My Mini Oktoberfest

As you already well know, I love good beers. Especially of the German variety. So it goes without saying that I love Oktoberfest. Every year I try to go to some sort of celebration. Growing up we would go to Oktoberfest in Ellicotville and peruse back and forth between all of the tents trying different beers from the microbreweries up there.

This year I was excited to go to Zum Schneider for their celebration to have some big beers and listen to some music from the Oompah band.

Unfortunately when we showed up last Saturday the place was already filled WAY beyond capacity and the waiting list was a mile long. I was pretty disappointed. We were going to try to go back this past weekend but it just didn't work out.

So yesterday we decided to try out a local German place the Silver Swan and have one Oktoberfest beer.

Walking into the Silver Swan I immediately noticed that everything about the place seemed old. The wrought iron bar stools, the dining room which was furnished like my grandmothers living room to the people who were eating. It wasn't a bad thing- just something you notice right away.

We grabbed a seat at the bar and perused their beer list which was quite fantastic. They had tons of German beers and also some good Belgian and English brews at well. Being that I was celebrating Oktoberfest I went for the Spatan Oktoberfest.


I've had this beer many times before and I have to say it's hand down my favorite Oktoberfest beer. It's very light and smooth for an Oktoberfest beer with a slightly sweet, nutty aftertaste.

The free Bavarian pretzels at the bar were a perfect complement as always. The bar was pretty much empty since it was an early Sunday evening, a far cry from the usual boisterous party of my past Oktoberfest celebrations. It was nice though. A relaxing hour sipping a good beer before I had to start worrying about the Yankees again.....