The Irish have St. Patrick’s Day. African-Americans have Juneteenth, the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States. Mexican restaurants get Cinco de Mayo.



We Germans are losing our holiday to the rise of globalization of beer making. Since it was not socially acceptable for us to randomly invade other countries, we could at least hold onto the idea that we could always get a bit of a nod from the world each fall as German wannabes mark Oktoberfest. But fate is against us.

Don’t get me wrong. Folks will still be flocking to neighborhood bars wearing feathered hats and leather pants. But they might not be chugging down beer and praising the glories of Bavaria.



The large brew makers are shying away from making special “Oktoberfest” beers because they would be marketable for only about a month before they are seen as old news in the beer world.



“There used to be a gap between summer beers and winter beers when they would do a lot of specialty beers,” Parkway Tavern owner John O’Gara says. “Now they go straight from summer to winter beers. It sucks. They go straight into winter beers on October first. If the beer has a name on it like that, it’s almost like it has a time stamp label on it. People aren’t going to drink Oktoberfest beers in November.”



What used to be a four season beer year that followed the weather is now really a three season year. The heavy, malt-packed winter beers start arriving in October and run through February. Spring beers run from February to May, and then summer beers appear a few weeks before children let out of school and run until the sun goes down on vacation in the fall.



That trimming of the season is cutting out most specialty beer making associated around Oktoberfest because it doesn’t fit that calendar. Oktoberfest beers brewed by American bottlers had traditionally been the wheat-filled bridge between the light summer brews and the heavier ones done in the winter.



These brews are either going unmade these days or changing names to “harvest festival” names to prolong their shelf life.



Heck, some pubs are even calling their October events a celebration to practice for St. Patrick’s Day. Heck, even the Tacoma Beer Society is doing its party at Paddy Coyne’s Oct. 20. That group’s beer festival is even going to have freaking bagpipes and guest appearances by Femme Fianna of the Tacoma Roller Derby. The indignity of it all.

Oktoberfest traditionally starts in the third weekend in September and ends the first Sunday of October. It has been thus since 1810, and it will always be thus in one form or another for the purists among us.



The Parkway will be making the event with beers and brats next week as well as its annual Julepalooza Oct. 24, when it will mark the downing of many a pint of Deschutes Brewery’s Jubelale. This warmer of a beer has a thick malt body and just enough hoppy bitterness to ward off the autumn chill.



The usual places are having tastings and beer specials in October to mark the passing of another year, but practicality is winning out over tradition.



Whatever the fall festival, however, it will likely involve a brew from Avery Brewing Co. The Kaiser is a power punch of brew that goes down smooth then out flanks your brain with a side blow to the temple.



“They really shouldn’t be allowed to make beer like this,” the owner of Federal Way’s 99 Bottles, Craig Adamowski says. “It is nine percent, but it goes down like water. It’s a very dangerous beer.” 



[Parkway Tavern, 313 N. I St., Tacoma, 253.383.8748]

[99 Bottles, 35002 Pacific Hwy. S., Federal Way, 253.838.2558, www.99bottles.net]

Beer festivals

Harmon Brewery will pull out the Killerbrew, a true Oktoberfest Lager, for its 10th Anniversary Celenration Wednesday, Sept. 26.  Chef Scott Neilson has teamed up with brewmater Mike Davis for five courses paired with five beers.

[Harmon Brewery, Wednesday, Sept. 26, 6-9 p.m., $30, 1938 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.383.2739]



For a more traditional celebration, Oktoberfest Northwest is marking its third annual event Oct. 5 to 7 at the Puyallup Fairgrounds. There will even be free admission in the early hours of that first day.



Oktoberfest Northwest offers a Munich-inspired Festhalle Biergarten, traditional bratwurst, handmade German pretzels, strudel and schnitzel, along with an entertainment line-up on two stages that is matched by no other Oktoberfest celebration in the area. It is fun for the whole family.



[Puyallup Fairgrounds, Oktoberfest Northwest hours are Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to midnight and Sunday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Ninth and Meridian, 425.283.5050, www.oktoberfestnw.com]

Doyle’s Public House will tap The Firkin Saturday, the same day the Oktoberfest celebration in Munich begins.  Six traditional German beers will be served in one-liter steins. Nice.

[Doyle’s Public House, Saturday, Sept. 22, 4 p.m., 208 St. Helens Ave., Tacoma, 253.272.PINT]