‘PROST!’ MUSKOKA OKTOBERFEST GETS OFF TO LIVELY START WITH KEG-TAPPING

Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com

MUSKOKA — Last month in Dublin at the world-famous Guinness brewery I asked the young bartender how he got such a great job pulling pints in the penthouse bar overlooking the ancient Irish capital.

“I thought you’d have to start at the bottom and work your way up.”

“Just applied,” he replied.

So I bet he never got to tap kegs in the basement of the world-famous Storehouse.

Yesterday Rob Engman did the honours to kick off Muskoka Oktoberfest at his Sawdust City Brewery.

Joined by a bevy of beer maids he poured off the first few steins of their festival beer “Sagemehl Stadt” (Sawdust City in German).

It proved a hit with a hundred of so beer enthusiast jammed into the bar next to their brew room.

Sawdust City Brewing owner owner Rob Engman taps the first keg of Sagemehl Stadt, yesterday, to kick off the Muskoka Oktoberfest as the Happy Wanderers, Norah Fountain, Mayor Heidi Lorenz and Town Crier Bruce Kruger wait for their stein of the beer specially crafted for the festival.

And there was a enough lederhosen to make a man blush.

It reminded me of my younger days at the Munich Beerfest and when I was the champion of a Ryerson beer-drinking contest before I gave up the frothy suds after a front-loaded career with beer.

But Wednesday afternoon it was “Prost!” and plenty of “Ziggy zaggy, ziggy zaggy oi, oi, oi!” as the Happy Wanders band greeted every toast with rollicking accordion and sax sounds.

It’s the beginning of weekend festivities across the district to extend the tourism shoulder season — beyond Thanksgiving, the Cavalcade of Colour, Bala’s Cranberry Festival and now Muskoka Oktoberfest — says head cheerleader Norah Fountain of the Muskoka Lakes Chamber of Commerce who organized the event with Muskoka’s other chambers and led most of the cheers.

Throughout the next three days restaurants, pubs and other venues will be welcoming beer lovers with food and entertainments.

Muskoka’s many microbreweries will also feature their craft brews cooked up for the festival.

It includes a pub crawl bus Saturday night.

“Prost!” the crowd cheered repeatedly. Expect more of “Ziggy zaggy, ziggy zaggy, oi, oi, oi!” the next three days across Muskoka.
Town Crier Bruce Kruger and his wife Lynn join the Happy Wanderers in a toast to this weekend’s Muskoka Oktoberfest.
Rob Engman and Muskoka Springs president Christopher Kodoroff toast each other with their favourite beverages, including the new Hop non-alcohol drink the two Gravenhurst companies have just soft-launched at the brewery this fall.
Head cheerleader and beer maid Norah Fountain kept the party going as usual with one of many “prosts!”
Muskoka politicians joined in the fun Wednesday afternoon in Gravenhurst to kick off another fall shoulder season tourist attraction.
Sometimes you don’t have to start at the bottom to get the top job. This Guinness bartender just asked for the best job in beer, pouring free pints in the fifth storey penthouse bar overlooking the ancient city of Dublin for thirsty tourists.
Lois Cooper and I got a look-through Guinness Storehouse top to bottom a few weeks ago and experienced a taste (if not literally) of the famed beer and how it’s been made since the mid-1700s during a month-long toour of the U.K.

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