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[1] Straight from the tap at Wallenpaupack Brewing Co.’s Brewpub, Oktoberfest Märzen. Märzen is a reddish-amber-hued lager style that’s the traditional beer of Oktoberfest (photos #1 and #2 © Wallenpaupack Brewing Co.)

[2] A perfect balance of German malt & hops, this traditional German-style Märzen lager has a prominent toasted malt character balanced by a crisp, dry finish.

[3] Oktoberfest in Munich: The bustling Oktoberfest fairgrounds at Theresienwiese have large beer tents, carnival rides, and massive crowds. We prefer a quieter celebration at home (photo: Free Images).

[4] Märzen beers have reddish hues (photo © Craft Beer).

[5] For Oktoberfest, chickens are spit-grilled. Here’s the recipe for Oktoberfest Chicken from German Foods (photo © German Foods).

[6] The payoff: a tasty plate of chicken to go with your beer (photo © I. Dornbrach | Pixabay).

Updated September 2026

The end of September brings the annual Oktoberfest, a huge celebration in Munich, Germany that’s been held for more than 200 years.

Coincidentally, September 28th is National Drink Beer Day in the U.S., so why not combine the two?

Hundreds of thousands of beer lovers descend upon Munich for Oktoberfest.

A mob scene from the beginning, it attracts fans from the world over.

We’re not fond of mob scenes; we’d rather hold our own mini-Oktoberfest. Some years it’s a staff lunch at The Nibble, other years it’s a dinner party.

An Oktoberfest lunch can be as simple as a traditional Oktoberfest spit-grilled chicken (we bought one from our supermarket), Oktoberfest Märzen or another seasonal beer, and soft pretzels with mustard.

Plus, of course, Oktoberfest music.

> You can buy the “Oktoberfest top hits” as an MP3 or other format.

Below:

> Why does Oktoberfest begin in September?

> What is Oktoberfest beer?

> The history of Oktoberfest.

> Today’s Oktoberfest.

> Soft pretzels from Eastern Standard Provisions.

Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> Here’s how to plan an Oktoberfest party: a beer tasting and/or the whole shebang.

> Oktoberfest Foods.

> The history of beer.

> The history of craft beer.

> Craft beer vs. indie beer.

> The different types of beer: a photo glossary.

> The difference between beer and ale.

> The year’s 38+ beer holidays.

> The year’s 20+ German and Austrian food holidays.
 
 
1. IF IT’S OKTOBERFEST, WHY DOES IT
START IN SEPTEMBER?

The first thing to know about Oktoberfest is that it starts in September. Why?

Given its popularity, the festival was lengthened to 16 days (the original was 5 days) and moved to start in September to take advantage of September’s warmer weather, while still providing some time in October.

The last day of the festival is now fixed at the first Sunday in October.

But in the United States, if it’s called “Oktoberfest,” we opine that you can celebrate any time throughout the month.
 
 
2. WHAT IS OKTOBERFEST BEER?

There is a traditional Oktoberfest beer: It’s Märzen (MARE-zen, sometimes spelled Maerzen in English), which is German for the month of March.

Before modern refrigeration* enabled year-round lagering, Märzen was historically brewed in March, then aged to be at its peak for the Oktoberfest.

From 1810 until 1872, the typical Oktoberfestbier was Dunkel, the dark lager brewed by most Munich breweries.

In 1872, the Spaten Brewery in Munich ran out of dunkel and had to sell some of its bock-strength amber Vienna lager instead. It was a hit, and for several decades, Oktoberfestbier was typically a bock beer.

Marzen Becomes The Beer Of Choice

Why do we drink a beer called “March” in October?

Tastes change, and Märzen beers, with their higher alcohol and amber-to-copper color range, became the festival beer of preference [source].

The first so-named “Oktoberfest” Märzen-style beer was brewed for the Munich Oktoberfest in 1872.

It seems to have taken a long while for marketing minds to realize that Oktoberfest was an opportunity to promote an “exclusive” beer for the 16 days of festivities.

Many brands took the opportunity to sell “Oktoberfest” beer, although it’s typically just an Oktoberfest label on the breweries’ regular Märzens.

The Märzen style of lager became so popular that with the advent of modern brewing technology, it became a staple, brewed year-round.
 
 
3. THE HISTORY OF OKTOBERFEST

Some backstory:

In 1553, Bavarian Duke Albrecht V decreed it illegal to brew beer in Bavaria between April 23rd and September 24th. These months are typically too warm for brewing, and doing so risks bacterial growth that spoils beer.

Thus, brewers ramped up production in March to have enough supply for the next five months. These March beers, called Märzens, were brewed stronger and lagered so they would keep throughout the summer.
 

[7] A tasting plate of different sausages, a beer, and a soft pretzel (photo © Tom Davis | Pexels).

That’s 62 years after the first Oktoberfest.

The first Oktoberfest celebration began with the Royal Wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig (later to become King Ludwig I) to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. It took place in Munich on October 12, 1810.

The citizens of Munich were invited to attend festivities that were held on the fields in front of the city gates. The festivities that began on October 12th ended on October 17th with a horse race.

Of course, everybody had a great time. So in the following years the celebrations were repeated—with interruptions for the Napoleonic Wars and other chaotic events.

In the mid 1810s, a few beer stands arrived to sell refreshments to attendees. In 1881, the first spit-roasted chicken outlet opened.

Tents and large-scale drinking halls sponsored by breweries debuted in 1896.
 
 
4. TODAY’S OKTOBERFEST

With the advent of electrified cities, gaily-lit booths and carousels appeared. Performers came. Due to the ever-increasing demand for beer, breweries set up huge beer tents with musicians, replacing the traditional small beer stalls.

In addition to beer festivities, Oktoberfest has become the world’s largest Volksfest: a beer festival and traveling amusement park. Each year, new and more exciting rides appeared.

In 2005, a “quiet Oktoberfest” was introduced to make it more attractive to families.

• Prior to 6 p.m., only Bavarian brass band music is played.
• Party music can only be played after 6 p.m.

 
Oktoberfest continued to develop into the festival we know today—including the roasted chicken, of course.

Plus sausages, schnitzel, and much more beer-friendly cuisine (might we add, all of it is easy to make at home).
 

[8] These delicious pretzels are available year-round (photo © Eastern Standard Provisions).
 
 
5. YUMMY SOFT PRETZELS FROM EASTERN STANDARD PROVISIONS

Eastern Standard Provisions brought the taste of Oktoberfest right into our home with its special Oktoberfest Gift Box (photo #8).

How about sending your favorite beer-lover a box of hand-twisted soft pretzels?

These pillowy-soft pretzels, individually wrapped, arrive in a gift box along with some of the company’s signature flavored salts and artisanal dipping sauces.

There’s a gift box for every occasion.

Even if they’re not beer drinkers, every pretzel lover will enjoy a box of these delicious soft pretzels.

There are large twisted soft pretzels, topknot soft pretzels, pretzel buns and sliders, soft pretzel bites, and soft pretzel sticks (see the photo above).

Take a look: You’ll be in pretzel heaven.

Also take a look at the salts and sugars, and the flavored mustards and dipping sauces, you can pair with the pretzels. They’re special.

And the holidays are not far away.
 

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

Updated August 2026

There is no National Salad Dressing Day, but there should be. Few people want to eat a plate of undressed greens.

So today we tackle salad dressing, starting with some food trivia:

The word “salad” derives from the Latin herba salta, salted herbs. In ancient Rome, greens were usually seasoned with salty dressings, including garum.

Below:

> The history of salad dressing.

> Recipe: Dijon-herb vinaigrette.

Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> America’s top 10 salad dressing, past and present.

> Green goddess salad dressing recipe.

> The history of salad.

> The world’s 15 lettuce holidays.

> The year’s 40+ salad holidays.

> The year’s 18 sauce, dips, and dressings holidays.
 
 
1. THE HISTORY OF SALAD DRESSING

Salad greens were picked and eaten by man, likely from the furthest days of prehistory. But salad dressing came much later.

We know from the written record that the Babylonians used oil and vinegar for dressing greens nearly 2,000 years ago. Ancient Egyptians added Asian spices to those basic ingredients.

But what about creamy salad dressings that are so popular in the U.S.?

Modern mayonnaise was created by the great French chef Marie-Antoine Carême (1784-1833), founder of the concept of haute cuisine. He blended vegetable oil and egg yolks into an emulsion; his recipe that became famous throughout Europe, and subsequently, the U.S. and the world [more about it].

Mayonnaise became the base of creamy salad dressings, even when buttermilk* or blue cheese was added.

Salads & Royalty

Salads were favorites in the courts of European monarchs. Royal chefs often combined as many as 35 ingredients in one gigantic salad bowl.

Sometimes, the monarch’s favorite salad included few or no greens.

• King Henry IV of England preferred boiled, diced new potatoes and sardines, tossed with an herb dressing.
• Mary, Queen of Scots, liked boiled celery root diced and tossed with lettuce, creamy mustard dressing, truffles, chervil and hard-cooked egg slices.

But the conventional dressing for green salads remained oil and vinegar.

Salad Dressing In America

• In 1912, Richard Hellmann, a deli owner in New York, began to sell his mayonnaise in wooden containers. A year later, he began to market his “blue ribbon mayonnaise in glass jars.
• In 1919, Joe Marzetti, a restaurateur in Columbus, Ohio, began packaging his dressings to sell to restaurant customers.
• In 1925, the Kraft Cheese Company entered the salad products business with the purchase of several regional mayonnaise manufacturers [source].

 
Salad Dressing Today

Most of the salad dressings sold in the U.S. have a mayonnaise base. The most popular bottled dressing in the U.S. is ranch, a re-naming of buttermilk dressing.

Creamy dressings have three things that vinaigrettes don’t have: cholesterol, dairy, many more calories. They lack the heart-healthy monounsaturated fatty acids and antioxidants of olive oil.

So if you’re a frequent salad eater who piles on the creamy dressing, get out the oil and vinegar and make green salads the healthy foods they should be. You can:

• Use any kind of culinary oil—plain or flavored—but the healthiest ones for vinaigrettes, with the most monounsaturated fat besides olive oil, are avocado and canola (rapeseed) oils.
• Use any vinegar, too, from plain wine vinegar to flavored vinegars or alternate vinegars like balsamic and rice vinegars (the different types of vinegar).
• Use vinegar substitutes, such as citrus juice.
• Use any type of mustard, plus mustard relatives like horseradish or wasabi.
• Use any spices and herbs.
• Use splashes of other flavors, like anchovy paste, pomegranate juice, tahini, even tomato paste.

 
Do the math, and you’ll realize that with all of the permutations and combinations†, you could make a different vinaigrette every day of the year.
 
 
2. RECIPE: DIJON-HERB VINAIGRETTE

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• ¼ cup champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar
• ⅓ cup olive oil
• 1-1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
• Pinch salt

[1] A vinaigrette, emulsified to prevent separation (photo © Hannah Kaminsky | Bittersweet Blog).

[2] One of our favorites: balsamic vinaigrette (photo © Canola Eat Well For Life).

[3] Parsley vinaigrette. Enough herbs will turn the vinaigrette green (photo © Hero Foodservice).

[4] Whether your ingredients are basic or fancy green salad welcomes a vinaigrette. Potato and pasta salads, too (photo © Good Eggs).

[5] This arugula salad adds chicken, grapefruit, avocado and a tasty citrus-rice vinegar vinaigrette (photo © Nutmeg Nanny).

• ¼ cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh tarragon, roughly chopped (substitute ¼ cup dill or basil ribbons)
• 2 tablespoons fresh chives (substitute scallions), minced

 
Preparation

1. WHISK together the first four ingredients. If you prefer, you can use the shaking technique:

Combine the vinegar and garlic in a 1-pint jar and let sit for about 5 minutes. Add the mustard, olive oil, salt and pepper. Cover with the lid and shake vigorously until emulsified, about 10 seconds.

2. DRIZZLE the vinaigrette over the salad, add the herbs and toss. Serve immediately.
 

[6] Salad with America’s favorite bottled dressing, ranch (photo © Pixabay).

________________

*There is also cream dressing, made with heavy cream and vinegar—no mayo. It originated in the area of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France.

†If you never learned them in high school math, permutations and combinations calculate the various ways in which objects from a set may be selected; in this case, how many different recipes could be created from a set of ingredients.
 
 

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.