PINTS & UNION PORTFOLIO: What's in store for our Oktoberfest celebration on September 21.

I've borrowed this photo from the Interwebz to illustrate a bit of what Pints&union has in store for our Oktoberfest promotion on September 21.

Readers with long memories will recall the many times we tapped "Anstich" kegs at the Public House. Another way of saying this is "gravity pour," or pouring beer the old-school way; ram a tap into it and open a hole in the top, and let nature take its course.

We have a 30-liter keg of Weihenstephaner Festbier much like the one pictured above, and three boxes (18) of liter glass boots. There'll be a price for "drink the boot and keep the glass."

Chef Dalton Gahafer has hinted to me that among other German-influenced dishes for Oktoberfest, he might be conjuring up some Schupfnudeln, which the Baylors enjoyed last Christmas in Munich.

They're potato noodles fried up with sauerkraut and bacon, with cheese sprinkled on top. I hope Dalton takes a stab at Schupfnudeln, but even if he doesn't there'll be ample seasonal food.

I haven't decided the rotation of draft (non-Anstich) Oktoberfest beers. They are released so early in August (often late July) that it's usually a challenge to wait until the proper time for pouring and still be able to choose from all the contestants -- and at Pints&union there simply isn't enough storage space to stockpile.

However, we'll make do. As soon as we run through a couple of rare allocations (Bell's Double Two Hearted Ale and Samuel Smith Organic Perry), the Oktoberfests will start, and I'll try to keep one on tap for as long as possible.

LIVE TO EAT: There's nothing quite like German beer with German food, so get over to the Gasthaus and see what I mean.

I've spent the last few evenings looking at 30-year-old slides of Europe; prior to this, last December's photos in Munich and Bamberg were organized. Through it all, periods of thirst have been handled with the help of Wernesgruner, a pilsner brewed in eastern Germany near the Czech border, which we've been keeping around the house.

It occurs to me that even if dinner is pickled herring from the Baltic areas of Germany and not sauerbraten or sausages from Bavaria, German beer remains the default accompaniment to German food. Make the argument for wine if you will. I like my chances of finding the ideal beer.

In turn, this reminded me of a review I once wrote about Louisville's Gasthaus restaurant. I can't believe it's been eight years since I wrote about the Gasthaus; rest assured, we've eaten there numerous times since then, and will be indulging again next week.

Louisvillians are very lucky to have the Gasthaus, and I highly recommend it. Here's a repeat of the September, 2011 review.

---

Friday feast at Louisville's Gasthaus.

You have to love a place that kicks off its menu with a newspaper article on the importance of keeping children under control while dining out.

But Louisville's Gasthaus restaurant is much more than that, and has been bringing great German food to metro residents since 1993. In this second consecutive year of being unable to visit Europe, I've made do with memories, beers and meals in various locales, and as for the latter, Gasthaus ranks above both the Glarner Stube (Swiss/German; New Glarus WI) and Jasper, Indiana's Schnitzelbank in terms of authenticity and a purely Pavlovian ability to transport me to the continent, if only briefly.

The important detail missing from my photo of the Gasthaus's colossal Wiener Schnitzel a la Holstein are the anchovy fillets. Heavens! The sauerkraut was fully cooked, savory and worthy of entree status itself. You can see the strawberry torte. Aventinus Weizen Doppelbock is the star of a short but effective German bottled beer list.

Gasthaus is a splurge, and fully worth it: Two salads, two entrees, a side, two desserts and two drinks came to $125, including gratuity. Hours are short and reservations (for tables as well as desserts) recommended. The location on Brownsboro Road is easy to find, and adjacent to a well-stocked Party Mart package store.