Anne and I started a tradition when we first married. Each year when Oktoberfest rolls around, we grab a sampling of beers and cook up some bratwurst, kraut, potato salad and whatnot. This year we decided to invite our friend Zach Zellmer, the good German, to enjoy this custom with us.

This isn’t a throw-down like the real event in Munich. It’s more of a sampling, our once a year “RESPECT” of the Bavarian tradition. This year, 2010, marked the bicentennial of the event, which started out originally as the weeklong wedding celebration of Crown Prince Ludwig (later King Ludwig I) to Princess Therese of Hildburghausen in Munich. The party was so much fun the good people said, “Let’s do that again.” Today, the celebration lasts 16 days, attracts millions of participants and has no equal as far as beer parties go.

Ironically, Oktoberfest isn’t my favorite style bier, but nonetheless, we enjoy this time in our household as an ushering-in of autumn. What makes a good Oktoberfest bier? For me, it has to be very malty and have the essence of the way a bar smells on a Saturday morning after a crazy Friday night of business. The way this pub smelled back in the day when I would go there to eat an Irish breakfast on the weekends. This was not off-putting by any means. But like this bar, with Oktoberfest bier, you should be able to smell the spent, good time in the air, a malty-sourness, if you will. To me, that’s textbook.

This year we went to the Hyde Park Market at Duval and 45th, where they have one of the largest "build-your-own-six-pack" single beer selections I've seen. We selected 12 different beers. In the end, we actually ended up with 13 beers as Anne picked up another Oktoberfest when she got the brats at Whole Foods. We split the beers three ways until Anne gave up at beer #9, opting to enjoy her own New Belgium "Ranger" IPA. Zach and I split the last 4.

It was fun, and for the most part, the beers were pretty tasty. To mix it up, we threw in some non-Oktoberfest biers. Here’s the run down.

The Bavarian Oktoberfest Selection
Ayinger
Paulaner
Spaten

The American Oktoberfest Selection
Leinenkugel Oktoberfest- Chippewa Falls, WI
Flying Dog Brewery "Dogtoberfest"- Frederick, MD
Real Ale Oktoberfest- Blanco, TX
Summit Oktoberfest- St. Paul, MN
Boulevard Brewing Company- Kansas City, MO
Magic Hat Brewing Company "Hex Ourtoberfest"- South Burlington, VT

The Non-Oktoberfest Selection
Oskar Blues Brewery "Mama's Little Yella Pils"- Lyons CO (We started with this as an apéritif)
New Belgium Brewing Company "Hoptober"- Forrt Collins, CO (We took a break midway through and had this as an intermezzo. It was citrusy & perfect)
Ayinger "Celebrator" Doppelbock (This was for dessert)
Rogue Ales "Dead Guy Ale" Maibock- Newport, OR (This was also for dessert)

The food was amazing. Anne cooked taditional bratwurst and Buffalo brats, too. We ate a ton and over a long period of time. As you can imagine, another one of my favorite German imports, Underberg, was in order as a digestif. Yum.

Anthony Garcia
www.wineisdivine.com
http://twitter.com/wineisdivine

I have always had a place in my heart for Domaine “La Garrigue” ever since I was a wine buyer in my early twenties. The Austin Wine Merchant has the 2006 for $14.99. Here’s what to expect.

A medium-plus concentration of color with a robe (outer rim) that is already showing a little hint of garnet and the viscosity is high.

There is a moderate-plus intensity on the nose with red raspberry, black cherry, a hint of dried blueberry, fresh blackberry and a smidge of cassis. This is to be expected as the wine is 50% Grenache (the red fruit profile is attributed to this) and 50% Syrah (which is where the black fruit nuances are coming from).

The non-fruit nuances are deep: currant leaf, cedar, duck liver pâté, sage, black pepper and white pepper, no presence oak. There is also a dried mushroom meets hazelnut quality, which might be attributed to the slight age on the bottle. This is the 2006; the current release is 2008. Tertiary flavors may be emerging. Nice.

The body is medium-plus and on the palate a minty quality is added to the sage “garrigueiness” with fresh leaf tobacco. You’ll feel medium-plus tannins all up in your gums and medium to medium-plus acidity. The wine is 14% alcohol with a long dusty stone mineral finish.

It’s very complex for the price point. I loved this wine back then, I still love it today.

Anthony Garcia
www.wineisdivine.com
http://twitter.com/wineisdivine

We wanted our last meal in Portland to be simple and close to where we were staying (downtown). Grüner fit the bill nicely. A great bottle of wine, this 2007 Knoll Grüner Veltliner Smaragd, Loibener (village or gemeinde) Kreutles (ried or vineyard) Wachau was scrumptious.

We ordered a little cured salmon, a couple of simple salads, some dumplings (above) and even spaetzle.

These apricot-filled donuts took the cake.

Grüner displays another important factor of the PDX food scene, which is its broad spectrum of styles, genres, and traditions. Much like NYC, they seem to have it all.

Parting is such sweet sorrow.

Anthony Garcia
www.wineisdivine.com
http://twitter.com/wineisdivine

Biking Portland is representative of the city's essence. Biking here is green, convenient, inexpensive, scenic, effective and a darn fun time. We rode everywhere yesterday.

The weather was sometimes rainy, sometimes sunny, and really felt like autumn. When it would mist a little, we would stop and get a espresso or chai (such as the one below at Crema Bakery, one of our duck-in places when it started to rain).

My legs are so sore today.

Anthony Garcia
www.wineisdivine.com
http://twitter.com/wineisdivine

Pork Rillette Filled Hand Pie.

Radicchio, Pomegranate, Cauliflower, Farro, Walnuts.

Kielbasa & Creamy Polenta (sent out as a gift- thx Paul & by the way I grew up on Kielbasa, I'm a quarter Polish; I've never had it this good).

Three Cookies of Love (sent out as a gift- thx Elizabeth; these were delicious).

Anne and I drank Hubert Clavelin Brut Cremant du Jura throughout the lunch, but I had to have a Fernet Branca to end. It was so much food to digest. Plus, we were about to hop on our bikes and ride around a while.

I think this is what people think of when they think about Portland food: highly elevated artisan, local, fresh, best of season, unpretentious, exquisite use of salt and fresh herbs, sublime.
This by far the best American Chacuterie we have ever had. Our tab was only $83. What's up with that? Crazy good and cheap. The service was the best we had in PDX, too.

Anthony Garcia
www.wineisdivine.com
http://twitter.com/wineisdivine

Anne and I spent our entire last day on our bikes, but first she made me run around the river. We were really hungry by lunch. After Coava, we hit Olympic Provisions. This was one of the highlights of the trip. Above is the Chef's Choice.

Pickled Egg. Spanish-style Chorizo.

Roasted Beets, Cipollini Onions, Argodolce, Walnut Sauce.

Roasted Squash, Broccoli, Grafton Cheddar Quiche.

Seared Potatoes, Rapini, Romesco.

Olympic Provision part two

Anthony Garcia
www.wineisdivine.com
http://twitter.com/wineisdivine

We loved this place. Coava is an open, quiet space, located inside an old warehouse. Unmovable, antique tool and die equipment become tables for reading the paper and drinking coffee.

The front is the shop; in the back is a custom-manufacturer called Bamboo Revolution.

Anne's favorite cap of the trip, my favorite espresso. Although every place we visited was sick.

Anthony Garcia
www.wineisdivine.com
http://twitter.com/wineisdivine

We went Italian tonight early, ended up Japanese late. Basically, we ate three dinners. Yikes! Ciao Vito was excellent. The food, immaculate; the wines, exquisite. The highlight wine, the 2004 Bressan Schioppettino from Friuili, was ridiculously good: a wine that behaves like Château Rayas CdP, a fine Chianti Classico and a great Volnay all at once. But the Charles Joguet Chinon Rosé 2009 we started with was quite tasty.

Zilla was tasty; we ate more food and drank a ton of sake with Marcus Pakiser. Whoa, what a lesson!

Although, I still think there is no universal definition of Umami, I'm okay with that.

I really liked our trip to Biwa, an Izakaya or Japanese tavern. More sake and delicious scallops in sake lees.

Their Ramen was sick, the best in fact, but wow, too much sake.

Finally chillin' at home. A long & wonderful day.

Anthony Garcia
www.wineisdivine.com
http://twitter.com/wineisdivine

The weather turned nice. We ducked in Prost! Hung out with the locals for a while.

We are now participating in the local microbrewery Oktoberfest Challenge. 9 biers and a score sheet. An amazing day. Gettin' hungry...

Anthony Garcia
www.wineisdivine.com
http://twitter.com/wineisdivine

What can you really say about Beast? We had a simple, elegant brunch. Four courses and the truth: "if you don't like what I offer, please eat elsewhere."

Every chef's dream. Every diner's delight, unless you're vegan or vegetarian; thankfully, that ain't us. Superb!  The wine pairings were right on, too.

Anthony Garcia
www.wineisdivine.com
http://twitter.com/wineisdivine