Anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge fan of Oktoberfest! Germany is my favourite country to visit and having a slice of it in the UK (even if it is for only a month ☹️) is enough to get me excited.

I caught wind that The Cutter Inn had decided to throw its first ever Oktoberfest. I have been a fan of the food here for years, so I decided to pop by and check out their take on Oktoberfest and see if they could capture the true spirit of the festival!

Judging by the ad, they were going all out. Live music, German beer, and guest appearances from local breweries. I even saw their staff in lederhosen on their social media page, so you know they were taking things seriously! 🤣

The Oktoberfest section of the pub was in their car park under a gazebo. It was incredibly spacious and filled with people throughout the evening. Occasionally it would go quiet for a while then would get busy again but there was a constant atmosphere of fun, not bad for a Sunday afternoon.

The speakers were blaring very tinny music which could get quite grating. If you are able to seat yourself away from the speakers this becomes a none issue but the sound quality was terrible. The ad mentioned live music but I presume this was for the Saturday as there was nothing on for us on the Sunday.

They had 4 German lagers available, all on draft. There were also kegs of real ales, locally sourced beers, and mulled cider.

The German Oktoberfest beers were as follows.

• Volksfestbier – £5.95 for a pint and £11.90 for a 2 pint stein.

• Daslandbier – £5.50 for a pint and £11 for a 2 pint stein.

• Dashelle – £5.50 for a pint and £11 for a 2 pint stein.

• Meister Pils – £5.50 for a pint and £11 for a 2 pint stein.

I ordered a 2 pint stein of the Dashelle, a very smooth lager with a good body and a palatable aftertaste (5%). It is a beautiful beer that went down a real treat. It really made me wish that we could have Oktoberfest all year round.

At this point the Meister Pils and Volksfestbier beer had run out, which is very common towards the tail end of beer festivals.

To get ourselves into the true Oktoberfest spirit, we ordered a selection of German style sausages with a choice of toppings for £9 each.

The options were as follows…

• Cheese Frankfurter

• Currybrockwurst

• Bratwurst

• Beef Frankfurter

• Vegan Bratwurst.

Once we picked our sausage, we were then given the option of sauerkraut, dill pickles, fried onions, or obatzada (beer and cheese sauce).

We ordered the currywurst with onions and mustard, along with two bratwursts with mustard and ketchup. I couldn’t resist the pull of the sauerkraut for that authentic German taste.

The sausages were cooked in a giant frying pan. It was great to see such a refreshing difference from the usual sausages you get in Ely, even if it was just for Oktoberfest. Sizes were smaller than what I am used to in Germany and unfortunately we all felt that the sausages may have been slightly undercooked in the middle, as they were luke warm in the centre. It didn’t affect the taste and it wasn’t enough to complain about, so we persevered.

We also ordered a bretzel for £6.50. This is a pretzel stuffed with a lovely garlic and herb sauce served with a cheesy Obatzda sauce. I thoroughly enjoyed this and recommend it to anyone visiting next year! Delicious!

There were a few other food vans available, including Urban Fresh. They served my wife a lovely pork quesadilla that she thoroughly enjoyed. I have always been a big fan of Urban Fresh but I haven’t had the opportunity to visit in a while, so I was delighted to see them here. There was also a seafood van but we didn’t explore it.

By the time we left, it was getting dark. Winter is truly here but this did not stop my family from all having a great time. Oktoberfest always has this way of bringing out the fun in people. I wish I saw it around more often and I hope to see it again next year.

The Cutter Inn did a good job of capturing the Oktoberfest spirit, even on a late Sunday afternoon. There was some superb beer flowing and authentic German food available. The only thing it was missing was an oompah band and I could have been in the Bavarian beer halls of Munich. My sister visited on Saturday and she said the atmosphere was much busier, so I must not wait until Sunday evening for a visit next time!

Bring on next year!

Danke Schoen! 🇩🇪