Oct 08, 2022

Hays, Kansas, Octoberfest eats include big bierock

Posted Oct 08, 2022 8:04 PM
Philip Kuhn and his team cooked a 96.5 pound bierock for Saturday's Octoberfest. Photo by Cristina Janney/Hays Post<br>
Philip Kuhn and his team cooked a 96.5 pound bierock for Saturday's Octoberfest. Photo by Cristina Janney/Hays Post

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

A giant bierock, weighing in at 96.5 pounds, was featured Saturday at Octoberfest in Hays.

The average bierock weighs about 8 ounces and is 4 by 4 inches.

Philip Kuhn and his team from The Press and Big Smoke Barbecue served up the massive German breaded meat pocket.

"It started with having the product," he said. "There was a lot of product that went into it."

The massive bierock is made from about 60 pounds of beef, 25 pounds of cabbage, 20 pounds of dough and 10 to 15 pounds of onions plus salt, pepper and garlic.

The bierock took about five hours to prepare and was cooked in a commerical oven at The Press.

Photo by Cristina Janney/Hays Post<br>
Photo by Cristina Janney/Hays Post

Kuhn said he intended to make the bierock smaller but said he decided to go all in.

"It turned out bigger than I intended it to be," he said.

People crowded into see the giant German delight, many taking pictures and selfies with the bierock.

With on-site and take-away, Octoberfest organizers calculated that 15,000 to 20,000 bierocks are made and sold for Oktoberfest, many as organizational fundraisers.

Octoberfest officias weren't able to find any other attempts at a giant bierock. Officials also noted the effort did not result in an official result from an organization like Guinness World Records, as doing so requires significant investment.

Hometown Chevy was the sponsor for the project.

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