Who It's For: Beer drinkers, history fans, anyone with an Oktoberfest trip on the list, and anyone who has drunk a Festbier without knowing where it came from.
Oktoberfest is more than lederhosen, pretzels, and steins large enough to double as free weights. The festival started as a five-day celebration for a royal wedding in Munich in 1810 and, over two hundred years later, became the biggest beer gathering on the planet. Along the way, the beer poured at the festival changed too, evolving from the amber, malty Märzen style into the lighter, brighter Festbier most tents pour today.
Master Cicerone® Jen Blair leads a walk through the history, the traditions, and the beers themselves. Taste representative examples side by side, follow the evolution from Märzen to Festbier, and get the full context behind the customs that make Oktoberfest what it is. By the end you will understand why one wedding in Bavaria is still shaping how the world drinks in September. Prost.