Oktoberfest 2014 Update – September

What’s today? That’s right, 12^th September. And what does that mean? Well, it means that if you take 12 and swap the digits round, you get 21^st September, which is the first Sunday of the Oktoberfest 2014! The first keg is being tapped this year on 20^th September: as ever, on a Saturday, as ever in the Schottenhamel tent, and as ever by the Mayor of Munich. However, this year, it’s Dieter Reiter, an incoming mayor with no experience of keg-tapping just yet. His predecessor Christian Ude had, thanks to long years of practice, gotten into the habit of breaking through the wood of the barrel with two swings of the hammer, but this year, we may just have to wait a tad longer for our beer…

Marstall is more or less ready

But what are a few seconds or minutes when there’s a whole new tent at the Oktoberfest 2014?! Marstall, the new tent, for all the scandals surrounding its inception, is now standing and almost complete – and for all we are suspicious of the process under which it was planned and about what kind of customer the tent is trying to attract – our first impression of the exterior is that it could have been worse. Especially viewed from the side, it’s got quite a classic look to it – very Bavarian with all its white, very stylish too; the three heart at the front end are pretty tacky of course, so it’s swings and roundabouts. But the proof of the beer tent is in the drinking, so we’re looking forward to judging this particular book not by its cover, but by its beer and atmosphere in just under 10 days’ time.

Brainless official tankard

What we’re not massively keen on doing is buying the official Oktoberfest 2014 tankard. Having said that, we’ve rarely been keen on any of them – the last one we purchased was the 200^th anniversary edition in 2010 – but this year’s “creation” is particularly disappointing. As a cabaret artist by the name of Andreas Giebel pointed out, the gaudily colourful figures’ heads have been chopped off – meaning that the whole thing is pretty brainless, really. They certainly look like some intern was left with designing this year’s mug and that no-one bothered to check over the result.

Lederhosen from the source

A more promising update – especially for those of you who still need lederhosen or dirndls – is that the Hofbräuhaus in town has a pop-up store selling Bavarian clothing open all throughout the Oktoberfest. It’s already doing a roaring trade, although a little birdie tells us that most people are buying everything they need online and just going there to browse – after all, they have beer too. But if you really do get yourself into a last-minute pickle, you’re bound to be able to pick up some traditional Bavarian gear there.

On that note, time to go and get out last years’ lederhosen, dirndls, shirts, and aprons to hang up. Hopefully there won’t be too many creases – or unexplained stains from the Starkbierfest in March that we forgot about.

And, if you need something listen to while you’re packing for the Oktoberfest, how about trying this list of old “Wiesn hits”…?

Or humming that little ditty about “Ein Prosit, ein Prosit, der Gemütlichkeit!”?