Oktoberfest 2020: Everything you need to celebrate the beer festival at home
While the annual event may have been cancelled, enjoy the best Germany has to offer with these brews and beer dispensers
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Your support makes all the difference.The month of October is a standout in the calendar for beer lovers, as the German folk event Oktoberfest is celebrated across a 16 or 18-day period, showcasing the finest beer and food the country has to offer, with the main events being held in Munich and Bavaria.
There’s often events close to home too, as cities across the UK get involved with street market celebrations and functions held by pubs and breweries.
Typically the festival runs from mid to late September to the first Sunday in October, but the ongoing pandemic has forced organisers to cancel Oktoberfest this year, just like so many other events. But there’s no need to put your steins down just yet, as there’s still plenty of ways you can celebrate at home.
While the bustling crowds, traditional dress and live music will have to wait , you can still enjoy some fine German brews from the comfort of your own sofa or garden.
Whether you were hoping to see the real deal for the first time before the pandemic struck, or are well experienced in drinking some of Germany’s finest exports, we’ve created the ultimate guide to creating a home-staged beer festival.
From the best brews (non-alcoholic included), to beer dispensers that deliver pints on tap at home, this is everything you need to kick off Oktoberfest in style.
You can trust our independent round-ups. We may earn commission from some of the retailers, but we never allow this to influence selections. This revenue helps us to fund journalism across The Independent.
German beers
No Oktoberfest can be celebrated without a few German beers, and luckily we recruited an expert to test a range of brews in our guide to the best.
Coming in at number one was this Augustiner lagerbier hell, 5.2% (Beers of Europe, £2.90) which our tester called “the pinnacle of lager excellence."
A smooth brew with a perky effervescence, it’s an easy going beer you’ll be tempted to drink all day long.
We were also impressed with the Schlösser Alt altbier, 4.8% (Trembling Madness, £2.35). A speciality of Dusseldorf, it’s often described as being close to a traditional English beer due to its malty character and use of ale yeast.
The clear amber brew has some toasty, nutty malt flavours, a fair amount of earthy bitterness, and a clean, smooth feel that makes it distinctly Germanic.
This Ayinger celebrator doppelbock, 7.6% (Beer Hawk, £3.49) also gets a mention for its rich, malty lager that has a dried fruit and caramel aroma.
Smooth to sip with an alluring warmth, it’s guaranteed to keep your taste buds happy.
Alcohol-free beers
Whether you’re tee-total or challenging yourself to complete a sober October, it doesn’t mean you have to miss out on the fun.
In our guide to the best alcohol-free brews that taste like the real deal, this Unltd alcohol free lager, 12 x 330ml (Unltd, £24.99) tasted like many popular German lagers with its balanced mix of citrus, hops and malt.
According to our reviewer, Unltd also uses the increasingly popular process of brewing with a low ABV rather than extracting the alcohol from the beer, so the flavour is better.
Top up your fridge with this Krombacher Weizen alcohol free beer, 500ml (Wise Bartender, £2.49) too, which we found offers the same yeasty, banana aromas and flavours you’d expect from the alcoholic counterpart.
It’s brewed in the same way as the original too, and the lack of alcohol takes the edge off a bit.
Beer dispensers
Go that extra mile for your at-home festival with a beer dispenser that will fill up your stein over and over with delicious brew.
Choose a simple plastic tap and tower dispenser for quick beer access, or go the whole hog and install a system to carbonate and chill your pint of choice.
In our guide to the best, we loved this Krups the sub draught beer (Beerwulf, £119) that holds 2I, or just under four pints.
To use, we found you needed to simply load a beer “torp” into the sub, feed a rubber tube through to the tap and your perfect pint is almost ready to be poured. “Speed the process up by keeping subs in the fridge first and the machine will take them colder to 2C," said our reviewers.
It’s stylish and compact, and will only take up the same space as a four-slot toaster.
Our reviewer found the drinks poured well, after a bit of practise on glass-tilting to get the right size of head on a pint.
Beer subscription services
While supermarkets offer a large selection of beers, lagers and ciders on their shelves, there are many more specialists who have made it their mission to bring exciting new flavours to the market.
There’s plenty of subscription services to be found online that offer the opportunity to expand your palette and experiment with new producers and breweries, all without having to get off the sofa, as the doorstep delivery aspect is convenient and fuss-free.
In our round-up of the best beer subscription services, our reviewer awarded the Fetch cider club (Fetch Cider, £39.99) the best buy, which delivers a box of 12 bottles to your doorstep.
According to our tester, Fetch works with independent producers which use traditional brewing methods; from household name Thistly Cross to Bristol’s Beard and Sabre to UK cider royalty Tom Oliver and many Somerset and Devon cider makers. Delivering boxes of 12 brews to your door, this service would be our go-to for any at-home festival.
Another service that caught our eye is the Fresh beer club. Essentially a home brewery delivery service, after buying a pinter (a dispenser type container that allows you to ferment your beer at home) which will set you back £75 (this does come with the ingredients for brewing two beers), you can then join the club to receive monthly packs containing the ingredients for your brew of choice, with the option of choosing up to four a month.
The selection includes the likes of Craftwerk pilsner, Cloudy Nine cider and Public House IPA. Each month you can edit your drink choices for a curated palette.
Fresh Beer Club suggests drinking your creations immediately for the freshest tasting drink (great news for a beer festival from home) but the brew will hold its flavour for up to three weeks in the pinter.
Stein glasses
For an authentic beer-drinking experience, ensure you’re sipping out of this dimpled Oktoberfest glass beer mug with flat pewter lid 0.5l (German Steins, £34.62).
The tankard is as traditional as it gets and even has a pewter lid to reduce any spillages if you’re moving from room to room with a freshly poured glass.
You can also have it engraved with your initials or name, making it the perfect gift for a beer lover celebrating their birthday during Oktoberfest too.
If you’re after something simpler, try this John Lewis & Partners cellar dimpled glass tankard, 570ml (John Lewis & Partners, £7).
Robust but dishwasher safe, it’s suited to all brews and the study handle will make moving your favourite tipple from dispenser to the kitchen table a breeze.
For more on Oktoberfest, read our guide to the 10 best German beers