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Celebrate Oktoberfest Door County Style

Start a new tradition with the Hügel Haus

If you have any amount of German heritage – or perhaps you just appreciate a cold fest bier and an enthusiastic polka – it’s the time of year to don your lederhosen and get out the steins for an Oktoberfest celebration. Locations across Wisconsin are happy to partake in the festivities, and Door County is no different. This year, in addition to the longtime fall celebrations, we’ll see the start of a new tradition at the Hügel Haus in Ellison Bay, where an official Oktoberfest celebration will take place Sept. 28. 

The celebration will begin at 9 am with yard games, an outdoor party tent, beer trailer, friendly games of hammerschlagen (pounding nails into a log) and food specials including pretzels, Door County Custom Meats bratwurst, sweet-mustard pulled pork and more. For drink specials, you can enjoy $2 Underberg and $3 Schnapps, plus a full tap list of German beer, listed below. Live music by Frank Maloney and his Big Country Unit will start at 6 pm, and shouts of “Prost!” are sure to be heard all day long.

Hügel Haus Oktoberfest Tap List

  • Ayinger Brewery, Aying: Oktober Fest-Märzen, ABV 5.8%
  • Ayinger Brewery, Aying: Ayinger-Dunkel, ABV 5%
  • Veltins Brewery, Meschede: Grevensteiner-Keller, ABV 5.2%
  • Hacker-Pschorr, Munich: Hacker-Pschorr Märzen, ABV 5.8%
  • Licher Brewery, Lich: Benediktiner-Helles, ABV 5%
  • Pfungstadter Brewery, Pfungstadter: Pfungstadter-Bock, ABV 6.9%
  • Weihenstephan Brewery, Bavaria: Weihenstephan-Festbier, ABV 5.8%
  • Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu, Munich: Oktoberfest, ABV 5.9%

Oktoberfest Food: The Pretzel

Along with beer and sausage, pretzels are also a darling of German cuisine. Eaten as a snack, at breakfast and at lunch – and of course while enjoying a fest bier – the pretzel offers another iconic way to partake in German Oktoberfest celebrations. Here’s a short list of four to enjoy in Door County.

Door County Brewing Co. serves the Milwaukee Pretzel Company ‘s Bavarian style pretzels. Photo by Matt Sampson.

The German-Style “Bretzel”

Door County Brewery, Husby’s and Hügel Haus carry the Milwaukee Pretzel Company’s pretzel, described as a “Bavarian-style pretzel.” It’s different from an American-style pretzel in that it packs a “denser, chewier inside and a darker, crispier outside.” Eat one alone, with mustard or cheese, and certainly with a cold beer – something that’s easy to find at these locations. 

The Hügel Haus Pretzel easily serves 6-8 fest goers. Photo courtesy of
Hügel Haus.

The Big One

Hügel Haus offers another larger variety of pretzel to try if you’re particularly hungry or have a group of six to eight people to snack with. The Hügel Haus Pretzel is a massive, locally baked, salted pretzel served with bread-and-butter pickles, pickled red onion, sweet mustard, stone-ground mustard and beer cheese. You’ll need the big stein to wash this one down.

The trio of pretzels at Shipwrecked. Photo by Aleah Kidd.

The Classic Trio

Shipwrecked in Egg Harbor offers a more American-style version of the pretzel, served in a bucket of three smaller pretzels as an appetizer with beer cheese made using the brewery’s own Bayside Blonde. The pretzels are doughy, with big chunks of salt – just like you’d enjoy at the ballpark. 

The Formidable Pretzel at Cornerstone Pub. Photo by Aleah Kidd.

The Fresh Fried

Different from the above varieties, the Formidable Pretzel at Cornerstone in Baileys Harbor is a large, warm pretzel appetizer – doughy on the inside and addictively crunchy on the outside – that arrives fresh from the fryer. Served with Monterey Jack cheese sauce, it’s easy to devour. 

Oktoberfest and Fall Seasonal Taps 

Hügel Haus, Ellison Bay

  • See above

Mink River Basin, Ellison Bay

  • Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu (Munich, Germany): Oktoberfest, ABV 5.9%
  • Pearl Street Brewery (La Crosse, Wisconsin): Lederhosen Lager Fest Bier, ABV 5%
  • Ahnapee Brewery (Algoma): Oktoberfest, ABV 5.5%
  • Surly Brewing (Minneapolis): Oktoberfest, ABV 6%
  • Fox River Brewing (Appleton): Foxtoberfest, ABV 6.2%
  • Milwaukee Brewing (Milwaukee): Oktoberfest, ABV 5.5%
  • Left Hand Brewing Co. (Longmont, Colorado): Oktoberfest, ABV 6.6%
  • Central Waters Brewery (Amherst, Wisconsin): Octoberfest Lager, ABV 5.25%
  • 3 Sheeps Brewing Company (Sheboygan): Oktoberfest, ABV 5.5%
  • Odell Brewing (Fort Collins, Colorado): Oktoberfest, ABV 6.1%
  • O’so Brewing Company (Plover, Wisconsin): O-toberfest, ABV 5.8%

Stabbur, Sister Bay

  • Ayinger (Aying, Germany): Oktober Fest-Märzen, ABV 5.8%
  • Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu (Munich, Germany): Oktoberfest, ABV 5.9%
  • Hinterland Brewery (Ashwaubenon): Oktoberfest, ABV 5.8%
  • Ahnapee Brewery (Algoma): Oktoberfest, ABV 5.5%

Husby’s, Sister Bay

  • O’so Brewing (Plover, Wisconsin): O-toberfest, ABV 5.8%
  • Odell Brewing (Fort Collins, Colorado): Oktoberfest, ABV 6.1%
  • Fox River Brewing (Appleton): Foxtoberfest, ABV 6.2%
  • Central Waters Brewery (Amherst, Wisconsin): Octoberfest Lager, ABV 5.25%

Cornerstone Pub, Baileys Harbor

  • Shiner Brewery (Shiner, Texas): Oktoberfest, ABV 5.8%
  • New Glarus Brewing (New Glarus): Staghorn Octoberfest, ABV 6.3%

Coyote Roadhouse, Baileys Harbor

  • New Glarus Brewing (New Glarus): Staghorn Octoberfest, ABV 6.3%
  • Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu (Munich, Germany): Oktoberfest, ABV 5.9%

Blue Ox, Baileys Harbor

  • Ahnapee Brewery (Algoma): Oktoberfest, ABV 5.5%
  • O’so Brewing Company (Plover, Wisconsin): O-toberfest, ABV 5.8%

Bayside Tavern, Fish Creek

  • Leinenkugel’s (Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin): Oktoberfest, ABV 5.1%
  • Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu (Munich, Germany): Oktoberfest, ABV 5.9%

Shipwrecked Brewery, Egg Harbor

  • Shipwrecked Brewery (Egg Harbor): Pumpkin Ale, 6% 

One Barrel Brewing, Egg Harbor

  • One Barrel Brewing (Egg Harbor): Olbrich Oktoberfest, ABV 5.9% 
  • One Barrel Brewing (Egg Harbor): Copper Stag, ABV 5.3% 

The Pub at Fireside, Egg Harbor

  • Hinterland Brewery (Ashwaubenon): Oktoberfest, ABV 5.8%

Casey’s BBQ and Smokehouse, Egg Harbor

  • O’so Brewing Company (Plover, Wisconsin): O-toberfest, ABV 5.8%

Starboard Brewing, Sturgeon Bay

  • Starboard Brewing (Sturgeon Bay): Oktoberfest, ABV 6.2%

Bridge Up Brewing at Sonny’s Pizzeria, Sturgeon Bay

  • Bridge Up Brewing (Sturgeon Bay): Oktoberfest
  • Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu (Munich, Germany): Oktoberfest, ABV 5.9%
  • New Glarus Brewing (New Glarus): Staghorn Octoberfest, ABV 6.3%