Beer festivals are found all over the world however the Berlin Beer Festival remains one of the most popular. The event takes place every August and the Karl Marx Allee is transformed into a beer drinking haven dedicated to beer stalls, live music and entertaining shows.
Beer Gardens and Tents
The Berlin Beer Festival boasts of the world’s longest beer garden that stands at 1600 metres, it goes without saying that there are endless gardens to choose from if you want to rest your weary or beer-drowned feet for a while. The gardens are often where visitors can find bands playing a varied selection of live music with many of these gardens filled to capacity throughout the day.
The tents are usually where the majority of the beer flows and the large awnings house endless rows from various countries all over the globe. Everything from unusual beer through to well known brand names are showcased, and plastic glasses are the norm inside and outside these tents. Stalls line up inside the tents and patient beer drinkers wait their turn to buy their next taster.
Entry inside the tents and gardens is free, and breweries from all over Germany as well as the rest of the world offer their beer to anyone with enough patience to stand in a long queue and wait. Breweries from Poland, the UK, Belgium and the Czech Republic are among the most famous who regularly attend. 300 different breweries, representing 86 countries offer 2000 beer specialties in all their diversity at the Berlin Beer festival either in their own tents or alongside their rivals.
Festival Fun
As well as the traditional beer drinking fun that comes as standard at beer festivals, other forms of entertainment are also on offer to add further zest to the exciting atmosphere and this is what makes the Berlin Beer Festival so loved. The festival is famous for its unique blend of culture and entertainment. 18 stages present a varied program with artists and musicians from all around the world. They play anything from rock through to 80s tunes and the live music really adds a sense of fun to the occasion.
Traditional German dancing can also be seen at some of the stalls where dancers wear local dresses ruffled at the bottom paired with white-coloured tops with pig tails and large personalities. Some tents and gardens even offer live stand-up comic shows that are widely appreciated later in the afternoon after a few beers.
Generally tokens are purchased that can be spent at many stalls rather than cash, a common feature that is seen at the majority of international beer festivals. You can buy maps when you first enter the festival and other souvenirs which include classic t-shirts that read phrases such as “I conquered the Berlin Beer Festival!” through to hot dogs and other beer-related snack.
Beer festivals offer a unique atmosphere that varies from wild partying through to relaxing sipping and you can choose how eventful you want your Berlin Beer Festival experience to be as you walk around from tent to tent, garden to garden but the one thing that you definitely cannot do without is the Berlin Beer Festival in your itinerary this summer.
