Octoberfest and Non-alcoholic brews

I'm sure there are, but quite honestly, I've never been interested enough to look.

Pretty doubtful. I no longer drink beer or other alcoholic beverages, but a night spent in a great German beerhall or at Oktoberfest would draw me out of retirement. We in the U.S. have such bad beer, generally speaking.

Why in the name of good German beer would a person go to a beer fest to drink non-alcoholic beer? Asking for a friend....

Yes. Example for menu with "alkoholfreies Bier": https://www.hb-festzelt.de/speisekarte.html

We in the U.S. have such bad beer, generally speaking.

Is this a serious comment? The USA is now the best country in the world for beer. I am not talking about the swill that is sold on football game ads, the low-calorie "light beer". I am talking about craft beer.

Every city in the USA today has craft breweries that are better than Germany in most cases. They do many styles. In Sioux Falls, we now have 6 craft brewers, and they make 20-30 beers, all of which are first-rate. They are different but good. They do not use rice like Budweiser. They use good 6-row malted barley and good ingredients.

I like German beer, but it is very limited in the styles. If you want good beer, the USA is the front line today of excellent beer.

like German beer, but it is very limited in the styles

You seem to have no idea what you are talking about. We have approximately 5,000 sorts of beer actually brewed in 1,492 breweries in Germany (status 2017) including small craft beer breweries. On top the beers from neighboring countries. If you want to partially taste through it visit Berlin beer festival on first weekend of August. Forget Oktoberfest for that purpose.

Germany does produce non-alcoholic beers, but it isn't a drink for people who are alcoholics. It still has a teeny, tiny percent. So it is better to drink juices, water, or sodas if you fall in that category.

My beer drinking days are basically over. When I do drink beer, I save this opportunity for drinking on a trip, drinking only German beer as far as drinking is concerned, be it in Potsdam, Berlin, Westfalen , Munich, Saxony, or Schleswig-Holstein as the coming trip will focus, etc.

There are lots and lots of brands in central, eastern and North Germany (Jevers, Herforder Pils, Radeberger, Einbecker, Pinkus/Münster, Flensburger, Köstrizer, and the famous Schultheis, and on and on), other than those in Munich or Bavaria, still those are more preferable than that in Austria, France, Holland, Belgium, etc.

With the named ones you are already in brand / taste discussion. If you start looking on fermentation process (top, bottom) and production ways you will have different main sorts of beer: Pils, Weizen, Schwarzbier, Kölsch, Altbier, Rotbier, Gose, Berliner Weiße, Münchner Dunkel, ... and so on. Then the different subsorts with brands come on top.

...We in the U.S. have such bad beer, generally speaking..."

I couldn't disagree more. Some of the best beers in the world are being produced in America. Go in any supermarket and walk past the piles of Bud, Coors, Miller et al and head straight for the lesser known brands, you'll find some excellent beers there and that's just in the supermarket. There are many, many small, independant breweries producing very good beer.

Everyone has their view and the topic of who produces the best beer can go on and on as we've seen previously but to claim the US has such bad beer is entirely inaccurate.

Google

"oktoberfest münchen alkoholfreies bier"

We visited a friend of a friend in Munich who drank alcohol free "Weiss Bier". She had a medical condition that was aggravated by alcohol but loved the taste of beer. She said it was good.

why in the name of good German beer would a person go to a beer fest to drink non-alcoholic beer? Asking for a friend....I

Yeah, someone is going there to watch over their adult female children

IMO there are two reasons why mass-produced American beers don't taste good. 1) They usually come in cans and not in bottles.
2) They are served way too cold and therefore lose all the flavor they originally may have had.

Yes, you can for sure order an alcohol free beer inside of a tent at Oktoberfest. I’ve done this before when visiting with friends but I had to wake up early the next morning to run a half marathon. It’s a likely to come in a bottle but they’ll bring you a Maß to pour it into.

DJ

Here is the drink menu for the Hofbräuhaus. Hofbräu is one of the providers of beer to Oktoberfest.

Forget Oktoberfest for that purpose.

Only the six breweries actually located in Munich (Hofbräu, Spaten, Augustiner, Hacker-Pschorr, Löwenbräu, and Paulaner) are allow to serve beer at the Oktoberfest.

IMO there are two reasons why mass-produced American beers don't taste good. 1) They usually come in cans and not in bottles.

There's nothing wrong with beer in cans, in fact it's becoming more popular with a lot of the newer craft beer producers. One major benefit of canning is that it doesn't allow any light in which can affect the taste of the beer. Most modern cans are produced in a way that prevents the beer taking on a metallic taste.

Totally understandable if you want to refrain from alcohol at Oktoberfest.

You can have Karamalz or the alkoholfreies Vitamalz...another choice.

There is always "Brause" or something what the Austrians call, "Almdüdler" to avoid the alcohol.

In Berlin one can focus on the Berlin beers...Berlin Kindl, Berliner Pilsener, Berliner Bürgerbräu, Schultheiss, and the famous Berliner Weisse. I prefer "with red"

One can get Paulaner also in Hamburg. Across from Hamburg Hbf is a Paulaner Restaurant.

The famous Berlin Weisse I have only seen available in one other place outside of Berlin in all of Germany where you can order it in a restaurant as you would in Berlin. That was in Sigmaringen an der Donau.

You can also order a beer mix with citrus lemonade. In southern Germany this mix is called Radler, in northern Germany it is called Alsterwasser or just Alster. Very refreshing at warm days and less alcohol.

It is called a Radler in the Frankfurt area, or middle Germany too. It isn't in the non-alcoholic category of drinks though, as it is 2/3rds beer and just 1/3 Sprite.

Just gotta weigh on the beer ignorance in this thread...(Sorry OP, not relevant to your question, but I have seen alcohol-free beers served at Oktoberfest and Volksfest in Stuttgart, if that helps!)

America, the UK, and Denmark are the hubs of truly great brewing these days.

Germany, Belgium, Czechia, etc have their established traditional styles and they're quite good at it, but the "purity law" in Germany restricts innovation and tradition has done the rest. I've been to beer festivals in Germany where they try to ape the modern craft brew style from other countries and the results are...not good.

By all means, come to Germany for an iconic Pils or rauschbier from Bamberg or Starkbier from Munich. It's good! However the better brewing countries can make amazing versions of all these beers, and then make more different styles, because there's a market for it that simply doesn't exist in Germany.

It's really time to retire the crazy notion that American beer is bad. It's literally producing an incredibly diverse array of the best beer in the world! The UK is almost doubly exciting because they have a rich tradition of old-fashioned ales and lagers to fall back on, but they do that while also making incredible craft beer. And the Danes? The Danes are just crazy, but in a good way.

Let me put it this way: I can get a great Koelsch from California (quite trendy a couple years ago) but it's extremely difficult to find a good German-produced West-Coast style IPA. Meanwhile the Brits are already on to the East Coast IPAs! Incredible. Meanwhile the Danes are putting Sichuan pepper in their beer and it's delicious!

Also Berlin Weisse is an objectively terrible beer. Someone brought some over for a party recently and I decided to crack one the other night. I couldn't handle the skunkiness and the aftertaste. Put it in the fridge, and used it to make a steak and "ale" pie tonight.

A beer that is only considered drinkable when aided by fruit or worse yet, syrup, is not in fact, a good beer.

Yeah there is a lot of beer ignorance that old school that does not see the world is always changing creating new stuff that is of quality and never trying new stuff. Bah!
this a beautiful Russian Stout (made in Illinois USA) I am drinking here in Chicago where it is cold -13 F
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/36757/211882/

But good to know there is non-alcoholic beer at Octoberfest as I passed that info on

There have been a few times when someone going to Berlin for the very first time, their introductory visit to Berlin, asks me if something is by way of cuisine (including drink) is unique to Berlin that they should try to get something genuine, particular to Berlin and basically nowhere else in Germany.

Then I ask if s/he drinks beer as not everyone does, regardless of reason, medical, taste, health,...whatever.

If yes, then I certainly and always recommend them to order the typical, unique Berlin beer, " Berliner Weisse," whereby they will be asked "with red or green?" meaning that the beer has to be drunk with this shot of raspberry syrup or that green one. I tell them to order it "with red", unless the person absolutely can't stand the smell of raspberry.

Trying and drinking that Berliner Weisse is "typisch berlinerisch " like having the Currywurst, or drinking Schultheiss, or ordering "Eisbein, Berliner Art"