Drop's German brewhouse is eminently suited to Marzen, but brewer Jan Bruckner has chosen instead more of a Vienna-style lager as this year's Oktoberfest Bier and it makes an outstanding contrast. He's used decoction - where part of the mash is removed from the tun, boiled then returned to add complex depths to the beer. Spelt and Vienna malts impart a beguiling blush to the lager, which, while rather sharp at first sip, reveals plumptious malt and fruit character as it warms up. Look for the draught 5 per cent Oktoberfest beer at Last Drop pubs and Elizabethan Village.

  Bootleg in the South-West breaks tradition with a 14-year-old tradition of its own - Oztoberfest. “Not everyone wants to drink lager from steins,” is how manager-brewer Michael Brookes explains his refusal to concoct an Oktoberfest beer.

  He prefers a Down Under affair with a “ripper pie and pint deal”, classic Aussie music and Bootleg's regular beer line-up, joined on “8-tap Fridays”  by Grasshopper - Settler's Pale Ale served through hop flowers for extra fragrance. Bootleg's seasonal brew is a 5.3 per cent English-style, English-hopped, copper-hued ale called ESB (extra special bitter).

  Oktoberfest will be celebrated at Salt, Port Beach, on Saturday from 11am, an all-day “huge German party” with its craft-brewed German beers - Black Salt Kolsch, Altbier, Hefeweizen and Dunkelweizen - on tap. Each $15 entry ticket entitles you to a free bratwurst sausage in a bun.

  The International Beer Shop in West Leederville is well set for the season with newly-arrived bottles from Bavaria of notables such as Weihenstephaner Festbier (500ml), Paulaner Oktoberfest (500ml) and

Hofbrau Oktoberfest (330ml and 500ml as well as 5-litre kegs). 

  Matilda Bay's Big Helga lager was launched in Victoria last year with a Munich-style bench-table beer-lubricated lunch, with a lofty blonde model playing the title role. The 4.7 per cent brew, dry hopped with noble varieties, is on tap at several pubs through October and sold by the six-pack ($20) or case ($60) at Dan Murphy's, First Choice, Vintage Cellars and other bottle shops.

For October festival dates, details and bookings contact: BOOTLEG: Phone 9755 6300; DUCKSTEIN: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or online at EpicEvents; ELMAR'S: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; SALT ON THE BEACH: Phone 9430 6866; THE MONK: Phone Stephanie on 9336 7666 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  

Written by Vic Crossland

From Fresh, The West Australian, 30^th September