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| Where pink elephants, beer collide Longyearbyen to celebrate first Oktoberfest with range of imported brew, brats and bands
One of the reasons Oktoberfest lasts until its namesake month is the weather remains warm enough in its land of origin to stimulate thirst. That probably won't be the case when Longyearbyen celebrates its first such bash beginning Thursday, but Odd A. Aspås hopes the novelty will compensate. Aspås, an employee at the Radisson Polar SAS hotel who originated and is directing the three-day event, is importing suds from the land of Bavaria to be sure. But, in the spirit of Svalbard, he is also aiming to give the festival a more international flavor. "My vision of doing Oktoberfest is not just drinking German beer," he said. "I wanted to have a wide range of beers so people can try different things." "Some of them are quite funny as well. We've got this beer, Delirium Christmas, with the pink elephant on the bottle." That beer, imported from Belgium, packs a walloping 10 percent alcohol by volume and is described in a listing of the festival's brews as having "magnificent aromas with touch of apples, honey, light malt and hops. Very good and well-balanced bitterness in the aftertaste. Contains yeast residue." Similar details are provided for the nearly 40 other brews on the list, ranging from the familiar (to locals) Mack range made in Tromsø to Twisted Thistle from Belhaven, Scotland, to Neuschwansteiner from Munich ("among other things used by Disney"). Nothing from the United States which, according to a poll by The Titanic Survey, is the overwhelming choice for making the world's worst (23 percent of about 1,600 voters, with China second at 5.2 percent). Aspås he hopes he bought enough for people to try a bottle of each variety, ranging from common and alcohol-free to exotic and intoxicating. The beer tent in the hotel's parking lot is open at 1 p.m. daily, serving brats and other food as well, with music beginning at 9 p.m. There will also be a formal opening of the festival at 6 p.m. Thursday and a lecture about beer at 3 p.m. Saturday by Odd-Harald "Goffy" Pedersen, "one of Tromsø's uncrowned kings of beer" and longtime head of the Ølhallen pub, which is also the world's northernmost brewery. Aspås said he got the idea to start a local Oktoberfest shortly after coming from Tromsø to work at the Radisson last year.
"I came up here last August," he said. "Several of our guests asked why there was not a beer festival in Svalbard." It was too late to organize one that year, Aspås said, but he started planning this year's in February. "Since we're at the end of the world it's a bit of a logistical challenge to get everything," he said. Besides the beer - no small task - those arrangements meant finding a suitable 10- by 15-meter tent, outfits for the bar staff, sound and lighting help, and some music. Traditional Bavarian tunes will be performed the first two nights by Olai & Co., who accepted the invitation after band member Johan Olai Svidal played a separate gig at Barentz Pub during its most recent New Year's celebration. "They moved their own Oktoberfest one week so they can come and do ours," Aspås said. The Saturday night concert will be performed by the Longyearbyen blues/rock band Howlin' Huskies. Aspås said one of the first things he did was contact the Svalbard governor's office to ensure there weren't any concerns about bringing a festival centered largely around alcohol to town. "The only thing the governor said was no later than 12 o' clock (at night) so we don't disturb people around us," he said. Tickets, on sale locally for the past three weeks, are limited to 200 per day. Aspås said space was still available each day as of Monday. Admission to events after 8 p.m. is limited to those 18 and older. Barentz Pub will also be expanding its menu with beer-cooked food. Synne Vassbrekke, another hotel employee assisting Aspås with the festival, said interest has been strong from outside visitors with only about 20 rooms of the hotel's 95 rooms vacant for the weekend, which is low for this time of year. Most of the events will be in the tent, but Aspås said Barent's Pub will also expand its menu with some beer-cooked food. |
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