Beer

Where to celebrate Oktoberfest around Boston

'Tis the season for festbier, pretzels, oom-pah music, and more festive fun.

Photo courtesy of Night Shift Brewing

It’s time to tie on your trachten and flex your liter-hoisting muscles: Oktoberfest season returns to Greater Boston. The annual celebration of beer, bratwurst, and brass bands originated in Germany in the early 19th century. In Bavaria this year, it runs from Saturday, Sept. 16 through Tuesday, Oct. 3 — and around Boston, the party extends even longer.

In chronological order, check out these Oktoberfest events at breweries, bars, and beautiful locations around the region to get in the spirit. Prost!

Idle Hands

One of Boston’s original brewing companies, Idle Hands Craft Ales, is known for excellent renditions of classic beers — lagers included. The Malden brewery celebrates its own anniversary in conjunction with Oktoberfest, and the two-for party returns Saturday, Sept. 9, from noon until 9 p.m. There will be a celebrity dunk tank to raise funds for Housing Families. Festive food will include Jaju Pierogi and Lionheart Confections (think: pretzels and German desserts). Live music all day begins with Traditional German and Oktoberfest songs from Natalja Sticco of Mystic Side Opera (12:30-1:30 p.m.), and turns into a polka party with The Beer Hall Boys all afternoon. DJ Bean & Friends closes things out starting at 6 p.m. At 4 p.m., try your hand at an official U.S. stein-hoisting state competition to win an Idle Hands prize pack and entry into the championship happening Oct. 1 at Jack’s Abby. New this year: Discover the Lager Lounge in the back of the brewery, tapping a coveted list of lagers throughout the day. Tickets at the door are $10 and include a souvenir plastic krug and your first beer, or you can pre-order a limited-edition, 20-ounce ceramic steinkrug for $25, which also includes entry and your first round.

89 Commercial St., Malden, idlehandscraftales.com

Time Out Market

Oktoberfest beer pros Jack’s Abby and Weihenstephaner are headed to Fenway food hall Time Out Market for an “Octoberfest” party on Friday, Sept. 15, from 5 until 9 p.m. On draft at two bars inside and at the truck on the market patio, revelers will find Jack’s Abby Copper Legend, Weihenstephaner Hefeweizen, and the two breweries’ new collaboration, Fest of Both Worlds, as well as three other local Oktoberfest-style beers. There will be a ceremonial cask tapping, stein-hoisting competitions, and food for purchase. Ticket info is TBD, but there will be a VIP option, which will include a half-liter pour from the cask in a commemorative glass to keep.

401 Park Drive, Boston, timeoutmarket.com

Dorchester Brewing Company

Get ready for a full weekend of festbier at Dorchester Brewing Company, which celebrates Oktoberfest Sept. 15 to 17. Friday features beer releases, full liter pours, and food specials from M&M BBQ. Saturday includes all of that and much more, including a stein-hoisting competition with prize packs for the winners, the Brockton Cosmo Band playing traditional tunes beginning at 1 p.m., and DJ’s Market popping up with German chocolate cupcakes. Save your strength for Sunday: That day sees stein-holding with prizes, too. Did we mention there’ll be beer? Festbier, Helles, Dunkelweizen, and Schwarzbier will hit the taps, with options for an all-German flight featuring all four, plus German mixed four-packs available to-go.

1250 Massachusetts Ave., Boston, dorchesterbrewing.com

Notch Brewing

At its relaxed beer halls in Salem and Brighton, Notch Brewing gives European vibes all year long with long tables for gathering ’round, thoughtful food and music, and easy-to-love classic beer styles. So it’s no surprise that Notch’s annual Oktoberfest celebration is one of the best around. It returns to Brighton on Saturday, Sept. 16, and to Salem on Sunday, Sept. 17. Both events are free to attend, with a commemorative half-liter steinkrug available for $20 in which to enjoy your beers. TubaFrau Hofbräu Band is slated to perform both days, and the food menu will be supplied by Notch’s neighbors at the Charles River Speedway marketplace Super Bien, Pizza Project, and The Koji Club. Dress to impress: There will be dirndl and lederhosen costume contests at each festival, along with stein-hoisting competitions.

283R Derby St., Salem; 525 Western Ave., Brighton, notchbrewing.com

Trillium

Oktoberfest returns to all three Trillium taprooms — Fort Point, Fenway, and Canton — on Sept. 16 from noon to 6 p.m. and Sept. 17 from noon to 4 p.m. The event at each location will feature custom Trillium mugs, and the Fort Point location will have German food specials. Along with German food, the Canton location adds live music, a soft serve truck, and kids’ activities.

Three locations, trilliumbrewing.com

New Republik

Cambridge bar New Republik kicks off a week of Oktoberfest celebrations on Monday, Sept. 18, with Vermont’s Von Trapp Brewery in the house and tapping a festive keg. It will also be a debut for the Stowe brewery’s new festbier collaboration with Narragansett. Oktoberfest trachten is encouraged and prizes are available. TBA food specials and other autumnal fun will continue throughout the week.

1172 Cambridge St., Cambridge, newrepublikbar.com

Trinktisch

Belmont beer hall Trinktisch interrupts its regular programming of beer-pairing events with a whole lot of lager. On Tuesday, Sept. 19, Kristina von Trapp, of Von Trapp Brewery, will be the featured guest at a beer dinner. The event features four courses and five beers, from a festbier welcome to an Austrian-style fried chicken cutlet with mac-and-cheesy kasespatzle matched with Märzen. Tickets are $65-80. Later in the season, Trintisch will host Jack’s Abby and Weihenstephan for another pairing dinner on Tuesday, Oct. 3, to celebrate their new collaboration, Fest of Both Worlds. On Wednesday, Oct. 4, it will welcome Curds & Co. for German Beer and Cheese Flight Night, a ticketed event held in the upper beer hall from 7-8 p.m.

87 Leonard St., Belmont, trinktisch.com

Samuel Adams

Both Boston locations of the Sam Adams brewery are raising a glass for “Octoberfest” on the weekend of Sept. 22. All weekend long, the Faneuil Hall taproom and Jamaica Plain brewery will each offer Fest Beer Flights and a Fest Plate food special, plus live music, stein-hoisting contests, and more fun throughout the weekend. Check out the lineup of ticketed events going down downtown, including beer hall brass bands and rooftop DJs. Tickets are $10 and include entry, a half-pint of Octoberfest, and a souvenir krug. At the Jamaica Plain brewery, things kick off Thursday, Sept. 21, with a VIP Octoberfest Beer Dinner from 6 to 8 p.m. featuring three courses by No Joke Smoke and beer pairings, including a tasting of Barrel Aged Octoberfest. Tickets are $75.

60 State St. and 30 Germania St., samueladams.com

Common Craft

At Burlington’s Common Craft, a one-stop shop for Idle Hands and Exhibit ‘A’ Brewing Co. taprooms, a Deacon Giles Distillery cocktail bar, a creative kitchen, and more, Oktoberfest is on Saturday, Sept. 23, from 5 until 8 p.m. The Hofbrau Spieler Band will be on site, plus there will be games, raffle prizes, a costume contest, a pretzel-eating competition and more German food. It’s free to attend, and the first 50 people in the door receive a commemorative mug.

75 Middlesex Turnpike, Burlington, commoncrafthospitality.com

Night Shift Brewing

Night Shift Brewing is getting both of its taprooms ready to celebrate Oktoberfest with a lineup of seven special beers, including Owltoberfest, a German-style Helles, and Prost Malone, an unfiltered Munich-style lager. Other planned releases include a Kölsch, a Munich-style Dunkel, and a Zwickelbier. The Night Shift Beer Gardens on the Esplanade and in Allston are celebrating on Friday, Sept. 22., with special T-shirts for the first 25 people at both locations. The Allston beer garden will also have One Mighty Mill pretzels available. The Everett location parties on Saturday, Sept. 23, with live music from the Hofbrau Polka Band and Intergalactic Kegger Time, plus food trucks and pop-ups on site, including Lobster Proper, Far Out Ice Cream, and The Sausage Guy. The Lovejoy Wharf restaurant gets festive on Sunday, Sept. 24, with live music from the Hofbrau Polka Band and special Oktoberfest-inspired menu items.

87 Santilli Hwy., Everett; 1 Lovejoy Wharf, Boston, nightshiftbrewing.com

Harpoon

Harpoon Brewery hosts its 33rd annual Octoberfest on Friday, Sept. 29, and Saturday, Sept. 30. The largest celebration of the year at Harpoon’s Seaport taproom, the event goes beyond stein-hoisting competitions, holding pretzel eating contests and chicken dancing. The event takes place under open-air tents, with limited seating available. On Sunday, Oct. 1, Dogtoberfest returns to Harpoon, welcoming dogs to the taproom and raising funds for the Kenary Brain Tumor Research Fund at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and MSPCA–Angell.

306 Northern Ave., harpoonbrewery.com

Aeronaut

On Saturday, Oct. 7, Aeronaut hosts its Oktoberfest celebration at Aeronaut Allston, their warm-weather beer garden location at Zone 3 on Western Ave. The 21+ event runs from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. and features Oktoberfest-inspired bites like pretzels from Swissbakers and other nosh from vendors like Hungry Nomads. They’ll also host a stein-hoisting competition and live music performances by Dennis Polisky & Maestro’s Men, and they’ll be serving up their festival Märzen brew.

267 Western Ave., aeronautbrewing.com

Harvard Square Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest returns to Harvard Square on Sunday, Oct. 8, in conjunction with Somerville’s HONK! Festival that parades from Davis Square to Harvard. The fest is a sort of outdoor-street-festival-meets-Oktoberfest, with plenty of international food vendors, artisan and craft vendors, live music, and festive beer gardens throughout the square. You’ll find brats and brews alongside Asian and Latin American cuisines, and the event’s rain date is Oct. 15.

Season to Taste

At Cambridge restaurant Season to Taste, the food typically has a Southern accent by way of Alabama (where owner Robert Harris grew up), not Bavaria. For Oktoberfest, classic southeast German foodstuffs get their own Southern twist: The STT kitchen is planning specials to run Oct. 11-18, including a house-made corn braut, served with beer-cheese dipping sauce and spicy mustard, and country fried pork schnitzel served with red-eye gravy, braised purple cabbage, German-style potato salad, and house-made pickles. There will also be special beers on draft and a German wine flight available. To kick things off, Cambridge Brewing Company brewmaster Will Meyers will be hanging at the bar from 5 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 11, to tap the inaugural keg of CBC’s fest beer.

1678 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, seasontotaste.com

Baramor

This one’s for the dogs: Newton restaurant Baramor brings back its annual Barktoberfest on Thursday, Oct. 19. Part-outdoor Oktoberfest party, part dog-friendly-fundraiser to support a Boston-based animal organization, people and pups of all ages are invited from 5 to 8 p.m. for food, beverages, games, raffles, live music, and complimentary dog treats on the Baramor patio. Halloween costumes are encouraged for all, with prizes for the best matching family costume and more. The restaurant will feature a special food menu, including dog-friendly dishes. For every dog menu item ordered, Baramor will donate $3 to Jr’s Paws for a Cause, which hosts dog-friendly events to fundraise for two animal health-related charities. Tickets are $18 and $10 for children and include a donation, admission to the event, and one raffle ticket. (The rain date is Thursday, Oct. 25.)

45 Union St., Newton Center, baramornewton.com

Beyond Boston

Belleflower Brewing

Portland, Maine, destination Belleflower Brewing makes its annual Bellefest a weekend-long party this year. On Saturday, Sept. 16, and Sunday, Sept. 17, revelers will get a taste of the traditional Bellefest Beer and Gilded Meadow, a Munich-style Dunkel, as well as Crown of Flowers, Belleflower’s new Hefeweizen. There will be live music both days, plus Iron Clad Eats. On Saturday, Great Wave Sushi will also be there, and Sunday will see Massachusetts’ own Jaju Pierogi up for the event.

66 Cove St., Portland, Maine, belleflowerbeer.com

Narragansett Brewery

Make a weekend of it in Providence at Narragansett Brewery. A series of ticketed Oktoberfest events on Friday, Sept. 29, through Sunday, Oct. 1, will feature live music by TubaFrau and Bavarian Bros, stein-hoisting contests, and more. General admission tickets include a mug and a beer token, entertainment, plus access to an Oktoberfest food menu during a designated session. VIP entry is $65 and also includes access to a buffet of traditional Oktoberfest cuisine. Check out ticketing options for timing.

271 Tockwotton St., Providence, Rhode Island, narragansettbeer.com

Wachusett

The sixth annual Oktoberfest returns to Wachusett Mountain on Saturday, Sept. 30, and Sunday, Oct. 1. The all-ages event features live music, food trucks, giant lawn games, a keg toss, the opportunity to take a chairlift ride, live music by the Hofbrau Spieler Band, and plenty of authentic German beer. Admission tickets are required, starting at $9 for adults. Children five and under are free.

41 Mile Hill Road, Westminster, wachusett.com

Oktoberfest Massachusetts

Oktoberfest Massachusetts returns to Hadley this year on Saturday, Oct. 14, from noon to 5 p.m. The 21+ music festival-style celebration at the Club & Pavilion, formerly known as the Young Men’s Club of Hadley, includes live music with a full concert setup along with lawn games, lots of food vendors, and multiple bars. While the event expects to welcome over 3,000 attendees this year, there’s no parking on-site — guests are encouraged to arrive via shuttle, taxi, or rideshare.

54 Fair St. Northampton, oktoberfestma.com

Chatham Oktoberfest

Chatham holds its Oktoberfest this year on Saturday, Oct. 21, from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Between Chatham Town Hall and Kate Gould Park in downtown Chatham, attendees will find food vendors, live music, kids’ games, and a Devil’s Purse beer garden. While you’re there, don’t miss Pumpkin People in the Park — an exhibit of creative pumpkin figures and “people” made by local businesses on display in Kate Gould Park.

Kate Gould Park and Chatham Town Hall at 549 Main St., chathaminfo.com