Our review of the Munich Strong Beer Festival 2014

Although the Strong Beer Festival – or Starkbierfest – may still be the lesser-known cousin of the famous Oktoberfest, we’re wondering how long that will remain the case for. Why? Because it just gets better year on year. The Strong Beer season used to be little more than background noise in the beer gardens, but it’s now a fully-fledged festival – and of course the first event in the calendar to which Bavarian costume is worn.

So we jumped at the chance this year to get into our new lederhosen and dirndl buys and take them for a test-wear, as well as getting a look at what everyone else is wearing by way of Bavarian fashion this year.

And while we were at it, we thought we’d compile a look back for you so that you know which fashions to expect this time at the Oktoberfest – and what to expect if you manage to get to the Starkbierfest next time round.

Indoors

The Paulaner Brewery on Nockherberg is where the real action happens. Things get going in the afternoon and go through until late evening, getting progressively louder and more raucous. These photos should give you an impression of the atmosphere.

Yesterday evening was the last day of the Strong Beer Festival 2014 after 16 days in which Paulaner were serving Salvator, their beautiful  7.6% ABV strong beer. Don’t worry about all those thirsty Munich residents, though: in just under a month, Hofbräuhaus is putting on the Maibockbierfest, or festival of spring strong beer, and the whole madness is set to start afresh…

Outdoors

And what better way than to close our impressions of the Munich Strong Beer Festival 2014 than with a few photos of what we all came to see: lederhosen and dirndls in their natural habitat, worn by pilgrims heading to a modern-day sanctuary of a very special kind…