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Hofbrauhaus... you sure know how to throw a party

This is a public service announcement. Starting today, the 2012 Oktoberfest season has begun. Okay, so the official Munich festival doesn’t start until next week, but around the world, including here in the States, festivals designed to imitate or pay homage to the official festival will begin today.  To mark the occasion, this blog will provide its readers with a three-part series on Oktoberfest… so that when you finish reading the third post, which will be published towards the end of the festivities, you will know everything you ever wanted to know about the fine German tradition of drinking mass quantities of beer in order to celebrate… uh… what are they celebrating again?

 

Oktoberfest Blog Post Part 1: The Festival

 

Oktoberfest began on October 12th, 1810 with a festival to celebrate the marriage of the Bavarian King, Max Joseph, who later became King Ludwig I. His marriage to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen (she took his name obviously) was celebrated in Bavaria on October 17th, five days after the marriage, and was held in front of one of the gates leading into Munich called the Sendlinger Tor.  The fields in front of the gate were named Theresienwiese (or Theresa’s meadow) in honor of the princess (although the locals today simply call it “Wies’n”).

 

10L of beer at one time... now THAT is a skill

Also, in order to honor the marriage, a parade took place in which scores of Bavarians marched to the grounds. Today, it is still an important part of the festivities as usually around 8,000 people march in traditional Bavarian clothing from Maximilian Street through the center of Munich to Theresienweise.

 

Horse races were included in the festivities and the desire by the Bavarian people to repeat the races every year is what gave rise to Oktoberfest becoming an annual festival, although the custom was dropped in 1938.

 

In 1811 an agricultural fair was added to promote Bavarian agriculture. In 1816, carnival booths were added and by 1818 beer pubs were invited to provide copious amounts of brewed deliciousness along with performers. It became a great tourist attraction and a way for visitors to learn about Bavaria and its people.

 

Can you finish Das Boot?

By the end of the 19th century, a reorganization of the festival had taken place, aimed at maximizing attendance and avoiding those pesky cholera epidemics that kept popping up in the early years. The individual booths were replaced with giant halls where all of your beer drinking desires could be fulfilled (see the Broken Lizard movie “Beer Fest” for more information). Rides and games were starting to pop up as well, making Oktoberfest seem more and more like a giant carnival.

 

In the 202 years of Oktoberfest, the event has been cancelled 24 times, mostly due to cholera and war. World War I resulted in the cancellation of Oktoberfest from 1914 to 1918. In 1933, the Bavarian blue and white flag was replaced with a Nazi flag and from 1939 to 1945, no Oktoberfest took place.

 

The festival was eventually prolonged and moved ahead to September to allow for better weather conditions. In Munich, the fest lasts for 16 days, always beginning on a Saturday in September and always ending on the first Sunday in October. The only exception to this is if the first Sunday in October falls on or before October 3rd (Unity Day, or the day the Berlin Wall fell), in which case the festival will be extended to include the national holiday.

 

Inside one of the main beer tents

 

At today’s Oktoberfest, the festival begins with a twelve-gun salute and the tapping of the first keg of Oktoberfest beer at 12:00 noon by the incumbent Mayor of Munich, who shouts “O’zapft ist!” (It’s tapped!) in the traditional Bavarian language. The Mayor then gives the first beer to the Minister-President of Bavaria.

 

An interesting problem (although not overly surprising one) that Oktoberfest faces every year is people’s overestimation of how much beer they can drink and the subsequent passing out that occurs, usually right around the same time that this problem is realized. The locals refer to these people as “Bierleichen” (or beer corpses). Fortunately for the bierleichen, the German Red Cross mans an aid station of the grounds to care for them, as well as anyone else who has a medical issue during the festival.

 

To keep the beer tents family friendly, the organizers developed the “quiet Oktoberfest” concept in 2005. This rule ensure that, until 6:00 PM every day, the tents only play quiet music like traditional wind-instrument music that is limited to 85 decibels. After 6:00, the music changes to more pop music (which the Germans call Schlager) and the over-the-top party mentality, which often leads to violent behavior, picks up. I keep trying to warn people about pop music but nobody ever listens.

 

The six Munich breweries' Oktoberfest beers

Munich’s six major brewers of the Oktoberfest Maerzen beer may be found in the seven halls where there is live music throughout the day and evening.  The six major Munich brewers are Hacker-Pschorr, Lowenbrau, Spaten, Hofbrauhaus, Augustiner, and Paulaner.  Oktoberfest beer was traditionally an amber-gold lager with 6 percent alcohol, however today, Oktoberfest biers tend to be lighter in color and body than the traditional Maerzen style. SPOILER ALERT – Part two of this Oktoberfest series is going to be about Maerzenbier.

 

So now that you know the history, and a little bit about the event itself, you should feel adequately prepared to go out and find an Oktoberfest event near you. Bring your drinking hat along… you’re going to need it.

 

Here’s to craft-brewed happiness… Prost!