Photo Submitted by Allen McMillan
Tallahassee was graced with a taste of Munich last weekend.
Oktoberfest is the world’s largest Volksfest (beer festival and traveling fun fair). Held annually in Munich, Germany, it is a 16- to 18-day festival running from mid or late September to the first Sunday in October, with more than six million people from around the world attending the event every year.
During the event, large quantities of Oktoberfest beer are consumed: during the 16-day festival in 2013, for example, 7.7 million liters were served. Visitors also enjoy numerous attractions, such as amusement rides, side stalls and games. There is also a wide variety of traditional foods available.
Growler Country is a veteran owned and operated craft beer filling station located on Capital Circle Northeast. It is the creation of brothers Michael and Bobby Carbonell. The idea was hatched over a beer in October 2013 and the brothers worked on the plan for Growler Country diligently for many months.
To thank customers for their continued support over the past five years, the Carbonells hosted Growler Country’s fifth annual Oktoberfest last weekend. The event featured multiple German beers and a special menu, including Oktoberfest favorites such as brats, pretzels, and other surprise items in honor of the anniversary.
The dream was almost dashed by some anti-craft beer legislation filed in the Florida Senate but the Carbonell brothers joined the fight with the Florida Brewers Guild and lobbied to keep growler fills legal. The anti-craft beer bill died and we went full speed ahead to opening Florida’s first dedicated growler filling station.
A special invitation from the brothers themselves “Come celebrate our five-year anniversary Oktoberfest style! We’ll have a large tent set up in front of the store on Saturday, October 12th with German food and lots of German beer styles from Germany and US craft breweries.”
Each ticket included admission, food, a sweet custom Growler Country 1-liter stein and your first liter of beer is on the house. Walking into the venue you are welcomed with such excitement for the bar wenches and the other servers you’ felt as though you were in the heart of Munich. Everyone was extremely welcoming and accepted. They have channeled the actual festival and when you walked into Growler County you almost felt like you were in Munich.