North Bar honours Oktoberfest traditions
The Oktoberfest rules state beer that is served in official Oktoberfest tents must meet a specific set of criteria, which dictates that all official Oktoberfest bier should be brewed within the city limits of Munich.
Each venue will take on the persona of the brewery it is twinned with for the duration of Oktoberfest and serve its beer.
North Bar co-founder John Gyngell outlined how the initiative can help attract drinkers to sites they do not normally venture to.
Twinning
The seven North Bar venues in Leeds are:
North Bar in New Briggate twinned with Hacker-Pschorr-Bräu
Alfred in Meanwood twinned with Augustiner-Bräu
Preston in Oakwood twinned with Spatenbräu
The Cross Keys on Water Lane twinned with Paulaner
Further North in Chapel Allerton twinned with Staatliches Hofbräu
North Bar Social in Otley twinned with Ayinger
North Bar Harrogate twinned with Erdinger
He said: “Twinning the bars with different Munich breweries works brilliantly, drawing parallels with the actual Oktoberfest itself.
“A lot of people seem to have one or two ‘favourite’ North Bar venues but we will be encouraging everyone to venture out, do the rounds and try the different beers, in the same way as people visit the different Oktoberfest tents in Munich.
“We also wanted to play around with the idea of the strict geographical limits of the festival, so it should be good fun.”
The celebrations began earlier this month (16 September) and are set to continue until 3 October. Each of the seven sites have decked their halls with traditional Oktoberfest bunting and flags from their respective twinned breweries.
Food pairing
Drinkers can expect pretzels served with smoked cheese and German ‘Oompah’ music at a series of Oktoberfest parties, which will take place over various weekends at the different sites.
North Bar’s Oktoberfest artwork (designed by illustrator Anwyn Beier) pays homage to a royal wedding that took place more than two centuries ago when the National Guard staged a horse race in Munich to celebrate the marriage of the Crown Prince of Bavaria in October 1810.
The event continued and became and a tradition, drawing in bigger crowds each year on the anniversary of the wedding.
Though there has been no renewal of the horse race since 1936, the huge beer tents that were first erected on the site in 1896 now attract more than 5m people to Munich every autumn.
North Bar is the pubs division of Leeds brewer North Brewing Co.
