Craft beer festival in Munich: take six

Perhaps Munich’s craft beer lovers felt the seven-year itch one year earlier than usual. Or why did visitors of Braukunst live 2017, the annual craft beer festival that was held in Munich for the sixth time from 10 to 12 February, get the impresson that there was less of a throng than in previous years? Still, there were about 100 exhibitors and reportedly 9,000 visitors (the same number as in 2016).

To mark the occasion, Stone from Berlin had brewed a collab beer for the festival, the German Welde brewery had brought along a rye lager, called “First tRye” produced in collaboration the Dutch Jopen brewery (adding rye to a top-fermenting beer is ok with the Reinheitsgebot, a rye lager is not) and there was a tasting of really rare brews.

But the excitement of previous years, when exhibitors and visitors could indulge in the feeling of being at the forefront of something massive and new, was seemingly gone. This did underline the fact that real craft is still a very small niche in Germany.

Could it be that the self-afflicted curse of craft has already befallen this gem of a beer festival: innovate or bromide?