The View From My Beer
Each of the popular beers in and around Bavaria have their own beer halls. So where you sit determines what you drink. And there is only one size of beer, the one litre mass of beer. I spent much of my day drinking Lowenbrau and enjoying the view of the Lowenbrau tent at Octoberfest.
Octoberfest
Widely regarded as the world’s largest beer festival, Munich’s Octoberfest draws a crowd of round six million people each year consuming 1.8 million gallons of beer. The event originally started as a a wedding celebration in 1810, and while it’s famous for beer, it also features amusement rides, food, and has surprisingly kid-friendly areas. Only beer from Munich breweries is permitted. The event runs for 16 days. In 2025 it ran from September 20 – October 5.
Having some felxibility in my schedule, I decided it would be interesting to attend the opening day. This meant having to wait till 12 noon, when Munich’s mayor traditionally taps the first keg of beer.
My Walk
Theresienwiesse
Even though I knew there would not be any beer until noon I got there nice and early. It wasn’t hard to find. I just had to walk out the front of my hotel and follow the crowd, many of who were dressed in traditional Bavarian clothes. I walked round the fair ground section. Many of the rides and food stands are very old and I just love the authentic look and feel they have.
Lowenbrau Beer Tent
The Löwenbräu Beer Tent is a large festival tent at the Munich Oktoberfest, known for its lion mascot and party atmosphere. It can accommodate over 8,500 guests and serves Löwenbräu beer and traditional Bavarian food. The tent is easy to find thanks to its distinctive 37-meter tower topped with a rotating lion.
I started visiting a few of the 39 beer tents trying to figure out how I was going to find a table. I knew lots of tables were reserved for large groups. I didn’t want to wait too long as the tables all seemed to be filling up quickly, especially those in areas that did not seem to be reserved. I decided to take one of the remaining empty tables on the balcony of the Löwenbräu tent. I later discovered this was the same beer tent I had drink in back in 1986. Back then I had been standing around and was invited to join a table. This time I figured if I had a table first, I would not feel guilty about encroaching on anyone else’s table.Fortunately, I found one that had a large umbrella. A few minutes later two young ladies asked if any of the seats for free. I willing agreed. They had some other colleagues joining us that filled up the entire table.
It was still ony 10:30AM, so we had a 90-minute wait before we could start drinking. The sun was very hot and the umbrella proved very handy. Many other tables were left backing in the hot sun with no beer to drink. It turned out my new friends were all locals and attend 5-7 days of Octoberfest each year. This was awesome as they knew all the ins and out and they were very willing to help me out.
Before that, my friends all indulged in ‘white sausage’. This is a traditional food at Octoberfest that is typically eat before noon. This tradition was established before modern refrigeration. Because the sausage does not contain preservatives, it needed to be eaten before it deteriorated in the warmth.
Just before noon the official procession soon arrived outside our tent. My vfriends had known to order beers ahead of time, so when the first keg was tapped at noon, we were amonst the first to enjoy. nice cold beer.
Rides
Much lter in the day after a great many large glasses of German beer had been enjoyed, I was informed my friends had decided they wanted to try and get into another beer tent where they could sit inside and enjoy the music. They also wanted to enjoy a few of the traditional rides. I wass oinformed they intended to kidnap me and take me with them. of course I was a willing hostage! I then had the distinct advantage of joining them on several of their all-time favorite rides. So I got the benefiyt of their many years of experience visiting Octoberfest to enjoy some of the better rides.
Beer Tent #2
Our next tent was Festzelt Tradition. It is a large tent in the Old Octoberfest section. It is well known for its traditional Bavarian atmosphere and focus on heritage. It features traditional brass music, folk dances, and classic Bavarian food, offering an experience similar to how Oktoberfest used to be. We also got to drink put of authentic beer steins rather than glasses. This was again another lucky break for me, running into locals who knew all the ins and outs of Octoberfest.
