Holy Kugelschreiber, this was awesome. Don't worry, there will be PLENTY of sausage and beer. The word "tastings" had me a little nervous. But never fear, there is plenty sausage and beer, here. mwahaha! rhyming's great. Definitely worth it. I'll be going again! read more

Austoberfest - Festivals Near Me - Austin, Texas

Oy. My head has a hurtie. That is to say, I had way too much fun at Austoberfest yesterday! When I was told there would be free samples, I assumed they would be tiny and boy was I wrong! We were each given a very tall pilsner glass and 10 generous samples per person. I waved the tipsy flag about 5 in after eating approximately one million pounds of sausage. My favorite link of the day was from La barbecue. It was smoky, spicy, savory, and delicious. I also enjoyed the warm pretzel we shared and awesome kraut. My husband was especially excited that the Derailers were playing and I somewhat remember watching a few songs. I would like to thank all of those who made Austoberfest such an amazing event, the fun loving people of Yelp Austin for granting me access, my German heritage for creating in me a love of all things brews and brats, and metro for being my DD so that all I had to do was wobble myself back to the station and enjoy an air conditioned drunken snooze back home. In addition, I would also like to thank the pecan street festival going on next door who made the funnel cake I just had to have. My only regret was not taking more pictures at the event, especially in the funky cool set up photo booth, but there is always next year! Until we meet again, Prost! read more

Austoberfest - Brats, brews, and kraut. Oh my! - Festivals Near Me - Austin, Texas

Great event! I checked in and got my tickets earlier before the event because I had read reviews from previous years saying how long the lines were. When I checked in the lady told us that we weren't required to bring our glasses for beer, so I decided to leave mine at home to avoid breaking it. When I got to the event at 5:30 and tried to get a beer, they told me they were out of cups! Oops! No bueno... Apparently the check in lady had made a mistake and there were many people without cups at a beer festival! We had to go to the check in area and they gave us new glasses to use (best thing they could've done). There was so much beer- but I am not really a beer drinker so I cannot comment on the quality of beer. There was also a lot of sausage vendors and I was so delighted to find that there were no lines to get beer or sausage! I heard that they put a limit on tickets sold this year, which meant shorter lines. The venue was still packed however, and the tables were full the whole night and I didn't have anywhere to sit. The music and entertainment was great- lots of fun polka tunes to dance to. I'm not sure I'd go again next year just because I'm not a huge beer fan and $50 for drinking my personal max of 2 beers and eating sausage doesn't seem worth it. But if you're a beer lover, it is totally worth it. read more

Austoberfest - Beer outside - Festivals Near Me - Austin, Texas

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What a beautiful day for Austoberfest 2015. We arrived early and had the run of this small venue so we were able to hit all the BBQ stands and enjoy a few great Octoberfest beers. This is a great event and that raises $ for charities. All of the vendors and support folks were wonderful ad helpful. For 2016 I would suggest that you: * Figure out a way to minimize the time you have to wait in line if you already ordered and paid for tickets * Increase the size of the venue. After about 2 hours you could not really move around and the beer line were banged out and blocking the main aisle. read more

Austoberfest has the winning recipe for me: culture, food, beer, music and family-friendly. Kids under 13 are free! The venue is small and it got crowded, fast. The place was lively, with many big name BBQ joints serving their smoked sausages. I also enjoyed the live folk music and folks dancing. No Octoberfest would be complete without the contests. There was the traditional costume, each with a story, followed by a bier stein holding contest and yodeling. Congrats to all the contestants for being brave enough to get on that stage. They even have bowling alleys! It's apparently very old and you can bowl barefoot. Bier + bowling = gutter, for me anyways. I never thought a low bowling score could be so much fun. I agree with Tony B. I wish there were more variety of German food and shorter lines, but all in all, I had a good time. read more

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Well, it looks like I'm going to be that ONE guy that doesn't think Austoberfest is the glorious event that it is cracked up to be. On paper, the concept is nearly perfect. Sausage tastings by the areas great BBQ joints. Great beer selection from Hacker Pschorr and Paulaner. Live music. I mean...what else do you need to celebrate Oktoberfest. There was no shortage of sausage. That being said, one can only consume so much sausage. A little variety of foods would be excellent. After a while, all the sausage begins to taste the same. Maybe some schnitzel or other food options would be a great addition. Pretzels sold out almost immediately... I'm not sure why beers were only being poured halfway (full glasses for members). In theory, that's really not a bad thing. Unfortunately, the reality was that the lines were so ridiculously long...you had to grab a beer and get back in the end of the line to wait for your next beer while consuming your first beer. At $40 a pop, I can't say economically that it isn't worth it. But, overselling the event resulted in an overcrowded facility with a gross lack of seating and having to spend most of your day in lines for half a beer at a time instead of being able to spend time with your friends just seems more of a hassle than anything else. At the end if it all, I had fun, but doubt I would go back unless they began to keep the numbers a little lower and added a more diverse selection of food. read more

This was a fun event with loads of food stands yet a very poor selection of beers in my opinion - the main reason this is 3 stars and not 4 - I mean, come on, it's Austoberfest! The live music was entertaining and sampling sausages from all over town was great (insert sausage joke here, or insert wherever you like as long as it's consensual). Of all the places, I have to say Smokey Denmark was my and my friends' favorite place. This was the favorite of my friends who attended last year too. Fortunately they have a spot on the east side I plan on checking out at some point. My friends who had been here before noted that there were easily twice as many people here this year when compared with last year. That made for some long lines for getting in (unless you come later) and for beer and the aforementioned sausages. I would say minus the weak beer, it was worth it. I would definitely attend again in the future. read more

PROST! We toasted over and over at this beer drinking, polka dancing, sausage eating festival known as AustOberfest! Oktoberfest in Austin at Scholz Garten? Where better to celebrate AustOberfest than a place that was started by a German immigrant named August Scholz back in 1866! For $35 advanced purchase or $45 at the door you can eat all the sausage and drink all the beer you want! There were several different vendors there like La Barbecue, Salty Sow, Mueller, Black's, and many more. The beer was flowing and Courtney B and friends were keeping people hydrated at the Yelp Hydration Station with some high quality h2o.Thanks Courtney! PROST!! read more

Beer, sausage, live music! Excellent event! Highlight music of the afternoon: Possum Posse who did an amazing cover of "Gold Digger" yes, it's as awesome as you'd think. Peeps take their beer and outfits seriously at this event so don't feel embarrassed if you wanna break out the lederhosen. We came early, got wasted, stuffed and then left right when it started to get really packed. The kind of packed where precious beer gets spilled moving about the crowds. Party Foul. So many good choices for sausage sampling! Black's BBQ, Easy Tiger, Frank, La Barbecue, Louie Mueller, Meyer's Elgin Sausage, Opa, the Salty Sow, School House Pub and Southside Market. All for $35 (purchased ahead of time not at the door) or $45 at the door. PLUS: you can feel good about all this since proceeds benefit Foodways Texas. HOORAY! Notes: those pretzel sticks were SO GOOD..soft, chewy, slightly sweet and salty. Perfect for sopping up the beer and grease. Cheers to Courtney for the yelp swag & the thoughtful hydration station! :) read more

Soo much sausage. I like BBQ sausage more than most and I still didn't have room to try one from every stand. All the people working the booths were very friendly. Interestingly people were lining up for beers much more so than for the sausage. It could be the 93 degree, 40% humidity we got this weekend!! read more

Flowing beer, smoked sausage, and rowdy Austinites embracing the oktober fest heritage. Did that catch your attention?! The 2nd Annual AustOberfest was a hit in my book! With the entry fee of 40 bucks (50 at the door) you recieced a free beer glass with drink tickets for free beer. 1 ticket = 5 beer pours. Yes the pours were half glass. Yes, you could only get 1 pour per line visit. Womp womp. So you basically get 5 whole beers. And oh you used all of you tickets? For 1 whole dollar got you 5 more pours. Yep majority of my time I stayed in the beer line. Get my pour and got right back in line to get my next one. But the best part of how the set up was, the sausage booths were right there. "Oh man, I'm back in line. Oh wait, La barbecue! Don't mind if I do!" I mean, beer in one hand, sausage in the other. It was a rough way to spend a glorious Saturday but I mad it through... beer buzz and meat sweats and all. The people were great. From the people issuing wrist bands, the beer pourers, the owners of the bbq booths, to especially the members of the Saengerrunde Maennerchor and Damenchor. The members were super friendly and absolutely love their heritage and would talk to anyone who wanted to learn more about the culture and the club. When you are surrounded by good people having a great time, you cannot have a bad day. And those whose hobby is to people watch, you were in for a treat. The costumes to the braids in the hair, which there was booth to get your braids did, were great. There was a costume contest, as well as a yodling and beer stein holding contest. So even spending my time in the lines, I still got my fill of all of the entertainment surrounding me. I had a great time at AustOberfest and I can't wait for what they have in store for next year. PROST! read more

Austoberfest - Free glass to go along with free beer! - Festivals Near Me - Austin, Texas

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What a fantastic event!! Amazing sausage, cold beers, great music, and super friendly people :) Can't wait until next year! read more

Austoberfest - The rain didn't stop us from enjoying some good ol fashioned beer pong! - Festivals Near Me - Austin, Texas

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My wife kept calling this "Sausagefest" lol. It was adequately named. All the meats here were awesome, tons of local options to choose from. We were lucky enough to score tickets via Yelp, thanks to Kelly, Courtney and Vicky! We got to say hi to Courtney and the Yelp stand was there offering up some swag. The festival itself had tons of beer options. It was hotter than hell but we managed to get some A/C inside the Saengerrunde hall. Don't ask me to spell that without Google. There was a bowling alley inside, a rooftop deck area with more food/beer options. Overall a great time. read more

What is better than gathering with a bunch of people who love beer and sausage. The sausage selection is over the top and the beer vendors are up to the task. read more

Fun times here! Been to this event the last three years and looking forward to going again this year. If you like German music, food, and bier, you have to go to Austoberfest! read more

I had a great time at the Austoberfest at Scholz Garden on Saturday. For $40 you get all you can eat sausage, 10 beer tickets, access to the bowling lanes, and live music from a German band. Oh and I can't forget to mention the awesome people watching. There were a surprising amount of people wearing traditional German outfits. And they didn't look like cheap Halloween costumes from Party City. These were legit and I can't imagine where you would buy them. Also it makes me wonder how often they wear them? Anyways, the event was very entertaining, especially when they did the contests for best outfit, yodeling, and who can hold a massive beer mug the longest. My only complaint is that the beer lines got ridiculously long. They were only pouring half glasses so you actually had to get back in line as soon as you got yours refilled. I ended up switching to wine because there was no line and I like wine better. I wish I would've known the wine table was there the whole time! Ehh on second thought it's probably best that I didn't have 10 glasses of wine. I'd go back next year and I'd recommend getting there early so you can try to beat some of the lines. read more

Austoberfest - Great sausage and beer at Scholz Garden - Festivals Near Me - Austin, Texas

I have been to the Weisn in Munich. I have hoisted a mass (or several) with the good people of Munchen at Oktoberfest, and I have sang along with the oompah band at the small town version in Berchtesgaden as they belted out a cover of "Sweet Home Alabama" in thick Bavarian accents. I know and love Oktoberfest. "Austoberfest" is Oktoberfest with a uniquely Austin spin on it. First and foremost, this is a food event. $40 in advance ($50 at the door), gets you unlimited sausage tastings from 18 of the best bbq vendors in the state, plus 10 german beer tastings at 6 oz each. Present were staples like La Barbeque (John Lewis himself was on hand), newcomers like Schoolhouse pub, as well as the more eclectic such as Goldis (if you didn't you really need to try their curry spiced sausage). If you are an avid carnivore, you can't really find a better place to be in Austin. In my mind, by far the standout was Miller's from Belton. Pumpkin spice sausage? Frickin' genious! As any veteran knows, sometimes you need to break all that up with something other than protein. For just that purpose, kraut, potato salad, and pretzels were also available. Throw in some good live music and stein holding and yodeling competitions, and you really can't help but to have a great time. This was my second year at the event, and I will definitely be returning next year. I am however a little puzzled over the gentleman who wrote the negative review. I never waited more than a few minutes to get food, and after the initial ticket, one dollar got you 5 more beer tastings, which any way you cut it is a pretty square deal. If what he was searching for was somewhere to get tanked off beer, I am sure there are many venues in Austin which could fit the bill. Maybe he could go there, and then write another equally whiney and condescending review of whatever place that happens to be. Whatever the case, I for one only hope that he keeps his promise to not come back next year, and leave more for the rest of us! read more

$35 got you your drinks and all the sausage and bratwurst you could fill your stomach with for 5 hours. The event also had an indoor bowling alley, live music, and a great crowd. We had an absolute blast and will be back again. read more

First off, I've had the pleasure of attending the real Oktoberfest in Munich multiple times, and several other Oktoberfests around Germany and the U.S. I was not exepecting this event to be on par with Munich (or anywhere else in Germany), but it could have been a whole lot better. All I wanted out of this event was to be able to hang out with a mass (or two) of beer, eat sausage and listen to music. As it is, however, Austoberfest rates as below average for one fatal, easily correctable policy flaw. Until this is fixed, I cannot recommend this event. In a nutshell, you pay $40 ($50 at the door) plus a $2 tax/service charge for a ticket that entitles you to ten 6oz pours of German, chiefly Munich, beer and all the sausage you can eat. There is live music and space for dancing. I'd like to start off with the good: The sausages are delicious. There are many different types to try and it looks like the vendors brought their A game. It's worth noting that there is no German sausage; this is strictly Texas barbecue, but I liked it. My favorites were La Barbecue and Hay County Barbecue. The bands, especially the Derailers, were awesome, but it was unfortunate that I had to stand in line the whole time during their set. The problem centers around the beer policy: it sucks. As I mentioned, your ticket entitles you to ten 6oz pours of beer. Now 60oz total sounds like a fair amount at first glance, but they will not give you more than one sample per trip through the line, creating long queues that you spend all day in. This is hardly the point of an Oktoberfest and takes away any fun you thought you would be having. I was on my feet pretty much the entire time because there was just no point in sitting down to enjoy 6oz of beer. The members, however, get full beers and pretty much anything else they want which rubs it in and really makes you feel like a second class citizen. The way it is for members is the way it should be for everyone. I repeat: the way it is for members is the way it should be for everyone. Moreover, the A-fest website specifically invited attendees to bring their own stein which is a great idea, but they refused to fill it up directly. Instead, they would only fill the complimentary glass provided at the entrance which undermines the whole point of having your own glass. Why is this not made clear on the website? I thought I was being smart and actually walked the glass back to my car because I was planning to use my stein; however, I had to go back to the car to retrieve it when they would not fill it up. Why invite people to bring their own steins if this is the policy? The explanation I received is that you can bring your own stein, but have to use the glass they give you to fill it up because the employees need it to measure 6oz. Seriously?!? Who wants to carry around two different mugs all day for no good reason? Why can't they just estimate a 6 oz pour? But more than that: Why can't they just fill my mug to the top and then debit the appropriate number of "tastes" from my ticket? Not surprisingly, the members didn't seem to have this problem. Another thing I noticed: The fest area is decorated with real Oktoberfest decorations. This would be a nice touch except that one of the decorations is a picture of a full mass of beer (just like at the real Oktoberfest) which only serves to remind you that you're not at the real thing. The problems notwithstanding, is it at least a good deal? I say it's an *okay* deal. If you set the sausage aside for the sake of argument, and you were smart enough to buy your ticket in advance, you're paying roughly $.7 per ounce of beer. At the real Oktoberfest, where there is no entrance fee, a mass of beer usually comes out to ten euro ($12.27) after the mandatory tip which results in $.36 per ounce. While you do get sausage included in the Austober price, it's almost half of the cost of the ticket if you use Munich as a frame of reference. Maybe this is apples and oranges, but it did cross my mind every time I saw the German mass picture decoration. In my opinon, I don't think I ate $20 worth of sausage, nor would have wanted to. It's true that you could purchase more "taste" tickets for a nominal fee, but who wants to keep standing in that line? It's also worth noting that the event does allegedly benefit some cause, Foodways Texas, but I'm not entirely sure what they do. It sounds like it would be your standard food bank charity, but I don't think that's what they do. Go ahead and read for yourself. "About our beneficiary: Foodways Texas was founded in July 2010 by a group of scholars, chefs, journalists, restaurateurs, farmers, ranchers, and other citizens of the state of Texas who have made it their mission to preserve, promote and celebrate the diverse food cultures of Texas." Okay... This is only the second year that this event has taken place. Maybe it will get better, but if it's like this next year, I will save my money and go elsewh read more

My husband and I drove 8 hours from out of state to attend. When we pulled up to the venue at 3:45p, there was still a huge line of people waiting to get inside. We pre-paid $45 but there was a bit of confusion as to where to herd the people, so they opened a second door?? Not sure. They forgot to give us the two plastic cups for beer initially. It seemed disorganized. Inside, everyone was friendly. Also, the beer and sausage were very good. The bands were fabulous. I had some disappointments with the food handling however. Standing in 10-15 minute lines for 2-3 bites of sausage samplings here and there was not the best way to handle the Oktoberfest food. Wish they would serve an entire plate - ie: sausage, a bread roll and choice of potato salad or sauerkraut or both. Bread is so cheap and it was not even available. Pretzels were $5 extra. I'm not much of a beer drinker - which was to my advantage since the lines took 25 or more minutes. My husband and I got our little plastic cups filled twice. So, the music inside switched to American club music. That's not authentic. Maybe I'm confused. It's Austoberfest and not a German Oktoberfest?? After 3 hours of standing in lines, we left and enjoyed other parts of Austin. Hopefully the event organizers will figure out how to make this fest better. read more