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A Beer Festival is an organised event during which a variety of beers will be available for tasting and buying. Beer festivals are held in a number of countries.
American beer festivals
The largest and most famous in the United States is the Great American Beer Festival, followed by Brewtopia; though there are many local events.
British beer festivals
In the UK the Great British Beer Festival in August is the largest and most famous, though the festivals at Peterborough and Reading, Berkshire are both very large and are regarded by some as offering a more interesting and distinctive selection of British beers. The National Winter Ales Festival is held in January.
Festivals may be organised by CAMRA, by local pubs, or occasionally by other groups. CAMRA festivals are run by volunteers under direction of the local CAMRA branch. There is an admission fee which is reduced for CAMRA members. Pub festivals use professional bar staff, and there are usually no entry fees. Beer festivals organised by student real ale societies - some CAMRA-affiliated and some not - have existed for many years, but are currently enjoying something of a boom. These festivals are typically held in students' union premises, and entry is hence sometimes restricted to students and staff, though exceptions may be made for card-carrying CAMRA members. Student beer festivals vary in size but can easily rival local CAMRA events, with beer numbers in the 80-100 cask region. Good examples include Cardiff and Warwick.*.
In all British festivals the beer is sold in quantities of half or full pints.
German beer festivals
The oldest and the largest beer festival in the world is Oktoberfest in Germany. Several other smaller beer festivals are held all over Germany all over the year. One such example is the Bergkirchweih in Erlangen.
Other festivals
- The second largest genuine Bavarian festival is the Gäubodenvolksfest in Straubing. The festival is similar like Oktoberfest but it has an own history and it is not a copy of the Oktoberfest.
- The largest Oktoberfest outside Germany is Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest, held in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, around the time of Canadian Thanksgiving; the twin cities have a large ethnic German population.
- Another large event is in Cincinnati, Ohio; over 500,000 people visited during the 2002 Oktoberfest-Zinzinnati.
- The pseudo-Bavarian village of Leavenworth, WA holds Oktoberfest during the first two weeks in October yearly.
- There is an Oktoberfest in Hannover, Germany, but the larger festival in that city is the Schützenfest Hannover, the largest Schützenfest in the world.
- The Bremer Oktoberfest is known as Freimarkt.
- A huge Oktoberfest is held in the Brazilian city of Blumenau (more than 600,000 visitors in 2004), and many other Brazilian cities founded by Germans have their own Oktoberfest, such as Santa Cruz do Sul (more than 500,000 visitors in 2004), Rolândia, São José do Cedro, Seara and Itapiranga.
- In Argentina, a town called Villa General Belgrano in the Córdoba Province has an Oktoberfest that is well-known and the biggest in the country.
- In Mexico, in the cities of Puebla, Mexico City, Mazatlan and Tapachula Oktoberfest is celebrated by the descendants of German immigrants in these cities. The largest ones are held in Puebla and Mexico City where the German community is very important and one can hear German music and be delighted by German food and folk dresses.
- In Trondheim, Norway, an Oktoberfest is held every second year during the student festival UKA.
- Hong Kong has celebrated the 3-week Oktoberfest since 1991 and it is organized by the Marco Polo Hong Kong Hotel (German Beerfest Hong Kong). Many other clubs, hotels and restaurants have an Oktoberfest celebration evening or weekend.
- Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam has celebrated Oktoberfest since 1992 and it is held at the Hotel Equatorial.
- In the Philippines, the Oktoberfest is celebrated all throughout the archipelago. The Philippine Oktoberfest starts every first of October and ends thirty days later. The event is marked by concerts and parties usually sponsored by San Miguel Corporation and Asia Brewery, the top two beer companies in the Philippines.
- Brisbane, Australia has many small celebrations of Oktoberfest. Mainly supported across the local university populations, it has spilled over into local restaurants and pubs, looking to join in the festival.
Not called "Oktoberfest", but very similar in character, is the Cannstatter Wasen in Stuttgart which starts one week later and is the second largest fair in the world. Smaller beer festivals similar to the Oktoberfest are common in Germany and take place throughout the year in most bigger German cities. Some of them go on later into the night than the Oktoberfest.
Many other places have beer festivals, but the name "Oktoberfest" is generally reserved for the Munich event. Inspired by a joke on The Simpsons, there is now a Scottish version called the Scotchtoberfest.
See also
External links
"Beer festival"