181st Oktoberfest by the Numbers

Newly elected mayor of Munich, Dieter Reiter taps the first keg

At noon on the first Saturday of Oktoberfest, at the end of a parade that travels the streets of Munich, the mayor of Munich uses a mallet to tap a wooden keg brought by draft horses and proclaims, "O'zapft is!" which is a Bavarian saying meaning, "It's tapped!" thus starting the three weeks of festivities.


Here's a rundown of numbers of this year's Oktoberfest, the 181st that has been celebrated on Munich's hallowed ground called Theresienwise, or as the pros refer to it: Wies'n.


6.3 Million: Number of visitors
6.5 Million Liters: Beer Consumed
3.7 Million: Additional Passengers on the Munich Subway and Bus System
112,000: Stolen Bier Steins
3,603: People who needed medical attention
1,290: Arrests
681: Alcohol Poisonings
150: Closures of the Theresienwise Subway station because of overcrowding
36: Fights in which the Liter Steins were used

8: Found Children

2.98 Million Kilowatts: Power Consumed
220,000 Cubic Meters: Gas Consumption

115,000 Cubic Meters: Water Consumption

570 GB: Mobile Data on the First Saturday
112: Oxen Eaten

3,646: Lost and Found Items
900: IDs
530: Purses
230: Eyeglasses
330: Smart phones
1: iPhone 6
4: Tickets to the Bayern München vs. Hannover 96 Soccer match

Source: http://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/oktoberfest-bilanz-fundstuecke-und-ein-erschlagenes-monster-1.2159365

Ein Prosit!

181st Oktoberfest

Today is the German Unity Day (Tag der deutschen Einheit) and what better way to celebrate for an American beer enthusiast (enthusiastic about good beer all around the world, not just American) living in Germany than to create a beer blog devoted to German beer? I couldn't think of one, so I took to blogger and decided to start writing.

Behind water and tea, beer is the third most popular beverage in the world. While this ubiquity helps to make it easily approachable, there's a broad spectrum in terms of quality of beer available. 


It's not uncommon for a typical bar in the U.S. to have a wide selection of offerings, ranging from an inky dark, high octane, flavored stout like a Founders Breakfast Stout to a citrusy hop forward, "session" IPA like Stone's Go To IPA, and hitting every flavor and style in between. The selection can be a bit daunting to some, and a bit of a gamble. In Germany, I've found it rare to find bars that sell more than the standard "big three" varieties: Pilsner, Dunkel and Hefeweizen. There's a rich history of brewing and beer culture in Germany, but if one wants to find variation outside of the "big three" a little work is required. That's what I hope to accomplish with Bier von Westfal.