When hot-air balloons take to the sky to survey Natchez as part of the Great Mississippi River Balloon Race, things on the ground are going to be looking Bavarian.

This year’s race will include the premier of Blufftoberfest, a Natchez take on the traditional German Oktoberfest celebration.

“With the balloon race, we are a big event in October, and with the explosion of craft beer, not only locally but statewide and nationally, we decided to implement and try something new,” said Trevor Brown, assistant director for the balloon race.

“While we will still offer our usual canned Budweiser product, we will also have a designated biergarten where we will be selling craft beer.”

The biergarten will be near the sports tent and will serve as an expansion of it, Brown said.

“We will be offering some traditional German Oktoberfest food — bratwurst, sauerkraut, German potato salad — and we are trying to give you the full Oktoberfest experience already inside our already great event,” he said.

Blufftoberfest will likewise include some traditional Oktoberfest games.

“We want to be family friendly but still give you that full experience, so we will have things like a stein hold and a brat toss,” Brown said.

The beer offerings will include beers by five regional breweries, which are Natchez Brewing Company, Tin Roof Brewing Company, Crooked Letter Brewing Company, Chafunkta Brewing Company and Covington Brewhouse.

Natchez Brewing Company is located on Franklin Street, while Baton Rouge-based Tin Roof Brewing was founded by two Natchez natives. The common thread linking all of the breweries is that they are from southern Mississippi or Louisiana and are distributed by Southwest Distributers.

In addition to the individual beers, all five breweries have collaborated to make a one-time offering for Blufftoberfest.

The final product was brewed at Natchez Brewing Company approximately two weeks ago.

“The breweries involved are fairly scattered out, so there was no way we could all get together and meet regularly about it,” Natchez Brewing Company owner Patrick Miller said. “We came up with a recipe here, sent it out, everybody commented on it and we changed it based on those comments. Once we had an agreement, Natchez Brewing Company ordered the ingredients.”

The final product is an orange-colored German-style Märzen beer.

“It is a traditional German lager, but we have kind of put a spin on it and made it more of an ale,” Miller said. “Most often, it is brewed in March and then aged until October. We have all German malts in it, German hops and an ale-lager blend yeast.”

Natchez Brewing presented a test batch during a recent day of tours, and went through a keg that day, Miller said.

Approximately 100 gallons have been brewed, meaning 18 to 19 kegs will be available for Blufftoberfest.

Miller said he appreciated the opportunity to work with the other breweries.

“We were excited to be a part of a collaboration with different brewers — we have never done that before — and to do that with breweries that have been in business longer than us and get to do it in Natchez and put our name on it, we were very happy,” he said.

“This is a great way to keep up with our effort to continuously introduce the community to craft beer.”

Bluftoberfest will be Oct. 17 only, opening at 2 p.m. and lasting until 11 p.m.

“We are trying to do some big things, and I think that is paying off for us,” Brown said. “I know for a fact there is a community of craft beer drinkers that is looking forward to this.”