Oktoberfest joins the sixth annual La Jolla Wine & Art Festival (LJAWF) this year as a Masskrugstemmen (a beer stein holding contest) will be held from 8 to 11 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 11, topping off the day’s events in the wine and beer garden.
Benefiting local pediatric brain cancer research, the contest is being held in memory of longtime La Jollan Andrea Dahlberg’s 8-year-old son, Cort, who succumbed to the disease.
“My husband and I wanted to do something to support the pediatric cancer research community,” said Dahlberg of her motivation for approaching art fest promoter Sherry Ahern about making the contest a festival event. Dahlberg said Ahern was receptive to her fundraiser request, as “she has always wanted to do something with the festival at night.”
“It’s our heart — and our passion,” said Dahlberg of the cancer research fundraiser, adding, “We want to make sure the money goes to research as opposed to overhead.”
Much research still needs to be done on medications to treat pediatric cancer victims. “Most of the drugs out there are for adults, not kids,” Dahlberg said.
The stein holding concept’s German name is a combination of the word “masskrug,” a one-liter beer stein, and “stemmen,” meaning lift, which pretty much describes it.
At the recent 56th annual German-American Steuben beer stein holding national championship in New York, contest judge Lenny Coyne described the experience of extended stein holding. “After a while it’s like holding a whole keg of beer,” Coyne said.
Dahlberg said the Masskrugstemmen has strict rules. Among them: The stein has to be full, held just right with no thumbs on the handle; no spilling is allowed, and the contestant’s elbows can’t be supported by the arms.
Noting the stein holding is “great cross-promotion for both events,” Dahlberg said the contest is likely to bring “a different demographic” to the art and wine fest.
“It will bring people interested in beer as well as people who are part of the cancer community,” she said, adding, “It’s a win-win on both sides.”
LJAWF’s wine and beer garden has grown this year.
“We have a great wine selection and 15 brewers, about 30 different types of beer, who will be pouring during the daytime event and then again at night for the stein holding,” Dahlberg said. It is hoped that up to 200 people will sign up for the stein holding contest. Dahlberg said the format will likely involve groups of between 15 and 20 competitors, each going in heats, with winners of each heat then competing against one another. Entry to the Brew Fest and stein holding includes unlimited tastings at the 15-plus breweries, each of which will bring two different types of brew to sample, as well as tastings from a variety of wineries.
An array of food will be available for purchase, including gourmet Mexican hot dogs, oven-baked pizza, Wicked Maine Lobster, KettleKorn, beef and chicken sliders, cookies from The Cravory and of course pretzels.
Tickets are $35 in advance and $45 at the door. The cost to enter the stein holding contest is $100, which includes admission, unlimited beer and wine tastings, a T-shirt and a stein. A VIP table, including admission for six and unlimited beer and wine tastings, is $600.