Leavenworth Octoberfest 2012

Last Saturday Carrie & I (and two of our friends) headed out to Leavenworth for its annual Octoberfest.

The verdict? Leavenworth was awesome. Octoberfest… not so much.

We all really loved walking around Leavenworth, eating in the restaurants (we went to Gustav’s for lunch, where I had a massive Reuben, then Baren Haus for din-dins, where I had a schnitzel done cordon-bleu style), and poking through the shops (we bought many cheeses at the Cheesemonger’s Shop and many meats at Cured).

But the actual Octoberfest itself was underwhelming. For several reasons:

• It was held on one of the only ugly streets in Leavenworth, right up against this depressing, concrete facade. One of us joked that this was the “East Berlin” part of Germany being represented.
• It was expensive to get in, and you didn’t even get any beer tickets with admission. Those were extra.
• None of the beer offerings were in any way exceptional. You could get better beers in most of the restaurants downtown.
• It was kinda frat-like. Or Douchey. Take your pick from those two adjectives.

I’m pretty sure this was another “I’m too old for this” moment. We left town before 10:00 PM (we were staying at one of our cohort’s parent’s house over in Monroe). That said, Leavenworth was lovely with its changing leaves and dramatic mountain setting. The food and drink outside of Octoberfest was delicious. And the company was delightful. Of course I didn’t take any photos.

I would love to return to Leavenworth in the fall sometime again, but I would completely skip Octoberfest and just go bar-hopping in the town itself or something.