LOVERS of German beer and food always have a reason to grin at this time of the year. We're at the door of Oktoberfest, and with a wider variety of celebrations than ever, you won't have an excuse to stay out of the action.

It's intriguing how an essentially local affair in Munich has become marked on international calendars, even taking into account the fact that the Munich Oktoberfest fair is one of the biggest in the world. What's even more confusing is the sometimes arbitrary dates various establishments choose to celebrate the event.

Any excuse to knock back flagons of German beer and chomp into stout sausages, surely? The first big public Oktoberfest event happens today at outdoor events venue GardenAsia, in the Kranji area. Called GardenAsia Craft Beer Oktoberfest, it's also styled as Singapore's very first craft beer festival, although it's also intended to be family-friendly, and will support Social Innovation Park's Pop and Talent Hub (PATH).

Authentic: Brotzeit's sausage platter is an addictive match for the beer available during Oktoberfest

Craft beer refers to beer crafted in small quantities by microbreweries, so it's no surprise that all of Singapore's microbreweries - Brewerkz, The Pump Room, Archipelago and Paulaner Brauhaus - are involved. Archipelago is actually organising the whole event in partnership with GardenAsia. Unfortunately, according to Fal Allen, Archipelago's brewmaster, he wasn't able to brew a special beer for the occasion. 'Sadly no, we did not have time,' he says. 'This year is our first try and I am pleasantly surprised at the ease with which we have managed to get all the breweries on the same page in order to put the event on. We are already looking ahead to the next one and I think that all the breweries will have special Oktoberfest beers next year,' he predicts. Luckily, Brewerkz and Paulaner Brauhaus have whipped up special Oktoberfest brews, so beer lovers who are already familiar with the standard output from the local microbreweries will have something new to try.

GardenAsia's Kenny Eng wants to make the event about more than beer. 'The origins of Oktoberfest are about an overall celebration so we wanted to aim for some of that,' he says. Perhaps that sentiment will appeal to those who are only lukewarm about beer.

Beyond the GardenAsia event, Paulaner will be serving the Oktoberfest beer at its premises from Oct 3-9 along with a special menu that includes spit-roasted pig. But Brewerkz won't be serving Oktoberfest food, according to general manager Dan Durkin. 'We haven't had good response to it in the past,' he says.

On the other extreme are more focused Oktoberfest festivities such as Brotzeit's purist affair. This restaurant bar at VivoCity is part of the Garibaldi Group, and lives up to that uncompromising reputation. This year's actual Oktoberfest beer will be flown in in from Munich, giving Brotzeit bragging rights to being the only public bar having this level of Oktoberfest authenticity. From Oct 4-7, Brotzeit will only be serving two draught beers - the Oktoberfest beer, and its regular Dunkles Weissbier, which is a dark unfiltered wheat beer that's actually unexpectedly light, with a malty, barley-like aftertaste. The beers will be priced according to $5 coupons, with half-litre mugs going for three coupons ($15), and one-litre mugs costing five coupons ($25). But while operations manager Fritz Gugg affirms that the focus of Brotzeit is primarily a beer place that also has a kitchen, the bar's Oktoberfest menu is without a doubt as much a highlight as its beer. Pork knuckle (six coupons - $30) is a German staple, but Brotzeit's version goes way beyond hearty tavern grub.

Pork knuckle is rarely plated with such meticulous attention to detail. The knuckle is almost eclipsed by the colourful sausage platter (also six coupons) that again betrays chef Hans Luftenegger's fastidious presentation.

If you miss both the GardenAsia and Brotzeit events, there's always the annual Erdinger Oktoberfest party at Merchant Loop, which stretches for five days later this month, from Oct 23-27. Local Erdinger distributor Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) says the Erdinger affair, in its third-year running, is set to be the biggest yet, and APB expects up to 1,500 a day.

Tickets for the Erdinger event range from $42 to $49 per day, depending on whether you're buying at the door or from Sistic. The price includes a meal, half a litre of Erdinger, and entertainment that includes Huttenpower, a Munich band flown in specially for the occasion.

But the biggest draw of the Erdinger brand may actually be its Oktoberfest Festive Pack ($28.80), comprising four bottles of Erdinger beer evenly split between the light and dark varieties, a pair of beer glasses, and an Erdinger-centric Oktoberfest guide that comes with a bunch of coupons. Beyond supermarkets, the package is even available at petrol stations, which means you can pick one up after escaping the office, and seek refuge at home with a buddy or lover - Oktoberfest to go.

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