So you couldn't make it to Munich and your hopes of celebrating Oktoberfest are dashed for yet another year.

Don't cry in your beer.

You can still celebrate. Combine hearty food and strong beer with friendly company in an outdoor setting and you've got your own Oktoberfest -- without the trans-Atlantic flight.

Harry Peemoeller, an instructor at Johnson & Wales University's Norfolk, Va. campus, says holding an Oktoberfest celebration is a great way "to enjoy the last comfortable nights outside."

Before you head for the patio, a little history. After all, when you're the host, it helps to know what you're celebrating and why.

It's generally recognized that the first Oktoberfest was held in mid-October 1810 in Munich, Bavaria. Bavaria was then its own kingdom in what is now southern Germany. Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig married Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen, and his father marked the occasion with a five-day party in a meadow just outside the city limits.

All of the king's loyal subjects were invited to eat, drink and be merry with the happy couple. The celebration concluded with a horse race. The event was so well-received that the citizens assembled at the same spot the next year for a party, horse race and an agricultural show to celebrate the year's harvest. And so, a tradition was born.

Over the years, beer tents were added as well as amusement rides. The music by the German oom-pah-pah bands became a centerpiece of the celebration. With winter looming and sometimes dropping in unexpectedly in the form of freak snowstorms or extended cold snaps, the festival was long ago moved to a two-week period spanning late September and early October.

The Munich event was eventually recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest festival in the world. It attracts about 6 million visitors annually, a mix of locals and tourists who consume about 5 million liters of beer and more than 200,000 pairs of pork sausages, according to the Munich Tourist Office.

This year's Oktoberfest, which ended Saturday, marked 169 years of toasting the harvest with a stein full of beer. (Oktoberfest was actually canceled at various times, because of war, disease and other tragedies.)

As Germans emigrated to other lands, they brought the Oktoberfest tradition along. Though there is only one Oktoberfest in Germany, there are many celebrations of smaller stature across this country and throughout the world.

Erwin Asam and his wife, Carol, held their 25th Oktoberfest last month at their Bavarian Inn in Shepherdstown, W.Va. More than 2,000 people turned out for the day of German music and dancing and, especially, the authentic German food.

Asam is a Munich native, and the inn's Oktoberfest centers on a platter he long ago dubbed "Sauerkraut Garnished." The sampler-style platter, which appears on the inn's dinner menu, includes sauerkraut cooked according to the inn's recipe, a bratwurst, a knockwurst, a weisswurst, a smoked pork loin and whipped potatoes.

Bratwurst, perhaps the best-known German sausage in this country, is a mixture of beef and pork. Knackwurst is a large smoked beef sausage, sometimes accented with pork. Weisswurst is made from veal, milk and parsley.

The sauerkraut must be mild, "with nothing sour about it," Asam says. Sauerkraut served at American sporting events is not the real thing, he says. You can start with a mass-produced kraut, however, and modify it to render the true dish, he says.

If kraut and German sausages aren't to your liking, Asam suggests taking your Oktoberfest menu upscale with a traditional fall entree like Jaeger Schnitzel, a veal cutlet or veal steak cooked "hunter style" with shallots and a fresh mushroom sauce.

The inn accompanies the dish with spaetzle, the well-known German potato dumplings, and cooked red cabbage.

Wienerschnitzel, a breaded, pan-fried veal steak, and sauerbraten, a marinated beef roast served with a ginger-accented gravy, are popular as well, Asam says.

More adventurous hosts may want to take a lead from the inn's game menu, offered October through March. Roasted pheasant and Hasenpfeffer, marinated rabbit cooked in the traditional Bavarian style, are two entree possibilities, Asam says.

Peemoeller, with Johnson & Wales, suggests beef roulade, or beef rolls braised in a red-wine gravy. Serve them with a side of Bavarian cabbage, green cabbage sauteed with bacon, onion and caraway seed and braised in dark beer.

Peemoeller, who was raised in Hamburg, in northern Germany, has fond memories of the Oktoberfests he journeyed down to Munich to enjoy in his youth.

He was "amazed," he says, the first time he saw the women who work as servers in the tents carrying the large trays of ornate ceramic steins, each stein filled with two pints of beer. The camaraderie was awe-inspiring as well. "You sit on long benches and you don't know who sits next to you, but after a few beers, of course, everybody gets to know everybody."

"It's a little rowdy, but in the good sense," Peemoeller says. "It lets you let go of your stress."

Asam who hasn't been to Munich's Oktoberfest in 30 years because it is such a busy season at his own restaurant, says one bite of a traditional Oktoberfest sandwich carries him back in time.

"A fresh weisswurst and maybe a crispy roll and have a little beer on the side -- that's like being in heaven," Asam says with an appreciative chuckle.

The sausages served at the Bavarian Inn, the German Embassy in Washington, D.C., and countless German restaurants in the region all come from Binkert's Meat Products, a small family-run firm that's been doing business from East Baltimore for 39 years.

Owner Lothar Binkert says he does five times his usual volume of business in October. Churches and other nonprofit organizations as well as private companies that hold Oktoberfests for their employees and clients order Binkert's bratwurst, knackwurst and weisswurst in 100-pound quantities. A small retail store on-site offers more manageable portions for the home cook. Precooked bratwurst usually average about $3.50 per pound.

Binkert, a native of Germany's Black Forest region, says the key to good sausage lies first in the ingredients and then the cooking. His sausages are made from whole cuts of meat -- without scraps, he says -- and seasoned according to family recipes. The sausages are wrapped in a natural casing that doesn't "melt away" during cooking, allowing for even grilling, Binkert says.

And the grilling is key. Binkert's precooked bratwurst must be "browned as well as possible" to get the true flavor of the meat. "If it still looks gray, and not brown, then it has kind of a plain taste," Binkert says.

The weisswurst, however, should only be lightly browned, whether it's fried in a pan or tossed on a grill. In Munich, weisswurst is simply cooked in water and served, Binkert says.

Knackwurst is cooked in water as well. Though he's heard about cooking sausages in beer, Binkert says it's totally unnecessary. "Just water, " he says sternly.

Beer is, of course, the beverage of choice for any Oktoberfest celebration.

Christian Asam, Erwin and Carol's son and the general manager at the Bavarian Inn, suggests German beers for authenticity. The inn offers Spaten Oktoberfest and Ayinger Oktoberfest, amber brews with medium body that are "perfect for bratwurst," he says.

For those who prefer a lighter swallow, Spaten Lager -- similar in flavor to Beck's or St. Pauli Girl beers (also from Germany) -- is ideal, he says.

And don't forget the hefe-wiezen or German wheat beers. Though not as popular at Oktoberfest, when the dark beer brewed specifically for the festival is downed in large quantities, the wheat beers do have their own following.

Asam suggests Franziskaner and Ayinger's Brau Weiss or Ur Weiss. The Ur Weiss is the darker-style wheat beer. All wheat beers are traditionally served with a lemon wedge to offset their natural sweetness, Asam says.

To be truly authentic, you must begin your Oktoberfest with the traditional toast. The Munich festival opens with a parade and much pomp and circumstance. The crowds are all waiting, however, for the mayor to cry "Ozapft is!" or "It's tapped."

The beer flows from the first keg, and that's when the fun begins.

Bavarian Inn Sauerkraut

Makes 1 gallon

1 gallon ready-made sauerkraut

3 tablespoons butter

12 ounces smoked pork (ground)

1/2 medium onion, julienne

2 juniper berries

1 bay leaf

3 cups chicken stock

1 cup dry white wine

1 tablespoon caraway seeds

1/2 cup cornstarch

cold water

Place ready-made sauerkraut in strainer. Wash three times with cold water. Saute butter, ground pork, onions and juniper berries until pork is browned. In a large pan, combine all ingredients except cornstarch and cold water. Allow to simmer for 1 hour, stirring every 10 minutes. Combine cornstarch and small amount cold water. Add to the finished sauerkraut until desired consistency is met. Remove bay leaf before serving.

Bavarian Inn's Jaeger Schnitzel (Veal Cutlet "Hunter Style")

Serves 4

1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced

butter for sauteing

4 strips bacon, chopped

4 cloves shallots, chopped

1 ounce white wine

1/2 cup flour (divided use)

2 pounds tender veal or four 8-ounce veal steaks

salt and pepper

Saute mushrooms in butter. In a separate pan, saute bacon until golden, then add shallots and wine. Thicken lightly with 1 tablespoon of flour. Add mushrooms and simmer lightly for 5 minutes. Lightly season veal steaks with salt and pepper and turn them in remaining flour. Melt butter in separate pan and cook steaks carefully, according to thickness and desired taste. Preheat plates. Serve veal steaks with mushroom sauce.