I didn’t need an excuse to celebrate Oktoberfest, but for those who do local East Vancouver brewers Parallel 49 are throwing a party and inviting the whole neighbourhood.
For those who are unaware of the custom,
Oktoberfest is a festival that originated on October 12, 1810, in celebration of the marriage of the crown prince of Bavaria. More recently, it combines a beer festival with a funfair, held annually in Munich on the Theresienwiese: from mid-September to the first Sunday in October.
Seeing as is celebrates with the drinking of beer, many breweries decidedly choose to host festivities in its honour.
This is my first time at Parallel 49 and I honestly can believe it took me this long to visit, they are so much fun. Their open patio and tap room are inviting from off of the sidewalk. With plenty of picnic tables and bench seating that trickles into their covered patio beer garden. Guests can order drink by drink or start a tap at the main bar. There, their entire listing of beers on tap is listed with Oktoberfest specials highlighted in blue and Fall seasonal brews in orange. We would run though the list of four of the former and the two of the latter.
Your beer is poured from the tap and you can take it to your self chosen seat. Today we had reservations at the beer garden for their two week long Oktoberfest festivities from September 18th to October 5th, 2025, with live music Thursday through Sunday.
The Beer Garden has been dressed in the traditional blue and white checkers for the occasion and the live band comes dressed in lederhosen. They perform classic Bavarian drinking songs on tuba, guitar, and keyboards. They also played covers of more modern favourites like “Sweet Caroline”, for the perfect sing-along moment.
With the live musicians belting out drinking songs and encouraging group cheers and dancing, it is hard not to want to participate. At one point we even climbed onto our seats to do just that.
There is a smaller bar dispensing the above mentioned four Oktoberfest beers. And on Thursdays through to Sundays they also have a limited, while quantities last, listing of
Oktoberfest cocktails and shots. We would try most of it, and in doing so recommend that you stick with what Parallel 49 is known for: the beers.
The Glühwein is German mulled red wine served hot and scented with orange, clove, cinnamon, star anise, pepper, and their own house made sweetener. It was a lovely take, but it felt too soon and too hot, and this was not really the venue or the occasion for a slow drinking and sipping beverage.
This was the same for the Hugo, which we didn’t realize was a bottled spritz, until they started pouring it. This was a ready to drink sparkling wine mixed with mint and citrus. Light and lovely enough, but once again more of an option for the sake of offering options other than beer. This too did not really match with the Oktoberfest vibe.
To get the party started they had shots. There was the popular, German chilled herbal liqueur Jäegermeister, blended with 56 botanicals. This I am all too familiar with, thanks to my university days so we skipped it, and got two of their Goldschlager shots instead.
Described as a cinnamon liqueur with real gold flakes, we thought the latter would be sprinkled over the shot in decoration. Instead, it is part of, and comes within the liqueur bottle. Sadly without a good shake before pouring we got none of the gold. Its cinnamon heat helped to mask most of the alcohol burn, making it a nice gulp to throw back.
For food their street kitchen is offering a collection of German themed easy eats, prepared by their executive Chef “Captain Jack”. All within their food truck kitchen, parked right within their taproom.
There were pretzels, schnitzel, bratwurst, spaetzle, rotisserie chicken, and pork hock. In order to get to try the most things we decided to get their whole Smorgasbord for $99. This and the chicken and pork hock are only available Thursday to Sundays. The platter includes pork hock, half a chicken, bratwurst, honey, glazed carrots, roasted potatoes, fennel slaw, house made mustard, wild mushroom gravy, hot sauce, a cheese based sauce, and a pretzel.
There was enough food to feed four with vegetables for sides and sauces for dipping into. I was incredibly impressed by not only the presentation, but the quality of the food coming out of a brewery, within a food truck no less.
Having this much to sort through made eating an adventure. Each bite a new one with the ability to mix and match sauces and proteins. I recommend eating the pretzel first and fast, as it does dry out. The pork hoc was crispy skin coating fatty meat. The chicken I found some of the best rotisserie style, with its meat falling off of the bone. I did think the bratwurst was a little flat on flavour and salt, but nothing a dunk into the mushroom gravy couldn’t remedy.And the vegetable rounded out the meal with freshness in between all the meaty bites. No complaints? this was delicious and well worth the money.
This feast definitely deserved beer for its drink pairing. The Schwarzbier is a dry and dark German lager. It had a dry and clean finish with moderate dark chocolate notes, a crisp bready malt backbone, and it ended light with hoppy florals. At 4.9% alc./vol. this was surprisingly easy to drink, despite its dark appearance.
The Fesibier is a strong and slightly malt-forward pale German lager, equipped with floral and spicy hop notes and a medium bitterness at 6% alc./vol.
The German Pilsner is refreshingly floral with a citrusy and minty hoppy aroma. A German and Canadian Pilsner malt that is fairly dry with a firm bitterness. Great for thirst quenching at 4.8% alc./vol.
The Hefeweizen was my favourite. An unfiltered hazy German wheat ale described as having a light banana and clove essence with a bready doughy wheat malt flavour and a chewy creamy mouthfeel. High carbonation and low bitterness, this was light, crisp, and refreshing at 5.2% alc./vol.
Considering how much we liked the food, we couldn’t pass up on their only dessert. This was a great way to repurpose the pretzels. Blueberry Crumble Pretzel with vanilla, ice cream, rum, caramel, and macerated berries. The saltiness of the pretzel paired well with the sweetness of the toppings. The toughness of the pretzel was also eased by the weight of the melted cream and syrup. This is sort of like a bread pudding, but with tougher chunks of pretzel.
The night ended with a best dressed competition for those who dawned the traditional Bavarian lederhosen and dirndl. The winner was chosen by the audience’s clapping. We honestly cheered based on those who decided to chug during their costume presentation.
For a great time and a fun reason to drink beer, come out to Parallel 49’s Oktoberfest.
Parallel 49 Brewing Company
1950 Triumph St, Vancouver, BC V5L 1K5
(604) 558-2739
parallel49brewing.com
