Tis the time of year when Oktoberfest is celebrated via elaborate gatherings full of beer, lederhosen and heavy food.

And, I was fortunate to receive an invitation to attend Heston Farm's Oktoberfest and judge its home brewing contest. The judging actually started at 10 a.m. on Saturday, and we went through and tasted a bunch of really cool, delicious craft beers.

There are very strict guidelines for styles of beers, and I did my best to judge each beer by those. Josh, the head brewer at Heston, was patient and taught me lots about beer judging and the flavors I was tasting with each beer.

We had a mushroom beer and a delicious IPA and even a mead. Very cool experience - which actually took us a few hours. Crazy.

After the beer judging, I hung out with my friend Heather for a bit and helped get the place set up for the event. And, as soon as 4 p.m. rolled around, it was on.

There was a buffet full of sauerbraten (German style marinated beef), schnitzel (breaded chicken breast), bratwurst, spaetzel (german pasta), sauerkraut with kielbasa and apples, braised red cabbage, black forest cake and german chocolate cake.

I got a plate full of, well, everything. My favorite was definitely the spaetzel, which is a kind of soft egg noodle found in the cuisines of southern Germany and Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, Alsace, Moselle and South Tyrol. For the buffet, it was just $20.

And in addition to the fun home brew contest, the incredibly delicious buffet, there was also traditional music by Ron and Nancy Utt, and Soup Camel performed later in the evening.

And, games! Keg rolling - which I tried and almost did mildly well before giving up, as well as sack races and other fun things.










This was actually my first time heading down to Heston Farm's pavilion. And, it's a super lovely space. The food was great, the games were fun, and the beer was amazing. It was such a fun time, and I can't wait until the next event they host!