Oktoberfest 2014 Update July

Our countdown clock is at exactly 70 days to go until the Oktoberfest 2014, and that is reason enough to follow up on last month’s effort with another of our Oktoberfest updates.

Except that by “update”, we mean rant.

Yes. Because it’s about something important, something of crucial relevance to every last one of us Oktoberfest fans.

Yes people, we need to talk about the beer price.

Since we last wrote, the new beer prices have been announced: and the news is not good. Obviously, nobody was expecting the amber nectar to get cheaper – after all, apart from Primark clothing, nothing in this world ever does actually cost less than it used to! But, given that inflation is currently at an all-time low and that the beer being served hasn’t been improved in any way, we had at least wondered if this might not be quite the right year to increase prices again.

How wrong we were!

That’s right: despite overall inflation running low at under one percent, the landlords at the Oktoberfest tents have decided that their beer must now cost on average 2.58% more than last year. And – more crucially – they’ve thrown caution to the wind and smashed through a psychological barrier in the form of the 10-Euro-mark. In six of the major tents, a litre of the old brew will now set you back more than €10.00. And given that tipping is important to keep the flow coming, the de facto price is actually now €11.00.

To be fair, it’s better for the staff. Last year, with beer prices hovering just below 10 Euros, the poor waiters and waitresses had to smile as people simply rounded up the price from, say, €9.80 to €10.00 when, just two or three years beforehand, their margin on a 10-Euro-note was closer to 10%. But this makes it all the more absurd when, in a press conference, the head of the Munich Oktoberfest landlords’ association tries to justify the price hike with “increased staffing costs”. The only people who will be paying more to staff in 2014 are the punters.

But that’s the problem really, isn’t it: “will be paying”. We won’t be boycotting the Oktoberfest, or trying to sneak in our own cheaper beer. Who would? The Wiesnwirte, as the tent-owners are known, have what is called a “captive market”, and they know it. And so we’ll grumble and rant, and then fly over and shell out our 11 Euros per litre of golden, frothy, thoroughly delicious, wonderful, magnificent… beer, and forget all about it.

Until around this time next year, that is.