O’Zapft Is! Oktoberfest Begins This Weekend! Sights and Scenes from the Real Thing

Since Oktoberfest kicks off this weekend, it seems like a great time to look back on my visit to the Theresienwiese last year. The festival is a caricature of itself in a lot of ways. On one hand, it was exactly as I expected, but on the other, there were plenty of surprises.   

It would be reductive to call the Oktoberfest a “beer festival.” For readers of DCBeer, we’re not talking about sampling hundreds of beers under a pop-up tent in a parking lot. Perhaps it is more apt to call it a “drinking festival,” but even that doesn’t quite encapsulate the celebration. You’ll see everyone from the uber-drunk (of course), to families with children, to the elderly. The festival grounds feature the famous tents (more below), rollercoasters, games, and plenty of food. It really is a giant carnival celebrating Bavarian culture.

My wife and I attended Oktoberfest last year to kick off our honeymoon. How apt is it that the festival itself originated as a celebration of the marriage of King Ludwig