Festive Buds
Now it may be that in this blog I have so far mentioned a large number of ways and places to enjoy a drink or four. Well, sorry to say but here comes another one.
This weekend in Werder, a small town about half an hour outside Berlin, is the Baumblütenfest (Tree Blossom Festival), a lovely, if kind of old-fashioned, sounding festival. It brings an image to mind of blond pigtailed children prancing through the streets, tossing cherry blossoms or recently flowered magnolia's from hand woven baskets.
While it is apparently a celebration of spring - where a cute girl is crowned the blossom queen and fruit may be plucked directly from the orchards - it is more noticeably a celebration of fruit wine. Now in it's 129th year, they've had some practice in getting these locally created alcoholic masterpieces right. In an area covered in fruit trees these guys can make wine out of anything that will ferment.
A word of warning though: fruit wine is not to be taken lightly. It packs a punch you don't notice until you're already floored. In fact, the numbers of extremely intoxicated youth has risen beyond comfortable levels, causing local authorities to consider banning alcohol from next year on. So this may be your last chance to witness this fest while sitting in the sun and supping on strawberry wine.