Are You Ready to Oompah?

Beer consumption spikes sharply as we approach October, or so I suspect. I also suspect it's been true for a long, long time.

Munich's Oktoberfest (this year it began Sept. 20) traces its history to a royal wedding in 1810. It might be the world's largest beer party (about 6 million visitors a year), but it's not the oldest. Harald Stueckle, brew master for Beck's in Bremen, mentions his city's Freimarkt festival. "It's almost the same atmosphere as the Munich Oktoberfest, with big beer tents, traditional music and Ferris wheels," he says. And it dates to 1035, when the emperor granted Bremen's bishop permission to stage a fair.

So what have the Germans been celebrating for the past 1,000 years? The harvest, certainly. But they were also marking the return of brewing after a nearly six-month respite.

Before antiseptics and artificial refrigeration, brewing was halted during warm weather, when a proliferation of airborne microorganisms would have soured the brew. Before shutting down operations, beermakers brewed an extra-large batch to a higher strength. They aged the batch in caverns during the summer swelter and periodically dipped into it to satisfy their thirst. When temperatures dropped in the fall, the dregs of this special beer (dubbed Marzen, meaning March beer) were consumed with appropriate pomp and ceremony.

Unlike Munich's beer blast, which offers a single beer style from a half-dozen breweries served in liter mugs, our local Oktoberfests are true beer-sampling events, offering a vast array of beer styles in convenient tasting glasses.

The coming weeks bring a plethora of festivals. Das Best Oktoberfest ( http://www.dasbestoktoberfest.com) is not grammatical German, but this first-time event on Saturday sounds intriguing: 75 to 100 craft beers from around the world (plus hard cider and wine), international cuisine, a German band and local music acts for the oompah-challenged. The festival, at National Harbor in Oxon Hill, will include a Biggest Beer Belly competition ("it's judged by measuring tape," says events coordinator Susan Urbanek), but you might want to suck in your gut until after you've met the dirndl-clad St. Pauli girls. The $30 admission fee ($20 in advance) includes 10 beer tokens.

Unfolding Saturday and Sunday is the Northern Virginia BrewFest: A World Experience ( http://www.novabrewfest.com), featuring 40 national and international breweries, including Munich mainstays Hofbrau and Spaten, and local guys such as Starr Hill and Vintage 50. The place is Bull Run Regional Park in Centreville. Admission is $22 ($17 in advance). Tickets, each good for a five- to six-ounce pour, will cost $1.

A little farther afield are two Maryland events. The third annual Maryland Microbrewery Festival ( http://www.unionmills.org) is Saturday at the Union Mills Homestead in Westminster, showcasing the wares of 13 Maryland brew pubs and microbreweries. The winning recipe in the home-brew contest will be duplicated by Dog Brewing (a Westminster micro) and the beer will be served at Buffalo Wild Wings locations in the area.

On Saturday and Sunday at Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen, the Maryland Beer & Foodfest ( http://www.mdbeerfoodfest.com) offers cooking demos and an eclectic range of mass-market and craft beers. The adult admission price of $15 includes two six-ounce-sample tickets for beer and wine.

On Oct. 4, the Capitol City Brewing Oktoberfest ( http://www.capcitybrew.com) celebrates its ninth year at the Village at Shirlington in Arlington. Entry is free, but you'll need to pay $25 for the wristband and taster glass that entitle you to unlimited four-ounce samples. Capitol City's head brewer, Mike McCarthy, promises 42 beer booths, "bigger than we've ever done it before." He says there will be about 15 examples of the Oktoberfest style, those amber-colored, malty, slightly toasty lagers that go down so splendidly. Among them will be Capitol City Oktoberfest. Try it while it lasts; McCarthy figures his 30-barrel batch will last only about two weeks. This year's festival will also offer face painting and other attractions for children.

Finally, Oct. 11 brings the Brewers Association of Maryland Oktoberfest ( http://www.mdoktoberfest.com) to the Timonium State Fairgrounds north of Baltimore. For the $25 admission price ($20 in advance), the organizers promise 75 beers from a dozen Maryland breweries, plus 50 percent more taps and double the beer of previous festivals. There will be a special fest beer, a sticke alt brewed at White Marsh Brewing near Baltimore. An alt is a copper-colored German-style ale, well balanced between malt and hops, associated with the city of Dusseldorf. "Sticke" is German dialect for "secret," a special, stronger version that only privileged customers know about.

The secret is out.

Find more Oktoberfest events in City Guide

Greg Kitsock's column appears every other week. He can be reached atfood@washpost.com.