Beer festivals are a great way to sample different types of beer from around the world. From the Munich Oktoberfest in Germany to the Great British Beer Festival in London, there are plenty of beer festivals to choose from. But which country organizes the biggest beer festival in the world? The answer is Germany. Every year, Munich hosts the world-famous Oktoberfest, a 16- to 18-day folkloric festival that is considered to be the second largest beer drinking event in the world.
The festival usually runs from the middle or end of September to the first weekend of October and is home to joyful attractions such as oompah bands, the largest portable Ferris wheel in the world and a 26-meter-high column covered with fruits. The Great British Beer Festival is organized by Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) and is held in London every first day of August. This London-based festival can be enjoyed by 60,000 beer lovers from all over the world and offers live entertainment, bar games and beers from more than 100 breweries. It is estimated that a pint is sold every half second during the course of this festival.
The Great American Beer Festival is one of the great beneficiaries of the craft beer revolution. This annual three-day festival hosts more than 2000 varieties of beer from 450 American breweries and competitions are also held here in which 100 judges from the United States evaluate more than 3000 beers. That's when the president of the Brewers Association, Charlie Papazian, announces the winners of the brewpubs and breweries of the year. The Guinness Book of World Records states that this festival is the world's largest venue for draught beer varieties.
The Mondial de la Bière is Canada's largest beer festival and is held in Montreal every June. This festival is held in the largest auditorium in Montreal and features more than 600 beers. The highlight of this festival is undoubtedly the local beer school, which gives workshops and guides visitors on brewing. The Czech Beer Festival is neither the biggest nor one of the best known festivals in the world, but it would be remiss not to mention a country that has played such an important role in the development of global beer.
This four-day event is the oldest craft beer festival in the country and is organized by the charming city of Portland. The Quindao International Beer Festival lasts a month and hosts numerous beer drinking parties on the shores of Lake Champlain with Adirondack Mountains as a backdrop. This Asian answer to Oktoberfest excels not only in beer but also in entertainment. It's clear, seeing many of these popular beer festivals, that drinking beer has become a fun and historic part of several cultures around the world.
