The 182nd Oktoberfest began a few hours ago with the tapping of the first keg by the mayor of Munich, Dieter Reiter and cry of the traditional “O’zapft is” meaning “it’s tapped”. The Schottenhamel beer tent hosted the Oktoberfest opening ceremony after the morning parade as it does every year. When it began in 1867, Schottenhamel had only 50 seats but these days seats around 10,000 guests at any one time making it the biggest of the Oktoberfest beer tents.
The 182nd Oktoberfest is about to begin in Munich, Germany in less than 24 hours. On Saturday the 19th of September at 6:45pm Australian Eastern Standard Time to be precise. For those of use who aren’t lucky enough to be in Germany for the real deal, there’s plenty of events and things to do to experience some of that Oktoberfest feeling.
Oktoberfest Downunder is a place to find information about all things Oktoberfest and German beer culture that you can see, do and taste, right here in Australia.
So let us look upon the hard workers putting in the final touches to the beer tents before over 6 million people descend upon Theresienwiese tomorrow for the 16 day festival.
