Munich’s craft beer festival pulls the crowds again
Craft beer is coming to Germany. Slowly, but surely if the recent trade fair BrauKunst Live is anything to go by. The three-day event (6-8 March 2015) drew over 8.600 visitors, who did not mind paying EUR 20 for a day pass for the chance to taste a few of the several hundred beers available.
The 90 or so exhibitors were mostly German brewers, although Austrian and U.S. brewers (represented by the Brewers Association) also flew the flag. As in previous years, the Czech brewer Pilsner Urquell (owned by SABMiller) was one of the main sponsors and served an unfiltered and unpasteurized beer.
There was much ado about Copenhagen’s Mikkeller being present with several beers thanks to a recently signed partnership with Germany’s craft brewer Braufactum (owned by Germany’s major brewer Radeberger).
So why did the small Belgian brewers decide to stay away? Only they will know. Hopefully they have not given up on the German market as the beard-and-wooly-hat brigade seems to go crazy over hoppy IPAs and barrel-conditioned beers.
Incidentally, as BrauKunst Live again underlined, German craft beer punters don’t appear too dogmatic in their understanding of what constitutes a craft brewer. The whole size-and-ownership caboodle, which sits so prominently on the Americans’ mind, does not play a role here.
Braufactum is held in high esteem by craft beer aficionados as is Craftwerk. Not to be confused with the German electronic music band Kraftwerk from the 1970s, Craftwerk is the former pilot brewery of national brewer Bitburger, which was reborn as a craft beer outfit a few years’ ago. Both stands were veritably besieged over the course of three days.
As a side note: while there is no denying that craft beers are gaining in popularity in Germany and craft beer festivals are popping up all over, it’s mostly the usual suspects that tend to exhibit at these festivals. I wonder why?
