I know that I just wrote a post on Friday for the #beersaturday tag, but this one was just so cool that I felt I needed to share about it.
I've mentioned this in the past, but I have an acquaintance who manages a party store. If you aren't familiar with the term, a party store is like a bodega or a convivence store. They sell beer, liquor, lottery tickets, tobacco, candy bars, chips, soda, all that kind of stuff. Pretty much everything you need for a party hence the name (honestly, I don't know if that is why they are called party stores).
As a manager, he has a direct line to the liquor and beer distributors. In the past he has ordered and gotten his hands on rare or hard to find whiskey for me. It was a welcome surprise when a week or two ago he sent me a text with a picture of this mini keg.
He asked if I was interested and I didn't even hesitate to say yes once I found out the price was $20.
At 5 Liters, I knew I wasn't going to be able to tackle this alone in one sitting so I decided to bring it on our last camping trip of the Summer and share with my friend. I told him I had a surprise for him, but I didn't tell him what it was. You should have seen his face when he opened the outdoor kitchen fridge and saw the keg! It was priceless.
I will be honest, I struggled a little bit with the mechanism for pouring at first, but after a little help from my wife, I had it down to a science.
I could faintly hear the (older) campers next door say "oh boy, look at this" when I pulled the keg out of the fridge and set it on the side of the picnic table.
According to my calculations we should have gotten about 11 to 12 pints out of this keg. I honestly lost count after the first couple... At over 6% alcohol, it isn't insanely strong, but definitely higher than your average domestic.
I have been to the Hofbrau House in Columbus, OH and Las Vegas, NV and what really surprised me about this beer was just how light it was. In my experience Oktoberfests are usually a little heavier and being this is a German beer I was thinking it would be even heavier still. That wasn't the case at all. It was light and refreshing which was a good thing since the temperatures and humidity were in the 90's all weekend.
We drank enough of it on Friday night that there was just enough for me to have two more pints in the afternoon on Saturday. You can see the glasses we used in the background. They are these really cool rubber pint glasses that are perfect for camping since you don't need to worry about them breaking or anything.
Oktoberfest is probably one of my most favorite flavors of beer and this one did not disappoint at all. I guess I shouldn't be shocked since this is the OG beer that they serve at the real Oktoberfest every year. At $20 I feel it was an exceptional value as well. The mini keg was perfect for a small party or intimate gathering. It worked out perfect for us. The only exception was the amount of space it took up in the fridge while travelling. A small price to pay to drink the beer of Bavarian kings!
All pictures taken by myself or 
