As lucrative biofuel crops crowd out barley acreage in Germany, brewers say the drive for alternative energy sources will force them to raise the price of beer next year. Alexander Bakst reports.
Oktoberfest shuts off its taps on Monday evening after Munich's beer festival welcomed record numbers of visitors to its 200th anniversary celebration. But along with the crowds came chaos this weekend.
The 200th anniversary Oktoberfest is the first to be completely smoke-free, thanks to Bavaria's new no exceptions smoking ban and solidarity among the beer-tent landlords. <b>Ben Knight</b> found out how the locals are coping.
To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Oktoberfest this year, organisers have created a historical tribute to the festivals of yore. Ben Knight slipped on his lederhosen for a tour of the nostalgia zone.
This year’s 200th anniversary Oktoberfest has proved to be rowdier than previous years, officials said this week, citing a jump in the use of the festival’s famous large beer mugs as weapons.
Though rivers of beer are consumed each year at Oktoberfest, it's just a fraction of Munich breweries' overall sales. For them the festival is not just tradition, it's also a massive public relations event fuelling their international business.
The Munich beer festival kicked off Saturday with millions of visitors from around the world expected to raise a glass or two to celebrate the event's 200th birthday over the next 17 days.
Berliners can now feel good about their hangovers. For every bottle of a new beer the capital’s denizens guzzle down, the profits will go to social initiatives in their own neighbourhoods. The Local met with the founder of <i>Quartiermeister</i> for a drink.
One day before the official start of Munich’s 200th anniversary Oktoberfest celebrations, a special historical area tapped its kegs on Friday, treating guests to a nostalgic taste of the famous Bavarian beer bash.
Beer in Palestine? Oompah music in Ho Chi Minh City? With Munich’s legendary beer bash Oktoberfest about to celebrate its 200th anniversary, <b>Ben Knight</b> takes a look at the impact of Bavaria’s cultural juggernaut around the world.
A new smoking ban at Munich's Oktoberfest means visitors to the world-famous beer bash won't leave smelling like an ashtray, but what about the stink of sweat, roasted chicken and stale alcohol? One businessman has the answer: an odour-eating bacteria.
The proprietors of tents at Munich’s world-famous beer festival Oktoberfest have agreed to implement Bavaria’s strict new smoking ban this year despite having a grace period till 2011.
German football fans nearly rioted during the last World Cup after FIFA and its beverage sponsors tried to force Budweiser on them. Ben Knight reports on how the popular East German brew Hasseröder became this year’s official beer.
Germany's world-famous beer festival Oktoberfest said Wednesday that it has upped the price for its huge mugs of amber nectar to almost €9 for this year's 200th anniversary event.
Good news for the start of Bavaria's beer garden season: Except for capital city Munich, the southern German state's beer prices are expected to remain stable this year.
Gray Powell, the Apple employee who blew a hole in the technology firm’s product security by losing a top-secret iPhone prototype after a session on German beer, has been offered a chance to drown his sorrows by airline Lufthansa.
Lent might be a period of abstinence, but Bavarian monks decided centuries ago that drinking highly alcoholic beer helped their fasting. Thomas Barkley explains Munich's <i>Starkbierzeit</i> tradition.
Germans may be famous around the world for their beer, but they drank less of the amber nectar in 2009 than at any time in the past 20 years, according to official statistics published on Thursday.
On the final day of Munich’s Oktoberfest, the city’s mayor said a series of terror warnings had contributed to a “noticeable” drop in revelers to the world’s largest beer festival.
Munich authorities on Monday tightened security checks at Oktoberfest and detained two suspected Islamists just days after terrorist threats led them to declare airspace above the festival a no-fly zone this weekend.
Oktoberfest is booming despite the bad global economy, with 100,000 more guests downing a <i>Maß</i> or 10 in the first week compared with last year, organisers reported Sunday.
A no-fly zone has been established in the skies over Munich’s Oktoberfest from Saturday onwards to prevent terrorists crashing planes into the massive crowds.
