It's called Bee Sting Cake or as the Germans say, bienenstich. A sweet cake with vanilla custard filling and topped with caramelized almonds, and it's going to be on the U.S. Space & Rocket Center Biergarten menu this year.
Space Center Special Events Director Claudia Jones is of German heritage and speaks with a noticeable accent. The biergarten is her baby. "I really went back to my roots for this," Jones, a Space Center employee for 22 years, says. "I had an oma [an informal German name for 'grandmother'] I grew up with. She always prepared German dishes and I guess I'm a little bossy about the way I want the sauerkraut done and the red cabbage."
The Space Center Biergarten returns for its third year March 12, running Thursdays 4:30 - 7:30 p.m. through Oct. 31. The free events drew more than 10,000 people last year, Space Center Media Manager Pat Ammons says. "This has turned into a really interesting cultural experience for a lot of people," Ammons adds. "Over the course of last season, we started out with a smallish event and it just grew to be huge. People just love coming in and sitting underneath that Saturn V rocket. And there's beer."
Yes, the beer. There are German imports, including Paulaner's Hefe-Weizen, Octoberfest Marzen and Salvator Double Bock ($5.50), locally made craft-beers, including Straight to Ale Monkeynaut India Pale Ale and Lily Flagg Milk Stout ($5.50), and just plain old domestic suds ($3.75). Draft goes for $5.50 a glass and $15 pitchers. Souvenir pilsner glasses, adorned with German and Alabama flags and Saturn V rocket, are available: $12 with draft beer or two with a pitcher of beer for $30.
A few weeks ago Jones conducted a tasting. It resulted in the Space Center Biergarten changing up its bratwurst a bit. Other entrees on the menu include brathaehnchen (oven roasted chicken) and jagerschnitzel. Jones is particularly fond of the latter dish. "It's a veal pork cutlet with a mushroom brown sauce, served with red cabbage and parsley boiled potatoes and you put the gravy over the potatoes and it just really goes well together," Jones says. "And we have a nice crusty bread that goes with it."
Space Center entrees go for $10, with a choice of two sides, such as crispy fried potato, sauerkraut and creamy cucumber salad. A warm pretzel with spicy mustard or beer cheese sauce is four bucks. A slice of that Bee Sting Cake is also $4 as is a Black Forest Cake layered with cherries and whipped cream.
After starting off in the Space Center's Apollo Courtyard, which holds about 250 people, as the biergarten grew in attendance it was moved indoors to Saturn V Hall. Jones said last year crowds swelled up to 800 at their height. In 2014, the Space Center partnered with a charity each week, donating a total of around $9,200 to 31 charities, including Land Trust of North Alabama. Alzheimer's Association and Greater Huntsville Humane Society. "We already have a waiting list of charities signed up for this year," Ammons says.
Live music, courtesy of oompah band Ein Zwei Duo, begins at 4:45 p.m. This year, weekly traditional German dancers have been added to the programming. Dirndl and lederhosen are involved. The Space Center celebrates its 45th anniversary on March 19, which happens to fall on the second week of biergarten 2014, so expect some expanded programming including retro photos that Thursday.
The biergarten is decidedly dog-friendly. Canine owners and their pets often migrate out to the courtyard or terrace, but dogs are welcome inside too. "In Germany it's very traditional to take your dog to a biergarten or Oktoberfest environment," Jones says.
Woof.