[1] Pumpkin ales and beers can be found from late September through year-end, “while supplies last” (photo courtesy Dogfish Head Brewery. [2] Bake a batch of soft pretzels to go with the beer (photo courtesy Taste Of Home).

1. Spaten Lager
2. Spaten Oktoberfest
3. Goose Island Oktoberfest
4. Franziskaner Hefe-weisse
5. Coney Island Freaktobefest
6. New Belgian Cranberry Pumpkin
7. Two Roads No Limits Hefeweizen
8. Captain Lawrence Pumpkin
9. Victory Fest Beer
10. BitBurger Pilsner
11. Bells Best Brown
12. Southern Tier PUMPKING
13. Warsteiner Oktoberfest
14. Badass Apple Cider
15. Atwater Blueberry Cobbler
16. Dogfish Head Pumpkin Patch
 
They’ll be served with German-inspired foods, from brats and soft pretzels to schnitzel hoagies.

While we don’t gamble, we do drink craft beer; and we’ve had only one beer on the list. The solution was simple:
 
HAVE AN OKTOBERFEST CRAFT BEER TASTING PARTY

 
While the original Oktoberfest in Munich runs for two weeks, through mid-October, you can hold a party anytime in October.

 
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*Harvest ale is not a defined style of beer, but a common name for different beers brewed for fall harvest celebrations and general consumption.

HOW TO PLAN THE OKTOBERFEST PARTY

1. DETERMINE THE ATTENDEES. Then determine how much beer you need. If you’re not buying all the beer yourself assign a brand to each person. The easiest way to do this is to have attendees scout out options and let you know what they’d like to contribute.

Provide juice glasses or 4-ounce disposable cups. The idea is to taste smaller amounts of 10 beers, not to drink 10 bottles of beer.

2. DECIDE ON THE FOOD. Brats, sauerkraut, soft pretzels (recipe) and mustard will do the trick. If anyone asks if they can bring food, German potato salad, Blaukraut (red cabbage sauerkraut) or a dessert (see #4 below). Or, they can bake soft pretzels. Here’s more about Oktoberfest food.

3. BUFFET OR SIT-DOWN? The choice is yours. Be sure to have soft drinks, a non-alcoholic cider or punch, or other alternative to keep blood alcohol levels down.

4. DECIDE ON DESSERT. Easy-to-make or -find desserts include the Berliner (a jelly donut sprinkled with powdered sugar), Black Forest cake, carrot cake, cheesecake here’s a no-bake pumpkin cheesecake), Gugelhupf (Bundt cake—here’s an apple streusel Bundt cake recipe), Lebkuchen (spice cookies—gingerbread is fine, along with a gingerbread dip), Linzer cookies or torte, pfeffernüsse (spice cookies with black pepper), strudel, stollen (fruitcake) and our favorite German treat, chocolate-covered marzipan.

5. PLAY GERMAN MUSIC. See if anyone already has Oktoberfest music (there’s plenty of it on Amazon). Polka music, which originated in Bohemia (the modern Czech Republic), will also work. If you’d prefer German rock, here are the Top 10 German rock bands.

6. BONUS: Consider a small prize for the best German folk clothing: Lederhosen or a dirndl skirt and apron.

Some German mustard or Weisswurst†, perhaps?
 
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†Weisswurst is the famous Bavarian white sausage made from ground veal and pork.

[3] Freaktoberfest Pumpkin Ale adds a layer of flavor with espresso beans (photo courtesy Coney Island Brewing Company). [4] You can even find cranberry beer, like this lambic from Samuel Adams (photo courtesy Boston Brewing Company).