ladbible logo

To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories, we're happy to send you some reminders

Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications

​Oktoberfest Is Coming To Britain – But How Does It Compare To Your Usual British Night Out?

​Oktoberfest Is Coming To Britain – But How Does It Compare To Your Usual British Night Out?

It's happening between 5-22 October

James Dawson

James Dawson

Every year, tens of thousands of people descend on Germany for the world's largest beer festival, Oktoberfest.

Lederhosen are tailored, hotels are booked up and special 'booze and vomit proof' shoes are even produced ahead of the occasion, as people come from across the world for the 17-day celebration of 'Bavarian culture'.

For any Brit who's into pinting, it's difficult not to see the appeal of heading to Germany. The month-long festival in Munich sees a coming together of the world's greatest beers and the planet's biggest pissheads - each of them united behind the same, beautiful, singular aim of getting extremely drunk.

This year, however, there's some news for anyone who can't be arsed with taking a two-hour flight and the existential hell of a hungover return, Oktoberfest is coming to the UK.

Between 5-22 October, a traditional Bavarian beerhall with a capacity of 5,000 will be set up in Greenwich Peninsula opposite the O2 arena in London, with '220 bench tables, set in a huge open-plan beer hall made from wooden floors and walls'.

This might all sound great but it's not usually the décor that makes the night. So, to find out how the German sesh experience compared to your standard big night out in Britain, LADbible decided to go to Herbsfest, a version of Oktoberfest held slightly earlier in the year.

And based on our four-point, scientifically-determined methodology for comparing the essentials of a night out (that is: the booze, the outfits, the food and the atmosphere) here's how we rated it.

BEER

As far as beer goes, I'm not really much of a snob. Give me a pints of Foster's, a beer garden and a relatively warm day, and I'm a happy man.

Even if Britain's beer drinking habits as a whole have broadened in recent years - as people increasingly peacock crafts ales and micro-brew - Bavaria is beer country. In south Germany it's not just ale snobs who take their brewing seriously.

The author smells some hops at Erdinger brewery. Credit: Supplied

Ahead of hitting the festival itself, I got a chance to smell the hops at Erdinger's brewery. I'm going to put it out there and say that I had no fucking idea what they should smell like. But, when it came to drinking the stuff, it went down a treat.

As with any decent drinking session, I can't remember exactly how many steins of wheat beer I got through. But I reckon if I'd have been drinking pints of standard British lager I'd have vomited before the night was through: apparently not so with beer famously brewed to strict three-ingredient purity laws. Not only is the special 'festival' lager a higher ABV than your Foster's and your Carlings, it's also easier on the stomach.

WINNER - German sesh

CLOTHES

As a bloke whose tried and tested night-out wear is a pair of jeans and a t-shirt under a shirt, the prospect of donning flamboyant (yet traditional?) Bavarian attire was, to say the least, a bit daunting.

Once I'd got my lederhosen on, though, (and this involved arriving at the festival only to have a group of Germans laugh at the fact I was wearing it back to front) it wasn't long before I got used to the fact that I didn't look silly. "This is what everyone is wearing, this is normal, this is pretty comfortable, this is... actually, why can't I wear these more often?"

However, sadly, there was a notable downside.

Traditional German attire. Credit: Supplied

As the night wore on and the relentless consumption of stein after stein led me to 'breaking the seal', I discovered that - despite having flaps at the front ostensibly for urinating out of - my particular lederhosen were ill-suited to one of their most elementary functions. They were almost impossible to piss out of without making a mess, which meant having to queue for the cubicles to pull them down like a child in potty training.

Let's face it, you really can't go wrong with a pair of jeans and shirt.

WINNER - British sesh

FOOD

Besides one nightclub in Manchester (Google it) that sells hotdogs and chips inside - allowing nobody to escape the cattle-market of jägerbomb and landfill indie - it's relatively rare to find somewhere that combines getting smashed with eating.

Sure, plenty of pubs and bars in Britain do food, but the general consensus is that you clear the plates away before you dance on the tables. Not so at Oktoberfest / Herbsfest. By about 11 o'clock, not only was everyone sufficiently pissed up to join the plates and cutlery on the tabletop, they were also still serving grub.

The author enjoys some traditional German grub. Credit: Supplied

I opted for a traditional German stew and dumplings. Not only stodgy and perfect for soaking up the booze to avoid a hangover, but it was also really no real comparison to your post-night-out doner or pizza in the UK.

WINNER - German sesh

ATMOSPHERE

Intangible, and admittedly subjective, yet in many ways the most important part about a night out.

When Friday and Saturday come, in Blighty we pretty much know the score in town. No matter whether you're heading to a mainstream club or something more alternative, you can expect big tunes for the weekend warriors. Clubs and bars full of men and women looking to blow off the steam of the 9-5 - on the hunt for a shag, or a fight, or both.

Credit: Supplied

In Britain, if someone eyes you up from the other side of the bar, it's because you've looked at them the wrong way. But whether it's the general festival atmosphere, or whether threatening to kick someone's head in after a few rounds isn't a cornerstone of Bavarian culture, despite getting plastered, there was little anti-social behaviour. That means no fights with bouncers, projectile vomiting, or any of the darker parts of a typical British drinking session.

Sure, like the traditional German clothes, I'm not sure I could deal with the mixture of cheesy pop and traditional tunes as part of a day-to-day drinking experience, but for a one-off night out, Oktoberfest / Herbsfest defies Europhobic stereotype by being a proper laugh.

WINNER - German sesh

***

So it looks like the German sesh has it 3 to 1. If you're interested in finding out more about Britain's answer to Oktoberfest then you can find out more here.

Featured Image Credit: Supplied

Topics: Germany, Beer, UK, London