In high spirits at Oktoberfest

Prost! Oktoberfest, or die Wiesn as the locals call it in Bavarian, is here. This 16 day long boozy festival is held every year in Munich in late September till first weekend in October.

Although this festival is now synonymous with beer, revelry and waitresses in Bavarian costumes; the fair originally started in 1810 as a celebration of the wedding of King Ludwig 1 and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen and has now become the world’s largest fair.

The next year in 1811, the festival became an agricultural show promoting Bavarian agriculture, which still takes place during Oktoberfest once every four years.

So what do wedding, farming and beer have in common? As Indians, we only know too well how critical alcohol is to any wedding party and I suppose drinking is the best way to celebrate any occasion, even if it is an agricultural fair.

Oktoberfest Beer, is no ordinary beer and hence, its effects too are different from the ordinary. It has an approximate 6 per cent alcohol strength which is about 1-2 per cent stronger than normal beer, and thus many guests over-estimate their ability to handle this strong libation and end up becoming beer corpses or as German like to call them "Bierleichen". Heavy fried meaty dishes such as Hendl and Weisswurst often accompany the beer guzzling activities.

For those of us, who can’t afford the international holiday, luckily most big cities across the world celebrate Oktoberfest in restaurants, bars and public spaces.

So head over to your favourite local bar and make most of the offers on beer. It may not be the real Oktoberfest beer, but what the hell; after 4, 5 or 6 mugs of this frothy drink, they all begin to taste the same!