Wurstfest

In the late 1800s, a German nobleman bought a large plot of land about an hour south of Austin, Texas, and made it available for German citizens to live in if they wanted to. Following the naming conventions of New York and New Jersey, the immigrant population named it New Braunfels after their home near Frankfurt. Nearly a century later, a local sausage contest grew and gathered national attention, and Wurstfest was born.

Wurstfest is a 10 day celebration of all things German. German beer, schnitzel and pretzels, oompah bands, lederhosen and dirndls, and good cheer surround you when you enter the venue. The food is very reminiscent of a state fair, with fewer fried Oreos and more fried meat. You have your choice of domestic or imported beers, like Budweiser (technically a German name), Coors (started by a German American brewer), and Shiner (started by German immigrants). On the import side, you could choose from Dunkel, Hofbrau Oktoberfest, Spaaten Oktoberfest, Pauliner original and Pauliner Oktoberfest. Clearly there’s a theme to the beers that were chosen for the event. A pitcher of domestic beer was $21, a pitcher of the imported stuff would set you back $29. Not exactly cheap, but more or less in line with what you’d expect from an event like this.

There were two tents set up and an indoor hall that was set up to look like a tent, all with long communal tables and live bands. The headliner was Alex Meixner, who is a rock star on the accordion. This guy rocks the squeezebox like nothing I’ve ever seen (the Hormel pepperoni commercial aside, since that was actually him). He actually played Ozzy Osbourne’s Crazy Train, and crushed it. That’s not to say that the other bands weren’t also great; S-Bahn was a lot of fun and very engaging. And since these were communal tents, you got to talk to random people at the other tables and make friends (including one guy who was able to get us beer at a discount because his buddy worked behind the bar).

The food isn’t great there; in fact, I don’t think I had a single proper meal the entire time that I was in New Braunfels. Just a lot of snacking and nibbling. Funnel cakes, spiral cut fried potatoes, latkes with applesauce, pork chops on a stick. You name it, we tried it, and it was mostly pretty good. Nothing worth traveling for, but solid enough to put a base of food in your stomach while you enjoyed beer and good music.

One thing that caught us off-guard: The venue opens at 11:00A on Sundays, but they don’t start pouring beer until noon. I’d still get there early, especially if you have a large group that’s trying to sit together, but plan on sitting around and staring awkwardly at each other until the magical beer-pouring hour hits.

While this isn’t an event I would go to alone, I would absolutely do this again with friends. Grab a couple of buddies and head to Wurstfest for a great weekend of fun. It’s not the same as going to Munich for Oktoberfest, but it’s half the price and you don’t have to suffer through an 8 hour flight to get there.