Zeppelin Hall, Jersey City

Oktoberfest means beer, beer, and more beer! Earlier this month, John and I decided to spend an afternoon at Zeppelin Hall biergarten. It’s conveniently located along the light rail line, and riding the light rail is much nicer than riding the PATH as it’s on street level. I’m surprised it’s been over a year since our first visit as we really enjoyed it last time around.

Even in the early afternoon, Zeppelin Hall was pretty crowded. There was even a children’s birthday party in one of the rooms off to the side. Beer for the adults, a princess party for the kids. That sounds pretty perfect to me.

Every bar has different beers on tap, so you should rotate from bar to bar for the full selection. We started off with a stein ($14) each of Spaten Oktoberfest. Lovely amber color and malty flavor. It takes two hands to carry one of these giant steins. What a beast!

It was pretty chilly out, but we had bundled up appropriately as we really wanted to sit outside. If you get a spot in the sunshine, it was quite comfortable. If only they had heat lamps in this area! I spotted a group of energetic and rowdy older ladies getting their second round of steins. They sure know how to have a good time, and I almost wanted to join them.

Beer naturally calls for fried food, and we started off with some fries. Later in the afternoon, we moved on to jalapeno poppers. Spicy, cheesy, and fried… you can’t go wrong with that. And yes, we got another round of beer, but I wasn’t able to finish my second stein.

The Oktoberfest menu had all sorts of ridiculous specials including a $60 pig fest and a $20 pretzilla. We were tempted by the pretzilla, but got the regular sized pretzels ($6.95) instead. Still a lot of carbs, but it seems like a more sensible choice. The honey and mustard dips are tasty!

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