Just two months until the 2017 Oktoberfest

We hope you enjoyed our first preview of the 2017 Oktoberfest and feel well-informed about the coming festivities: at the three-months-to-go mark, we told you about the dates, the politics, and the return of the traditional Oide Wiesn.

Now there are only two months left until the 2017 Oktoberfest opens, and work has already started on putting up the tents. In fact, anyone who is in Munich and stops by the Theresienwiese can already see the shape of the new version of the Ochsenbraterei tent, which is going up faster than all the others so that any last-minute adjustments to the new design can be made in good time. So if you’re already chomping at the bit for Oktoberfest fun and happen to be in the city, go and feast your eyes…

The 2017 Oktoberfest – Complain and pay

Then again, who wants to hear about people putting up tents when more important news is already abroad? That’s right: the beer prices for the 2017 Oktoberfest have now been set. And – here’s a surprise! – the beer is getting pricier. Then again, behind the headline rises, there is a genuine surprise: the rise is, at 2.5% on average, less steep than in previous years (by comparison, over the last decade, the traditional litre of Wiesn beer has tended to go up by more than 3.5% year on year). This year, at least, the Oktoberfest’s much maligned landlords have avoided breaking through another Euro barrier by staying just under €11..

Craftily, while everyone is wiping the sweat off their brows with a hearty “Phew!” at the lack of extortionate beer price rises, the (perhaps rightly) much-maligned Wiesn tent landlords have upped a range of soft drinks by anything up to 50 cents: so if you feel like sobering up at any point during your session, you can rely on the price tag and not just the lack of alcohol in your Coke, Sprite, or water to straighten your back… But let’s finish up on this topic by saying what we always say at this point: we – and everyone else – will complain bitterly about unfair price rises before proving the landlords’ point that said increases can’t actually be too much by continuing to order and pay for lots of beer. In fact, despite price rises, year on year per capita beer consumption just keeps on going up: while attendance at the Oktoberfest averages out at roughly 6 million annually every year since 1980, actual beer consumption has climbed by around 50%.

The 2017 Oktoberfest – Secretly grateful

If you ask the landlords about beer prices (and, every year, journalists do), they will reliably refer to the increases in security expenditure : interestingly enough, they do this every year, whether there is an extraordinarily high level of alertness to terror attacks or not; but who could deny that last year did indeed bring huge increases in security – and who, hand on their heart, could be against it? First off, it did actually make you feel safer to see that would-be attackers would have to make it through layers of breeze blocks and all kinds of barriers. What is more, after years, finally bags were being checked and lots of people – not just terrorists – found it more difficult to take dangerous objects with them onto the Theresienwiese. Secondly, thanks to the talk about security, visitors numbers dropped from almost 6 million down to 5.6 million, giving the Oktoberfest 2016 a decidedly roomier, more relaxed feel. As such, it’s hard to really be upset about increased security precautions.

Speaking of safety, the list of fairground rides in attendance this year is now online, so if you’re looking for a genuinely safe white-knuckle experience at the 2017 Oktoberfest, look no further: names like „Höllenblitz“ (that’s German for “Hell’s lightning!”), „Power Tower“ and „Conga“ do all the talking…

We hope you have a good month and look forward to seeing you for our last update just 30 days before the tapping of the keg for the 2017 Oktoberfest on 16th September…