But Oktoberfest is not that old. Oktoberfest is now a monthlong wedding reception, a time to throw back a few beers, sing raucous songs and dance. I remember that it was chilly outside, and so it seemed like a perfect day for hoisting a few with friends.
As we enjoyed our second beer, we were joined by a group of outgoing locals, guys our age. At which point one of our group, which was mostly Jewish guys, said he thought it was time to go, and he was right. We kept an eye behind us as we made our way out the door. That the young man should make such an assertion of allegiance is surprising, as Germany has become understandably sensitive to Nazism. Germans are not afraid to acknowledge the evil Nazism represented, and they go a step further by outlawing the use of Nazi symbolism.
Public displays of Nazi sympathies, like those on view in in Charlottesville, would be strictly forbidden in Germany. None of that darkness was in evidence in Rosemont last week, where we got an early start to Oktoberfest. We brew the authentic Munich recipes in a traditional German brewhouse that was designed and manufactured in Germany along with all the tanks and cellar equipment.
I like to tell our brewery guests that everything for the beer comes from Germany except the water… and me. Samples of beer are sent to German labs on a regular basis to ensure that the brews served in Rosemont and other U.
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, German immigrants to the city helped raise Chicago to a world-class beer city. Though anti-German sentiment sharply increased around the times of both World Wars, initial anti-German sentiment was due, basically, to xenophobia and intolerance, the kind that today is more focused on African-Americans, Mexicans and Muslims.
