Oktoberfest is back! I had my virginal Oktoberfest experience last year and had heaps of fun. This year, my schedule is rather crazy but I dedicated at least one night to attend one of the parties organised by Guinness Anchor Berhad at Souled Out, Sri Hartamas. It was also a small extension of my birthday celebration, of course.

It’s great to see that Malaysians embracing different European cultures (I guess any excuse to drink, huh?), be it St Patrick’s, Arthur’s Day, and many more. Oktoberfest initially started in Germany as wedding celebration in 1810 to commemorate the union between Crown Prince Ludwig (who later became King Ludwig I) and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen at Theresienwiese (translated as Therese’s meadow / field).

Traditionally, Oktoberfest celebrations involve a number of different elements and activities, including horse races, street parades (in traditional costumes), live music, dancing and of course the appreciation of authentic Munich-brewed beer. Through the years, Oktoberfest has evolved to become a global celebration, consuming over 7 million litres of beer! This year, the Oktoberfest festival will run from 21 September 2013 to October 6 2013 – a total of 16 days of culture, cuisine and beers, although GAB has extended all the way to 31st October (more beer!)

To me, the authentic Oktoberfest experience includes the giant 1 litre Ceramic mugs.  Whenever you purchase your favourite GAB brew (Tiger, Guinness, Heineken, Kilkenny, Strongbow or Paulaner) this entire month from 7th Octobers to 3rd November at participating GAB outlets, you’ll be able to collect the mugs. The best part of this promotion is that the first refill of your 1 Litre Ceramic Oktoberfest Mug is absolutely free! There is also a limited edition with metal lid as pictured above, but they are only available at Oktoberfest themed parties. I will list the locations at the end of this post.

Well, this is not German, but Souled Out does dish out decent grubs with a special Oktoberfest menu involving plenty of meat. Check out what Andy had:

We have covered the food and beer, let’s talk about the entertainments:

Well, I guess that was the real reason I was there last night. Mad Sally has adopted me as their female singer and I perform with them quite regularly (in fact was performing with them just the night before at my mini birthday celebration). So not surprisingly, I was invited on stage for a couple of songs.

It was fun to have people singing and dancing together, and there were a few Chicken dances involved too. Apart from the music, we got to play a few games as well. Mostly throwing objects like ping pong, tennis balls, giant pretzel (!) around.
Arm wrestling too, of course. I’m pretty bad at it so I let the other girls play.

The MC also invited some guests to play games on the stage and I think the most interesting one was the Beer holding competition, “Masskrugstemen“. Basically, the contestants started off holding one of the 1 litre Oktoberfest ceramic mugs filled to the brim with beer (around 2kg) in their hands and hold it for 30 seconds, then followed by more mugs until they can’t carry anymore. The world record is currently held by a German restaurant manager, Reinhard Wurtz, who managed to carry twenty mugs filled with beer for 40 metres without spilling. Unbelievable!

Oktoberfest Outlet Events

I mentioned that you can only get the special edition ceramic mugs at any of the special themed parties across the country. Here is the list of participating outlets:

10th October at Souled Out Sri Hartamas (KL)
12th October at QEII (Penang), Geographer Café (Puchong) and Jonker Street (Melaka)
14th October at Euro House (Ipoh)
18th October at Festival Walk (Ipoh) and Laundry Bar, The Curve (Mutiara Damansara)
19th October at Upper Penang Road (Penang) and O’s Corner (Kuantan)
24th October at Remedy House, Scott’s Garden (KL)
25th October at Danga Bay (Johor) and Phat Barrels (Kuantan)
26th October at The Museum (Ipoh)
31st October at Beer Factory Sunway Giza (KL)

Still got a few more to go so mark your calendar!

For more information on the entire GAB Oktoberfest campaign, do drop by the official GAB Oktoberfest Malaysia Facebook page at www.facebook.com/OktoberfestMY.

More photos at Malaysia’s Hottest Bloggers’ facebook page. Thank you Andy Kho for some of the photos!