Getting ready for the off, with a brief taste of Oktoberfest before we depart

In less than a days’ time, we will be into October, the 10^th month of the year despite the chronological mismatch of its name and, as ever I have to ask the question where has the year gone? The fact that as we grow older the years seem to fly by quicker, is just one of the cruel tricks that nature plays on us, but as there's little, we can do about it, we just have to do our best to make full use of the time that we are given. I thought I'd been doing quite well actually in this respect, until mid-August, having enjoyed days out, in some of Britain’s leading beer cities, as well as visiting some cracking pubs, closer to home.

I had another trip scheduled for mid-August, in the form of a well-planned, trip around some of the Black Country’s classics pubs. Then, less than a week away from my Black Country tour, COVID came knocking at my door, for the third time! (How did that happen?). Worse was to come as I ended up passing the virus on to Mrs PBT’s. I'm still not sure whether she has forgiven me, as what made the situation worse was her testing positive on our wedding anniversary!

To be honest, I'm still not sure what the fuss is about, because we don’t normally make a huge fuss in the Bailey household, over such anniversaries, in fact there have been times when both of us have forgotten the whole thing altogether. Unfortunately, it's a convenient point to hang something on, and not something to argue against logically. So, in the interests of peace, harmony, and marital bliss, I've been keeping my head down. Annoyingly I've missed out on several CAMRA bus trips, a Pub of the Year presentation, plus one of the best beer festivals around. This just happened to be the launch of this year’s Kent Green Hop Beers Fortnight, which took place, as usual, at the Canterbury Food & Drink Festival. The event was missing for a couple of years, due to COVID (what else?), so I was really looking forward to its return, the other week.

The launch of Kent Green Hop Beer Fortnight is one of the very few festivals I attend these days, and as the weather is normally set fair at this time of year, the surroundings of Canterbury 's Dane John Gardens, make the perfect setting for enjoying a few of these “one off” ales, brewed with freshly picked hops. When there’s a touch of late autumn sunshine, to warm the happy faces of festival goers, it makes for a fantastic day out. Small wonder then it has always been one of my favourite events of this time of year.

Getting around the country by train, hasn’t been particularly easy this year, due to the preponderance of rail strikes, and whilst the trade unions involved are required by law to give a minimum of two weeks’ notice, before walking it out, it does make long-term planning that little bit harder, especially when it comes to buying Advanced Saver tickets, for long distance journeys. I don't want to say too much, but with both government and unions dug in, and neither side prepared to compromise, it looks like this problem will effect Proper Day’s Out, for some time to come.

Now where was I? Keeping a low profile, as for some strange and illogical reason, my good lady wife has it in her head, that public houses are one of the prime places for contracting COVID. She’s quite happy for me to go to work, and mix with colleagues, many of whom could potentially be carrying the plague, but somehow, it's pubs that are the problem. Talk about female logic when a total lack of logic would be more appropriate!

I’ve largely gone along with her concerns during the run-up to our cruise, which departs from Southampton in a couple of days’ time, but yesterday I had a few errands to run down the town. One of which was a very necessary visit to the podiatrist, to sort out a couple of ingrowing toenails, that were giving me grief. With plenty of circuits around the promenade deck in mind, the last thing I want is to be hobbling around in agony.

After my treatment, I called in at Sainsbury’s for a few last-minute bits and pieces, but also to pick up some Euros, for trips ashore. Mission accomplished, it was time for a beer, and despite Mrs PBT’s misgivings, I headed for Fuggles Beer Café at the top end of the High Street. I was aware from their website, that they had a couple of genuine Oktoberfest beers on tap. By genuine, I mean beers that are actually served at the main event in Munich. The festival itself draws to a close early next week, but the team at Fuggles had managed to obtain all six Oktoberfest beers.

The offerings from Paulaner and Hacker-Pschorr, were the only two left, so not wishing to miss out completely, I entered Fuggles and made my way to the bar. The place was relatively quiet for a Thursday afternoon, with bar staff nearly outnumbering customers, but after studying the blackboard lists behind the bar, I was pleased to see the two aforementioned beers were still available, along with a couple of homegrown Oktoberfest beers.

Torn between Paulaner and Hacker-Pschorr, I opted for a half pint of each, and given that both had an abv of around 6%, this was probably a smart move. I made the barman chuckle though, by saying I knew one was supposed to drink these beers by the litre, but could I just have just a half of each. He grinned and poured them for me, making sure I knew which one was which. That was easy because colour played a role with the Paulaner, being the traditional gold colour one would expect, whilst the Hacker-Pschorr version was much more of an amber colour.

This is because it is brewed with the characteristics of a true Märzen beer. As I explained in a previous article, Märzen was the style of beer served at Oktoberfest until the mid-1970s, when lighter, golden coloured beers became the norm. It was interesting trying both styles side by side, as the Paulaner version was definitely sweeter than the Hacker-Pschorr brew, but the letter was probably better balanced.

I enjoyed them both, but wondered what it would be like chugging back a litre of each. Pretty good I imagine, especially when swept up in the fervour of what is promoted is the world's largest Folk Festival. Picture sitting, side by side, at a long table, with a group of people, swaying along, singing, whilst at the same time knocking back those massive 1 litre Maβ glass mugs of beer. And, as we have already discussed, it isn’t just any beer that’s served up in the festival tents, it’s those strong, 6% Fest bier specials, that I had a brief taste of in Fuggles. I’m sure that the contents of those   impressive glass mugs would slide down a treat.

It’s back to reality this morning, and the final packing for our cruise. We’ve a taxi booked for the morning (ouch!), but with the car still in at the dealers, and son Matthew not particularly confident about motorway, or long-distance driving, we’ve had to bite the bullet, and go by cab. Dependent on wi-fi connections, or data, I shall try and post from some of the destinations we dock up, but if not, there will be an awful lot of catching up to do upon my return.