Fox Valley LagerFest is 3 weeks away! (October 12) To celebrate I’ll be spending the next two blog posts describing the glorious German Traditions you can experience at LagerFest.
The first is a classic game of strength, focus, and smashing! Hammerschlagen, which translates to “Hammer-Striking” is a game in which two players try to hit a nail into a large slab of wood. Sounds simple, right? The catch is that you use the back side of the hammer and can only have a single swing per turn. Players take turns until the nail has sunk below the surface of the wood. And of course, all of this occurs whilst holding your favorite German Lager. Rumor has it this game originated in Germany in the 1940’s, and we are excited to carry on this German tradition at LagerFest in the coming weeks.
In addition to Hammerschlagen, we’ll also have our Stein Hold competition. Rules are simple: Hold your full stein with a straight arm until you can’t. Longest hold wins the respect and admiration of fellow LagerFest fans (and of course a prize or two!) While writing this blog, I was delighted to see that there is even a US Steinholding Association. After reading, I realized rules are, in fact, NOT so simple! You can find all 16 rules, along with appropriate competition apparel and judging regulations here. The brief version of the rules can be summarized in the following picture from their website.
Test your skills at both Hammerschlagen and Steinholding October 12th at our first annual Lagerfest. Lagerfest celebrates LOCAL craft lagers (we’ll have over 40 lagers) all brewed by 10 local breweries. Food trucks, Music (Porky’s Groove Machine) and much more!! Tickets available here: Tickets! Tickets get you FULL ACCESS to all lagers. If you show up the day of you can get many of the beers, but to ensure we have enough for you to try everything, go for a ticket. And until then, start practicing your Steinhold!
Prost!
