München (Munich) 

Introduction

Capital of Bavaria and, with 2.7 million inhabitants, Germany's third largest city.

Go to Munich . . . but not in October!

Everybody has heard of the Munich Oktoberfest, which actually starts in September and ends by the first week in October.  You'd think it was a beer fan's must-visit - but we give it a miss!  It's fine if you want the atmosphere of huge crowds (half a million on the opening day), noise, and swilling  lots of  rather bland beer (560,000 litres on the first day), but if you want to taste a range of beers it's not the right place to be.  At CAMRA's Great British Beer Festival you can try over 400 beers if you have the stamina - at the Oktoberfest the range is just a handful. 

Nowadays each of the dozen or so major Munich breweries has a beer tent (seating from 4200 to 9300 people -some tents!) where you  are restricted to their own products but pay 6.30 to 6.80 Euros per litre for the privilege.  And they won't let any other brewers join in - even aristocratic ones!  When Prince Luitpold - who is doing his bit to raise the profile of German beers - wanted to offer his beers at the Oktoberfest he was rejected as the brewery was 30 miles outside Munich.  He wanted to build a brewery within the city limits in order to qualify, so the organisers upped the hurdle again by not allowing breweries built after 1970.  And the real irony is that it was for the marriage of one of Prince Luitpold's ancestors in 1810 that the tradition of the Oktoberfest was founded!  Another ancestor founded a school of brewing in Munich in 1868, which has trained generations of the operatives working in these dog-in-the-manger breweries - there ain't no gratitude!

More to follow - watch this space