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The story
The world’s largest beer festival, Oktoberfest, kicked off in Munich, Germany, on September 19. What began in 1810 as a celebration of a Bavarian prince’s wedding has grown into an event drawing more than 6 million visitors every year. On 5ch, threads lit up with trivia-style chatter — how expensive the beer is on-site, why the festival’s name doesn’t match when it’s actually held, and the different customs around whether beer should be served chilled — with some users also bringing up similar events held in Japan, like the one in Nagoya.
The world’s largest beer festival, “Oktoberfest,” has begun in the southern German city of Munich.
Oktoberfest is a beer festival drawing more than 6 million visitors, said to have started in 1810 to mark the wedding of a prince of the Kingdom of Bavaria at the time.
On opening day, September 19, the mayor of Munich tapped a keg of specially brewed beer in time with the countdown, loudly declaring the festival open.
Source: news.web.nhk / Original article here
What people said
(°∀°) Booze isn't for acting tough, it's to enrich your life
(°∀°)つ chicken cutlet
(°～°) *nom nom*
Is this what happens to a brain that's watched too many 'Japan is amazing' videos?
Like they say, 'a frog in a well knows nothing of the ocean' (i.e. you don't know what you're missing)
I used to love beer so much I'd knock back like 4 tall cans a day, but lately I just have one and switch to highballs the rest of the night
Well now, that's one loooong beer (drawn-out, slurred delivery in the original)
That's about 1400 yen per liter
Factor in the weak yen (double that), and it's 2800 yen
A medium draft isn't even 500ml though
https://www.oktober-fest.jp/images/uniq/img-costume-02.png
Going by that classification (the dirndl bow-position code), I'd guess middle means underage, or if she's an adult, a virgin looking for a partner?
Amazing, this should really catch on in Japan too
You can't drink that much anyway, it's not even all-you-can-drink
and on top of that it's expensive
Have you never been? It's packed out in every major city, no matter where
I always wondered about that myself, apparently this is why
I figured it might be some old-calendar thing but…
https://omatsurijapan.com/blog/oktoberfest-trivia/
Forget September — they even hold one somewhere in Japan in spring.
Walking right into it, huh
Heineken (brewed by Kirin) Hoegaarden (brewed in Korea)
Hoegaarden hasn't tasted the same since production moved to Korea…
In Germany, beer is a hot drink
They often warm it up like heated sake
It's a cold country after all (said jokingly)
Dunno about Germany specifically, but there are tons of beer styles out there
In Japan 99.9% of what's sold is just one fizzy, foamy type of beer
so that's the only image Japanese people have of what beer even is
At least at the Munich Oktoberfest, every beer served is cold.
The Nagoya one has women dressed like that
Is that mostly down to the climate difference?
If you travel around Asia you'll notice that in places hotter than Japan, beer tends to be lighter-bodied with ice-cold serving as the priority
European beers tend to be heavier-flavored, and plenty aren't served chilled at all
Japan sits somewhere in the middle
And here we go again…
Top-fermented beer (ale): fine chilled or unchilled
A brewing method that predates refrigeration
i.e. one with roughly 4,000 years of history
People who deliberately choose this style usually drink it at room temperature
Bottom-fermented beer (lager): has to be served cold
A method that spread alongside the rise of refrigeration
Fermentation proceeds slowly, making the flavor easier to fine-tune
For that reason, big manufacturers wanting to avoid flavor inconsistency mostly go with this style
Is that beer actually better than Asahi Super Dry?
You mean this one?
https://tblg.k-img.com/restaurant/images/Rvw/365263/640x640_rect_f48402850bed6f0beef21472c23a82ae.jpg
Yeah, that's the one — none of the places I go to actually carry it though
Background and key points of this discussion
Despite its name, Oktoberfest has, since the mid-19th century, actually been shifted earlier to run from late September through early October. The change was made so the festival could be held outdoors in mild autumn weather, and that practice continues today. The ‘chilled or not’ debate that came up in the thread isn’t just about climate — it also comes down to differences in brewing method, namely top-fermentation versus bottom-fermentation — so it’s not quite accurate to simply say ‘Germany is cold, so the beer is room temperature.’ There were also posts about the manufacturing and ownership ties behind brands like Heineken and Hoegaarden, but since corporate ownership structures and production sites can shift over time, that information shouldn’t be taken as definitive as posted. On pricing, it’s worth noting the local standard unit is the 1-liter mug, which can look pricier when compared directly to the several-hundred-ml medium draft served at Japanese izakayas.
※This article is an excerpt/summary compiled from the 5ch (News Bulletin+) thread “World’s Largest Beer Festival ‘Oktoberfest’ Kicks Off — Germany“.
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