Bavaria, September 2016

OK, I'll suggest Augburg, as it has a regional train every half hour (more at rush hours) that takes about 45 minutes to the Hbf. I seem to recall that they have beer in that city as well.
In Pilsen, tour the Pilsner Urquell brewery, walking distance from the train station. You get one plastic 1/2 liter cup of unpasteurized beer direct from a freshly tapped wooden keg. English tours are about 3 times a day.
From Pilsen to Prague, take the Supercity Train. 2nd class is similar to 1st class on German trains. Very sociable bar car with beer just over $1 in 1/2 liter glasses.

Stay up in Freising and visit the Weihenstephan brewery? Easy bus/taxi ride from the airport and you can catch the S-Bahn into the city.

You say you are not wanting to stay in Munich the opening weekend but you do want to make the opening parades, but those parades are on Saturday and Sunday of the opening weekend.

If you're into beer and headed to Augsburg, check out the Riegele Wirtshaus near the train station.

OK something really local in in Northern Oberpfalz. Zoigl Beer. http://www.zoigl.de/english/history.html This would be a little out of the way, but it looks like there are trains from Regensburg to Windischeschenbach. You would have to do a little homework and probably walk to the cities of Windischeschenbach and Neuhaus from the Windischeschenbach Bahnhof. The Bahnhof is in the Naab River Valley between the two cities. There are local hotels and Gästehaus available. Zoiglstub’n are usually only open on the weekends and they rotate every week, so individually they are only open about once a month. 3 Oct 15 is Tag der Kommunbrauer, Neuhaus. All the Zoiglstub’n in Neuhaus will be open this Saturday and it will probably be packed. You can usually get a Zoigl beer for 1 euro 60 and some Wurst and Kraut or Brotzeit for under 5 euro. The people in this region speak a heavy Oberpfalz dialect and Germans from outside the region have a hard time understanding them. Americans live in the area though working at the Army base in Grafenwoehr, so English should not be a big problem.

It looks like all the Zoiglstub’n in Windischeschenbach are closed the weekend of the Tag der Kommunbrauer, Neuhaus 2-4 Oct 15.

http://www.oberpfaelzerwald.de/data/mediadb/cms_mime/%7Be6ca788f-e844-0645-1746-1a046999702e%7D.pdf

For something local in Nürnberg check out the Schanzenbräu http://www.schanzenbraeu.de/. Make reservations and eat a Schäufele und Kloß.

In Regensburg Brauereigaststätte Kneitinger http://www.knei.de/

I do a similar trip with my brother and friends every other year and we've settled on always staying a few nights in Tegernsee area (Bad Wiessee) followed by a few nights in MotelOne Ost in Munich. We've experimented with other areas outside of Munich but everyone generally comes back saying Tergernsee was the best option. It's close enough to Munich using the BOB train (they have a combo BOB-MVV ticket) that you can go into the city have some fun and come back the same day if needed, also public transportation around the lake is usually included with your hotel. Since it is a touristy area there is a lot of good infrastructure for visitors. There is a great Brewery/Restaurant right on the lake, Bräustüberl Tegernsee. It also beats any areas north of the city in terms of scenery. Last of all room in Bad Wiessee are cheap compared to Munich, this year I've booked a triple room for 99€/night.

Edit: You will also have no problem finding seats mid-afternoon on Monday, especially if you split up, but be prepared to vacate the seats at 5pm when the reservations kick in.

DJ

With regards to breweries to try, Franconia has the highest concentration of breweries anywhere in the world. Gräfenberg outside of Nürnberg is my favorite. It is part of a five brewery walking tour you can do (http://www.bavaria.us/5-seidla-steig-franconian-brewery-walk-bavaria).

DJ

Thank you all very much for the replies so far. We will check out some of the places and see what works for us.

In response to some of the suggestion,

We are looking at staying in Freising one of the nights prior as a meeting point as people arrive from the states or from elsewhere in Germany.

Yes, I am aware that the parades are opening weekend, perhaps to say it better, we do not want to fight for a room (and pay the premium) to stay in Munich proper opening weekend, finding a place outside the city that is a bit more quiet, better room availability, and better for the budget. Despite the beer, we plan on being sober enough to manage the trains and do not mind an hour trip.

For the tables on Monday, this was the strategy I used previously, one can never tell, but it seemed there was good availability after the lunch crowd vacated, and as mentioned, until the afterwork crowd arrives at 5:00 or so. I know we have to give up the tables and know how to read the cards, as well as work with the beer maids.

Pilsner Urquell is definitely on our list, I was there 15 years back, really enjoyed the tour and the tasting in the caves, was hoping it had not changed much.

I will definitely assemble the beer suggestions and pass them on to my Beer Geek planner brother who is in charge of that.

Thanks again.

finding a place outside the city that is a bit more quiet, better room availability, and better for the budget.

Consider Herrsching -- at the southwest end of the S8 line; quiet, picturesque. And you can hike up the hill to Andechs.

Since DJ mentioned Franken, highway 85 is the Beer Street (Fränkische Bierstraße). More breweries in this region than anywhere else. This goes from roughly Auerbach in der Oberpfalz to Bamberg. Getting around without a car may be difficult though.
http://www.bierland-oberfranken.de/
http://www.fraenkische-schweiz.com/kulinarisch/bier/biertouren.html