Beer gardens big and small are everywhere...
There is always an open seat at the shared tables...
Our Favorite Videos About the Oktoberfest - Channel Coming Soon
Videos and movies come out seasonally about the Oktoberfest.
Check back starting in July when they start to build out the Oktoberfest every year.
Oktoberfest is everyone's favorite Fest
mid-Sept to early-Oct
Why does it start in September if it's called Oktoberfest?
Why did it start in the first place?
Are there official Oktoberfest beers? What's a Festbier vs another type of beer?
Here are a few of the answers.
Note: We are not seeking to be an Oktoberfest travel blog, but to give some basic insights into the unique role of the Oktoberfest and it's place in Bavariana.
This page is continually updating as we discover more.
fun facts about the Oktoberfest
Oktoberfest started Oct 17, 1810, as a wedding party. But it existed long before...
Oktoberfest is the most recognized of Germany's festivals and lauded as the World's Largest Folk Fest...6.8+M attendees in 2019. Originally, it was the "city fair" for Munich, the capital of the Kingdom of Bavaria, which then was not part of Germany, nor did it even consider itself Germanic...it was Bavaria...Land der Bayern.
This sense of "unique" culture continues even today. While Bavaria is Germany's largest state by land mass, it is not the largest by population and is much akin to Texas is in the United States. Germans and Bavarians disagree on many things, but they all agree that Bavarians are Bavarians. Sort of like Texans are Texans.
On October 12, 1810, Prince Ludwig I of Bavaria (grandfather of the castle-building Ludwig II) married Princess Theresa in their own version of a "Charles and Diana" Wedding. "Everyone" was invited and the then-local Munich "city fair" was taken over for the Royal Event. Even today, every 4 years, a section of the venue is set aside for the Bavarian State Agriculture Expo, harkening back to its roots.
Maximillian I, King of Bavaria, and father to Ludwig I, issued royal charters to 6 of the local breweries to produce beer for the wedding party. Augustiner, Hacker-Pschorr, Loewenbräu, Paulaner, Spaten, and Hofbräu-München remain today the only breweries sanctioned to produce the official Oktoberfestbier. With time and merchandising, others have their own Oktoberfestbier, but they are not the original.
But, if the Oktoberfest is the Oktoberfest, why do some people call it the Wies'n? It's a little confusing. The festival area, which was originally outside the city gates, was renamed the Theresienwiese in honor of Princess Theresa, and that name has stuck, so locals just call it d'Wies'n.
In 2019, 6M+ people attended the Oktoberfest in München.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the official Oktoberfest was canceled in 2020 and 2021. However, in 2021, many local groups banded together, held smaller fests, and appended the name -Wies'n to these (for example: Wirtswies'n). This tradition seems to have caught on so you will see many events called -Wies'n. While not the official Oktoberfest, they are filled with just as much Gemütlichkeit.
Wilhelm Alexander Wolfgang v. Kobell painting of the first Oktoberfest
A Fest: not an event...it's a community
Bavarian Fests are neither random nor just an event with beer.
They are an orchestration of different elements and the better the orchestration and elements, the better the Fest...ultimately leading to the "Best of Fests".
Band/Music can make or break any Fest since their job is to give the Fest its spirit and tempo.
They are literally the "beating heart" of the Fest. A lackluster Band makes for a lackluster Fest.
Just to let you know, here is our NorCal Fest Band page.
Food and beer at a Fest are more than just brats and bubbles.
They need to pair well together and match the venue and theme, and hopefully, they are Bavarian or, at least "Bavarian-inspired." Running out of beer and food at a Fest is not just a "party foul" or bad idea; it's sacrilege and could forever ruin the festival's reputation.
Tradition(s) abound at any Fest.
The beer & food, the bands & music, the venue, people sharing tables, wearing Tracht (Lederhosen & Dirndl), and everyone showing a sense of Gemütlichkeit. In Bavaria, Fests take on a life of their own. They are almost an Olympic sport.
Gemütlichkeit is a uniquely Bavarian sense of welcomeness, coziness, community, and being together. Not just a bunch of people in the same space, but people in a purposeful community with each other. It's on par with Tradition in making a Fest a real Fest.
fun facts about the Beer
Only 6 breweries have ever held the Wittelsbach Royal Charter as Beer Maker for the Oktoberfest.
Technically, they are the only breweries allowed to make and market Oktoberfest beer. All others are "imitations" and in the case of other breweries, results have been known to vary.
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Augustinerbräu - Munich's oldest brewery
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Hofbräu Munich - the famous Hofbräuhaus
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Löwenbräu
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Paulaner
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Spaten
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Hacker-Pschorr
Each brewery has at least one official "big tent" at the Oktoberfest, but some have more and all tents are sponsored by one of these breweries, totaling 16 "big tents" in all. The logo of the sponsoring brewery is clearly placed on the front of the tent and all over the inside. It is hard to miss.
From its start until 1871, Munich Dunkel was the beer of the Oktoberfest. In 1872, it was changed to the lighter Märzenbier. Then in the 1970s, Paulaner introduced the glass Mass (aka Maß - liter) and with it the lighter-colored Festbier, which by the 1990s had become the official beer of the Oktoberfest. Now, all beer at the Oktoberfest is Festbier, except at the Hacker-Pschorr tent in the Oide Wies'n (Traditional Oktoberfest), which offers both their Festbier and a traditional Märzenbier.
So what's the difference?
Munich Dunkels are just that dark brown, more malty, heavier with a higher ABV.
Märzenbiers are closer to a "brown" and less heavy. At some Fests throughout Bavaria, you can still find the original Märzen-style beers, which, as the name implies, are brewed in March (März), and lagered until it is poured in late summer or early fall.
Festbiers, based on the Munich Helles, is yellow/amber in color, light, and with a mid-range ABV. They are the product of modern brewing technologies, whereas the other two heavier beers could hold up better in wooden barrels and lagered through the warm summer underground.
Note: If you are interested in learning about traditional Bavarian Märzenbier, look for Dahoam1516's Märzenbier classes in March....check the calendar.
