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The eyes are cloudy, the eyelids hang low, the gaze seems to look right through you. The hallway is shaky and the attention is long gone. The lower the sun is above Munich, the more people you encounter in this condition. In the beer tent, in front of the roller coasters, on public transport you always see vomit on the ground.
“You were drinking!” a man whispered to me late in the evening in the “Löwenbräu”. I deny. “That’s nonsense, anyone can say that,” he grins. The idea of only drinking non-alcoholic drinks at Oktoberfest visibly irritates men. “Man, that guy must be drinking!” he says almost sadly.
Not drinking alcohol at Oktoberfest is like switching to a vegan diet as a butcher or suddenly paying tribute to God as an atheist. Unthinkable!
A warning for non-alcoholic beer
The staff in the beer tents at Oktoberfest are anything but mocking if you order a drink without “PS”. “Yes, of course,” says the friendly waitress in a smaller beer tent. The beer will be here soon. No stupid statements, no frowns – just a sweet smile. The next.
At “Löwenbräu” things are similar. ‘Can I have a glass of non-alcoholic?’ I ask cautiously, expecting to be laughed at. To my surprise, Regina, who has been an Oktoberfest waitress for nine years, says, “Yes, of course!” A few minutes later she places one of the oversized gallon jugs in my hand.
There is a large, red warning sign on the handle of the glass that resembles a prohibition sign: ‘Alcohol-free draft beer’. Now I can decide for myself whether I come out or let the clue disappear and go “undercover”.
Looking at it soberly, it’s kind of bizarre to put a big, clearly visible warning label on a drink that won’t get you drunk and is relatively harmless to your body. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?
Shortly before alcohol poisoning
“If you come from Munich, this is how it works,” says a young man shortly after blowing an impressive 2.07 per mille. He drank five liters of beer. As a reminder: from 3 per mille it becomes life-threatening for the human body. Drinking ’til you drop is still in style, although not as common as it once was.
In addition to the many beer tents, there is also a ‘bar hill’ at Oktoberfest. After the long-winded festivities, for many, all that remains is the shaky walk to the green with the derogatory name, where they sleep off their drunkenness. There a woman in a dirndl sits with her legs apart on the slope and empties the contents of her stomach between her feet. Others lie on the floor, some in a stable side position. Her friends watch over her. A few meters away, a man urinates in the middle of the field.
First “beer offering” shortly after tapping the barrel
The walk through the area showed that paramedics and emergency physicians have their hands full at Oktoberfest. People are always lying on the floor and being taken care of. According to German media, this year’s first “beer offering” took place just three and a half hours after the keg was tapped. An American tourist could no longer walk and had to be treated. Compared to previous years, the timing is “quite late”, writes the “Frankfurter Allgemeine”.
Going to Oktoberfest sober is certainly not the easiest endeavor you can undertake. But at the latest the next morning, when you get up without a hangover, abstaining from beer is worth it.
Source: Blick
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
