Chapter 3 Food & Drink
No trip to the Oktoberfest would be complete without enjoying some typical Bavarian specialities. After all, the selection of foods – both sweet and savoury – is immense and everyone will find something they like: in recent years, the famously meat-focussed culinary offering has been extended to cater to vegetarians and vegans, too.
In the larger tents, the focus is unsurprisingly on the beer, which is a special brew produced specifically for the Oktoberfest by six traditional Munich breweries: Spaten, Paulaner, Löwnebräu, Hofbräu, Hacker-Pschorr, and Augustiner. As well as in typical litre tankards, the beer can be bought as a shandy (half and half beer to lemonade); non-alcoholic drinks are also available. Then there are tents which focus on other types of drinks such as the Weinzelt and the small café-style tents.
People who have reservations pay for their first beers and a meal using vouchers. These coupons can, however, be kept for later use or passed on – i.e. they are a kind of parallel currency. You might also see some people picnicking on their own food in the beer gardens (which is allowed, albeit not inside the tents). Due to safety concerns, drinks in glass bottles are banned from the festival area.
Bavarian specialities at the Oktoberfest
Traditional Oktoberfest cuisine has got something for everyone, from hearty, decidedly meaty fare through to sweet treats. In fact, the only group Wiesn food doesn’t really have much to offer is calorie counters. Then again, anyone looking to avoid high-calorie nourishment is in the wrong place entirely.
What a lot of visitors underestimate is the effect Wiesn beer has on an empty stomach, so the best way to enjoy the fest is to start with a good meal. That’s why each tent offers a broad range of foods, from filling main dishes through to snacks to help soak up the continuing stream of beer. The classics below are available in almost every tent.
Roast chicken (Halbes Hendl)
This is the classic Oktoberfest meal: half of a chicken spit-roast on an open flame. It’s quite strongly seasoned and under its crunchy skin, you’ll find the meat is juicy with a rich, buttery taste. It’s generally served without cutlery as the tradition is to eat it with your fingers.
Bratwurst
These typically German sausages are an Oktoberfest favourite that is available everywhere. In the tents, they’re generally served with sauerkraut as part of a full meal; at the food stands, you’re more likely to get them served straight off the grill with mustard in a bap. Fun fact: the most popular Bavarian brats aren’t from Munich, but from Nuremberg (that’s why they’re called Nürnberger).
Pretzel (Brezn)
Forget what you thought you knew about pretzels: the Brezn at the Oktoberfest are about five times the size of a standard German pretzel and are baked fresh. Their crispy outside (browned by being sprinkled with lye) splits to reveal a fluffy interior; the salt grains don’t just add flavour, but absorb moisture and keep the pretzel crisp for longer.
Sweet dumpling (Dampfnudel)
Literally “steam noodles‿, Dampfnudel are sweet yeast buns cooked in a pan of milk and butter. The lid is not opened during cooking, which keeps the dumplings soft and fluffy while creating a thin, sweet crust on the bottom. Served with a thin custard, they are a classic Oktoberfest desert and also make an excellent accompaniment to an afternoon coffee.
Candied almonds (gebrannte Mandeln)
You’ll smell them long before you see them: the delicious scent of caramelised sugar and roasting almonds wafts across the Wiesn from the many stands making them. Once the sugar coating with a hint of vanilla has set, the almonds are sold in paper bags; many of the of stands also offer different types of coating or a range of other nuts.
Kaiserschmarrn
This most traditional of Bavarian desserts literally means “Emperor’s Mess‿ and is a rich pancake pulled into shreds before it is turned in the pan and dusted with sugar to give it a slight caramel note. Some versions include raisins or almonds, and it is usually served with fruit compote (plum and lingonberry are popular autumn choices).
Leberkas
Translating as “liver cheese‿, Leberkas is a form of Bavarian meatloaf which has neither any liver nor any cheese. It is essentially a finely-ground meat mass baked in a bread tin until it develops a crust. Served in slices with a range of condiments or as part of a meat platter, it is a typical Oktoberfest foodstuff. You will also see it offered in baps with mustard as a beer garden snack.
Gingerbread heart (Lebkuchenherz)
These edible hearts are one of the most popular Oktoberfest souvenirs, and indeed their edible characteristic is often quite secondary: more often than not, they are worn around the neck and then kept for long after the festival has finished. Decorated with icing and featuring schmaltzy or tongue-in-cheek slogans, make sure you get some advice on what the words actually mean before you buy!
“Die Mass‿
The one-litre tankard of Oktoberfest beer is the drink almost everyone hits the tents for. Brewed specially for the Wiesn, the beer available is slightly stronger than regular bottled or barrel beer and the average serving is somewhere between 800 and 900ml (depending on foam). A Radler-Mass is beer mixed with lemonade and alcohol-free brews are also available.
Obatzda
This exotic-sounding dish is a typical snack. Made by beating camembert or brie into cream cheese and butter, the resulting paste is seasoned with salt, pepper, paprika, and caraway to give it a tasty zing. It is then generally served with sliced onion, chives, and radishes and eaten on dark bread or with a pretzel.
Schnaps
A range of different types of schnaps is available at the Oktoberfest, but a really unique flavour experience is gentian spirit made with an aromatic root otherwise used in cocktail bitters and aperitifs such as Aperol. You can also try a range of sweet schnaps made from Bavarian fruits.
Pork knuckle
With its crispy crackling and soft meat, a roasted hock of pork is a hearty, filling Bavarian classic. Many cooks refused to share the precise seasoning they use, so each one you try will taste slightly different. Typically, the entire pork knuckle is served with dumplings and cabbage, but you’ll also come across slices being served in snack-size baps.
Spätzle
One of the standard vegetarian dishes at the Oktoberfest, Käsespätzle is made with traditional Swabian spätzle – a form of egg noodle – put into an oven dish with alternating layers of grated cheese and then baked in the oven until the cheese has melted. More often than not, the portion is garnished with caramelised onions or chives and served with a fresh salad.
Grilled fish (Steckerlfisch)
This is a popular local speciality based on a special way of cooking fish: after cleaning and preparing, the fish are marinated in seasoned oil and then pulled over sticks which are then lowered over an open fire. With its strong savoury flavour, mackeral makes a great Steckerlfisch, as do trout, char, and sea bass.
Weisswurst
These Bavarian veal sausages are traditionally only to be eaten before the Munich church bells have chimed midday, but an exception is made at the Oktoberfest and you can try them at other times of day, too; they’re served with sweet mustard and a pretzel. You can recognise a true Bavarian by the way they eat weisswurst: sucking them out of the (inedible) skin. Everyone else uses a knife and form to remove the skin before enjoying the sausage sliced.
How to tap a keg like a professional
Tapping at home
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Barrels of beer shouldn’t be tapped immediately on arrival: leave yours to settle for as long as possible to avoid excessive foaming. It’s also important to keep the barrel as cool as you can during drinking: try wrapping it in cold towels or putting on a tray of ice.
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Traditionally, barrels are set up on dedicated trestles, but a good, solid table that can take the weight will do just fine for home use. The barrel mustn’t slip or slide when being tapped, but setting up the table with a slight incline can help you to serve the beer.
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Remember to make sure the tap is closed before putting it into the opening towards the bottom of the keg. A barrel tap is closed when the handle is parallel to the direction in which the beer will flow.
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Hold the tap tight to the barrel with one hand and use the other to knock it in with a wooden mallet. Aim for the front of the tap and hit as straight as possible until the tap is firmly inside the barrel.
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Once you’ve tapped the keg, pour the first glass and tip it out: then you’re ready to start drinking. You’ll notice that the pressure starts to drop after some time; that’s when you knock in the ventilation valve on the top of the barrel.
Tapping at the Oktoberfest
On the first day of the Oktoberfest, the ceremonial tapping of the first keg by the Mayor of Munich is the moment that everyone’s waiting for – after all, not a drop of beer is sold beforehand! The Anstich, as it is called in German, has taken place on the first Saturday after 15th September at 12 midday sharp every year since 1950. The tradition was founded by Mayor Thomas Wimmer that year: he was the first to officially open the Oktoberfest by means of tapping a keg.
Another custom came about in 1980, when the legendary Minister President of Bavaria Franz Joseph Strauß was given the first tankard of beer from the barrel. Once the beer is flowing, the words “O’zapft is!‿ are shouted out (that’s Bavarian for “It has been tapped!‿) and twelve shots are fired outside. That’s the sign for other tents to start serving. In 1950 and 1951, the first barrel tapped by the Mayor was Hofbräu; since 1952, though, Spatenbräu has had the honour. An annual sport is to bet on how many hits of the mallet the Mayor will need to tap the keg: thus far, the record is shared by Christian Ude and Dieter Reiter, both of whom managed it in just two strokes.