Munich - The Oktoberfest

The Munich Oktoberfest is visited each year by over six million people, who according to estimates spend more than a billion euros in all. There are many interesting facts surrounding the world's largest folk festival: an experienced bartender, for example, needs only about 1.5 seconds to fill a litre mug with beer - although it is then not necessarily full to the brim: skilled bartenders, it is claimed, can fill up to 280 beer mugs from just one of the 200-litre barrels, so-called "Hirschen". The official regulations do not require an Oktoberfest beer mug to hold a full litre; it need only contain at least 0.9 litres of the amber fluid. The bands in the tents play the legendary "Ein Prosit der Gemütlichkeit" up to 80 times each day. Even though this toast was penned not by a Bavarian composer but by an inhabitant of Saxony, it is indeed music to the ears of the Bavarian hosts: each "Prosit" in a well-filled large tent is the signal for three to four hectolitres of beer to be poured down the thirsty patrons' throats; this adds up to 280 hectolitres - or 28,000 litres - of beer per tent per day. This book covers all aspects of the Oktoberfest: the showmen, the amusement rides with the richest tradition, the breweries and not least the history and the present-day operation of the legendary beer tents. It takes its readers on a thrilling, entertaining tour of a world that exists for only 14 days each autumn but makes its presence felt throughout the year.