Table 11.1 Seasonality of beer festivals
Source: CAMRA, 2007b
Chapter 11
Beer Festivals: A Case Study Approach
This chapter looks at the types of beer festivals that exist, the seasonality of these festivals, how branding is being develop ed, and the chapter concludes with some short case studies on a range of beer festivals.
Why the study of beer festivals is interesting is that they are about an intangible service that focuses on a single tangible product, beer. Although beer comes in many varieties and may be accompanied with food, entertainment and paraphernalia, those beers associated with festivals typically have distinctive local character. Beer festivals are associated with the intan gibles of hedonism, celebration and ritual rooted in local community. International and global beer brands may feature in some beer festivals, but normally local brews dominate.
How and what to study at beer festivals is closely linked to a consideration of the research methods that are available. The tools available to the student of beer festivals include those of marketing research, sociology, the behavioural sciences and anthropology. In this chapter, the research method used is a study of published data as the purpose of the research is to study the factual descriptors of the festivals with a view to identifying major characteristics, whereas the other research methods identified are more useful when trying to study a festival in depth.
What that means in practical terms is that when undertaking in-depth study, students of beer festivals can ask questions about attitudes and behaviours, may observe behaviours, and may even live with the stakeholders as a participant observer. An interesting discussion of a modern interpretation of participant observation is provided by Hein and Austin (2001).
Gaining access to a beer festival as a research site may be a challenge, but the potential to deliver value to the organizers for future years is a case worth making.
Beer Festivals Come in All Shapes and Sizes
The variety of styles in beer festivals is initially staggering. The largest is Munich’s Oktoberfest with an estimated six and a half million visitors over several days. The estimation of the number of visitors varies, often by a factor of plus or minus half a million, probably because of the variety of tickets that are available. For example, does a person visiting a festival on 2 days count as two visitors, etc?
At the other extreme, some festivals boast of numbers in the mid-hundreds and last perhaps a day. Some beer festivals are cultural foci for drinking, eating, music and other local activities, whereas others are primarily concerned with competition; judging and drinking beers without too many distractions.
The beer festivals reported in the journals and media are largely in English speaking countries and Germany, with some in Central Europe particularly the Czech Republic. Other such festivals do exist elsewhere from Greece to Japan and China (technically saki is said to be a rice beer not a wine because of the method of production).
In preparing this case study chapter on beer festivals, we anticipate that beer festival activities are more widespread than suggested here, because many may be ‘genuine’ local festivals and celebrations rather than tourist activities which are actively marketed. However, it is likely that some organizers will become more concerned with tourism as the economic advantages of staging such events become more widely appreciated.
Although the UK beer festivals are not typically large, by some North American and German standards, the organizing influence of Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is of key importance, and ensures that there is both a central body to promote festivals and also to provide a level of quality kite-marking, although this is based more on the provenance of beers than festivals. What CAMRA (2007a) says of itself is:
CAMRA campaigns for real ale, real pubs and consumer rights. We are an independent, voluntary organization with over 85,000 members and have been described as the most successful consumer group in Europe. CAMRA promotes good-quality real ale and pubs, as well as acting as the consumer’s champion in relation to the UK and European beer and drinks industry. We aim to:
Protect and improve consumer rights.
Promote quality, choice and value for money.
Support the public house as a focus of community life.
Campaign for greater appreciation of traditional beers, ciders and perries as part of our national heritage and culture.
Seek improvements in all licensed premises and throughout the brewing industry.
The level and nature of organization of beer festivals varies greatly. Some festivals are highly organized with co-ordinated activities and talks, whereas others are really ‘free for alls’ where autonomous behaviour is central. Belgium has a varied tradition of street or free entry beer festivals in which beer is purchased from street vendors or vendors on a festival showground. During a festival in Bouillon, for example, each shopkeeper puts up a stand and tries to sell their products. However, Belgium has other festivals, some with a greater degree of structure. Also featuring local producers of special beers, but with organized tasting sessions, the general style of the large Zythos festival is similar to Bouillon although the venue is more formal (Visit Belgium, 2007).
In the UK, the festival is more typically on a closed show-ground or venue where a fixed payment is made for entry and further purchase of beer is expected. The USA has a wide var iety of festival styles, but some shows in the USA charge a much higher entry price, with beer sampling being free.
The creation or capture of beer festivals by capitalists, from enthusiasts who are beer lovers, typically marks an attempt to expand the scale of a festival, and to turn it from a visitor’s experience into a profit-making venture for the organizers. To a greater or lesser extent a beer festival is always going to be a profit-making event for exhibitors who seek to sell their beers on the day. However, the festivals also create customers who search for the beers after the festival, and become brand customers with some level of loyalty.
Seasonality of Beer Festivals: The Theory Has Some Basis in Fact
The seasonality of beer festivals linked to harvest time is apparent after an inspection of many web sites; some of which assert this. A quotation that may well underline this linkage is:
Great quantities of ale were consumed and the wages, which were often very small, would be handed out. It was likely that the harvesters would be less likely to grumble about their low wages if their stomachs were full and their heads muddled by ale! (The British Food Trust, 2007).
Circumstantial evidence to support this assertion of seasonality for UK beer festivals is available and is demonstrated in Table 11.1 which looks at the timings of the UK CAMRA festivals. In Germany, the Oktoberfest (discussed later in the chapter) is a harvest beer festival, whereas in the USA Oktoberfests are widely spread across the calendar.
Table 11.1 Seasonality of beer festivals
Source: CAMRA, 2007b
The UK data on CAMRA (ibid) is very concise in covering festivals and is a useful measure of seasonality, and the number and percentage of festivals is in Table 11.1 by month. The Table provides circumstantial evidence of several forms of seasonality. Low numbers of festivals may be accounted for by school holidays particularly in August and December and possibly January. During these periods many people are away from home and beer festivals are fewer. This may also highlight the voluntary nature of festival organizing. The greatest number of CAMRA recorded beer festivals in 2008 are in the autumn months of September and October, and account for a third of all festivals; these occur in the harvest festival season. As students of beer festivals, it is important that we do not assume that the reasons inferred for seasonality are not truth. We are just inferring, and the use of language must reflect this.
The Branding of Beer Festivals: A Lost Opportunity?
The major name that is recognized in the beer festival sector is the Oktoberfest, which began in Munich. However, Janiskee (2003), identified at least 430 Oktoberfest celebrations in America each year. Hence the name Oktoberfest would appear to the casual Anglo-Saxon observer to be a brand name. However, whilst Oktoberfest has a brand image, it is not a regis tered brand name of the Munich festival. This is different from the problem of say, ‘Hoover’, which is a registered brand name yet is permitted to be used as a generic description of vacuum cleaner because it has not been effectively protected by the brand owner.
Official German Government web sites in the USA and elsewhere (primarily post-colonial ‘new’ nations) promote the German antecedents of citizens. In the USA, German stock is said to have provided the largest proportion of Northern European Americans. Oktoberfest is a national identifier in this context and seems to be a welcome method of emphasizing German-ness. This presumably has both a political dimension as they could be the basis of a lobby, and an economic dimension as they may be pre-disposed to ‘buy German’. Hence the Oktoberfests in the USA provide a tool for promoting German identity and business.
However, as the Germany Oktoberfest is not a registered trademark, and the brand has been so widely copied, the organizers of the Munich Oktoberfest sought to identify symbols and names that could be the subject of intellectual copyrighting. In 1995 a logo was developed containing two laughing beer mugs and this became the registered brand for the Munich Oktoberfest. In addition in 2000 the Oktoberfest was promoted by a ‘canine mascot’, a bright pink wire-haired daschund dressed in lederhosen, Tylorean hat and traditional shirt. Clearly, the overarching Oktoberfest name could not be readily registered as a trademark as it has become a generic identifier. However, whether these rather populist brand identifiers fully exploit the Munich Oktoberfest potential is unclear.
In the USA, the use of law differs, and may be predatory when considered in an international context. In 1962, the State of Wisconsin registered the name ‘Oktoberfest, USA’ which became a federally recognized brand name in 1963. This name is held by the La Crosse Chamber of Commerce. The local or regional nature of American Oktoberfests means that a local Oktoberfest may wish to retain its local monopoly, and as such a defence is clearly desirable.
Having discussed the variety found in the form, style, structure and scale of beer festivals and their branding, we will now look at some festivals and what their official publicity claims are to make them distinctive.
In the remainder of this chapter we will look more closely at a small, but diverse selection of beer festivals. We do not even attempt to cover all possible types of beer festival, but rather we give a flavour of what is out there, leaving it to other students of beer festivals to write more about them.
The first case study is distinctive because it is small, takes place on school premises in South Yorkshire, England, as is not an untypical example of a community-based local CAMRA festival.
Exhibit 11.1 Rotherham’s Oakwood Beer Festival
This beer festival is based in a suburb of Rotherham, a largely post-industrial South Yorkshire town in England that was based on heavy manufacturing and coal mining. It is located in a school called Oakwood Technology College. As such it is not the romantic rural setting that some would expect of a beer festival.
The purpose of the festival may also raise some questions as it is to raise funds for the school, and it is run with the assistance of the Rotherham branch of the Campaign for Real Ale. The festival takes place in the actual school, which makes for an interesting venue, where you wander into classrooms and find another bar! They also put entertainment on the stages in the school halls and in a marquee!
Oakwood features over 200 real ales, all on hand pump, from Yorkshire, Lancashire, East Anglia, Cumbria, the South Midlands and Scotland, with each bar dedicated to a specific region. There will also be foreign beers, cider, wines and food available.
In 2008 the festival ran from Wednesday 15th February to Saturday 18th February and was open from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. each day, plus 12 p.m. to 5
p.m. on Saturday. However, note that Wednesday and Thursday is limited to sponsors and CAMRA members only. CAMRA members can get in free on these 2 days.
On Friday and Saturday, admission is £8, however you can save money by buying an advance ticket for just £6. A list of outlets can be found on the festival web site: www.realale.oakwood.yorks.com.
Holders of advance tickets can enjoy free travel to the festival with ‘First Bus’, and all visitors benefit from free travel home, from the festival with ‘First Bus’ to anywhere in South Yorkshire. The free bus service is clearly a great benefit as it is a way of persuading people not to drink and drive; however, it may also indicate something about the local geographical segmentation and socio-economic group of visitors.
Derived from:
http://www.sheffieldcamra.co.uk/articlefeb06_oakwoodpreview.htm
The next case study is also small scale and local in focus, but this time it is American. It is distinctive because the focus in the official materials is on competition between beers, so although it is quite similar to its UK equivalent, its stance is at least superficially very different.
Exhibit 11.2 Illinois Craft Brewers Guild Annual Festival of Wood and Barrel-aged Beer
This festival takes place in Goose Island Wrigleyville in Chicago, USA, a rather more prosperous post-urban, largely post-industrial location than South Yorkshire, but an area nonetheless with patchy economic success and an industrial history. The event has been running for 5 years.
This beer festival also has beers from a wide geographical area. In 2007, the festival presented over 80 beers from 29 different breweries, representing 10 states.
From their web site it claims to be the USA’s first and largest beer festival dedicated to the art of wood and barrel aging, and it occurs in November. Their sell-out visitors are limited to 500 people. The festival contains a competitive element with judging in eight categories which dominate their official materials (listed below) together with a best of show listing:
Category 1: Classic porter/stout (Brown, Robust Porter; Dry, Oatmeal, Sweet Stout).
Category 2: Strong porter/stout (Foreign, Imperial).
Category 3: Barleywine (English, American).
Category 4: Classic style (other styles not higher than 16° Plato SG).
Category 5: Strong pale beers (IPA, American Strong, Amber, Red, etc. >16° Plato SG).
Category 6: Strong dark beers (Brown, Scottish, Old Ale, etc. >16° Plato SG).
Category 7: Experimental beers (any beer that employs unusual ingredients and/or techniques, i.e. fruits, spices, blends of different beer styles, etc.).
Category 8: Wild beers (any beer fermented or aged with micro-organisms other than Saccharomyces cerevisiae).
Derived from: http://www.illinoisbeer.com
Having looked at some small events in the UK and USA, we move on to the ‘grand daddy of all beer festivals’, the hallmark event that is the Munich Oktoberfest. However, a close analysis will still demonstrate strong community roots (nearly three-quarters of visitors are from the home state of Bavaria), and an element of competition between beers.
Exhibit 11.3 The Munich Oktoberfest
The Munich Oktoberfest is the largest German ‘Volksfest’ (local festival) and the only one bearing the name ‘Oktoberfest’ which functions somewhat like a trademark. It is said to promise:
the world’s biggest good-time affair, attended by millions of thirsty souls from all over the globe, and takes place on the ‘Theresienwiese’ with its giant beer tents, where buxom beer maidens serve the precious brew by the litre in large steins, where 30 piece Bavarian bands rock the thick air, and where there’s no end to singing them old-time drinking songs.
The first Oktoberfest was actually part of a marriage celebration, when in 1810 October, Bavarian King Max Joseph gave a large wedding for Crown Prince Ludwig, later to become King Ludwig I, with the Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. It culminated with a series of horse races and gave rise to the tradition of the October festival. In the following year it became an annual affair commemorating this grand wedding forevermore. The Oktoberfest we know today evolved over time and incorporated a number of different traditions.
The Oktoberfest is now celebrated in September, because the chilly Bavarian October winds blowing from the Alps can surprise with early cold and snow. The 16-day Fest always starts on a Saturday in September and ends on the 1st Sunday in October. The dates of the festival for some forthcoming years are:
2008: September 20 to October 5
2009: September 19 to October 4
2010: September 18 to October 3
2011: September 17 to October 3
http://www.oktoberfest.de/en/02/content/faq1/
Over time certain rituals evolved which are followed from year to year.
For the opening day ceremonies, promptly at 11 a.m., a parade enters the grounds on the Wies’n headed by the Münchner Kindl – the little Munich city’s coat of arms. The mayor arrives in a festive coach followed by civic dignitaries and horse-drawn brewer’s carts decorated with flowers. This colourful ceremony with elaborate floats, beer bands and men, women and children wearing traditional costumes (lederhosen and dirndls) dates back to 1887. More than 70,000 people participate in the four-mile long parade.
At noon the parade winds its way to the ‘Schottenhammel’ tent which is the oldest private tent at ‘Oktoberfest’. It is here that the mayor will tap the first keg of beer and declare, ‘o’zapft is’! (The keg is tapped.)
In the evening, the ‘Zirkus Krone’ may give a 2-hour performance. Munich’s six major breweries, brewers of the Oktoberfest Märzen beer (Hacker-pschorr, Lowenbrau, Spaten, Hofbrauhaus, Augustiner, Paulaner) are represented in seven festive halls and usually have live music throughout the day and evening.
On the second Sunday of Oktoberfest all of the bands performing during the 16 days may gather at the main entrance and give a 1-hour concert, and there is dancing and plenty of sideshows, booths, and rides.
Food is clearly important. ‘If you’re hungry, you can stop in at “Schottenhammel” or “Käfers Wies’ nschänke” and try the “Brathendl” (the grilled chicken) or “a Münchner Weisse”, the veal sausage only found in Bavaria. For fish lovers, there is trout and eel grilled outdoors on long sticks and sausages galore abound for the festival-goers’.
Derived from: http://www.oktoberfest.de/en/
Having looked at the original Oktoberfest in Munich, we will now look briefly at the American Oktoberfest. The resonance in style and cuisine is strong although the scale is clearly different.
Exhibit 11.4 La Crosse Oktoberfest (USA)
Most Oktoberfests in the USA try to emulate, or at least to cash in on, the name of the most famous Oktoberfest in the world.
The festival in the USA which comes closest to the Munich Oktoberfest is the German Fest in Milwaukee. Started in 1846 by German settlers, it celebrates its 150th anniversary this year. It takes place over 3 days in late July, and typically draws about 100,000 visitors.
La Crosse is another long-standing Oktoberfest this time in Wisconsin USA. The festival incorporates three parades currently: Opening Day Parade, Maple Leaf Parade, and the Torchlight Parade. Parades, pageantry, royalty, bratwurst, beer and world famous entertainment have made La Crosse’s Oktoberfest one of the finest in the nation. ‘It’s great down there, the ambiance is spectacular and the beer is cheap too’, says UW-L Senior Angela Riedel. There is always plenty to do at Oktoberfest, but let’s take a look at how it all started.
The first La Crosse Oktoberfest was held in 1961. Officials for the La Crosse-based G. Heileman Brewing Company, now known as City Brewery, were discussing a way to promote their product. It was two German employees who suggested the festival could be held in autumn similar to the one held in Munich. The others liked the idea of having a fall festival because the scenery at this time of year in La Crosse is spectacular.
The idea was then passed to the La Crosse Chamber of Commerce and they agreed to sponsor the event. In 1962, the State of Wisconsin registered the name ‘Oktoberfest’. In 1963, ‘Oktoberfest, USA’ was listed as a trademark with the federal government. Ever since, the event has gained in popularity. In 1965, La Crosse Festivals, Inc. took over the event and became the sponsor.
The purpose of the festival is to promote local pride, national publicity and tourism to the Coulee region. Oktoberfest is one of the few Old World local events held annually in the USA, La Crosse won the All-American City Award in 1961. The Oktoberfest Grenadiers consist of a group of 35 active couples that are dressed in authentic costumes and act as ambassadors for the festival. They escort the Festmasters, Fraus, along with Miss La Crosse and Mrs Oktoberfest to various events during the fest and throughout the year. They also care for the floats used in the Oktoberfest parades.
City Brewery released a new beer for the festival called Oktoberfest USA Amber Ale craft beer.
Derived from: www.oktoberfestusa.com
Before completing the chapter we will look at a very different and very new beer festival in China. Although the folk roots in local beer of this festival have much in common with those festivals in Europe and America, the festival dimension is new. Festivals in China typically relate to other sorts of folk and local culture.
Exhibit 11.5 Qingdao City Beer Festival
Qingdao is situated at the Southern tip of the Shangdong Peninsula. Nothing more than a fishing village until the early 1900s. Qingdao has gone through an amazing period of investment and development, and has now become a modern and vibrant city and trading port. South Korea and Japan, in particular, have invested heavily in the city. The majority of residents are immigrants, for example at least 30,000 South Koreans reside there, who have moved to take advantage of the opportunities that Qingdao offers. The city attracts many tourists due to its seaside setting and excellent weather and in 2008 will be the host city for the Beijing Olympics sailing regatta.
Qingdao is also the home of the world famous Tsingtao Brewery, which German settlers founded in 1903. It is the earliest brewery to be founded in China.
The first Qingdao Beer Festival took place in 1991 and now runs annually opening on the second weekend every August for 16 days. This is the largest beer festival in Asia attracting over 3 million visitors each year. There are more than 240,000 square metres of attraction space, dedicated to staging the event, which includes an opening ceremony, beer drinking areas, a carnival, fairground rides, fireworks, beach competitions and arts performances. More than 20 internationally known beer manufacturers take part in the event. The event also incorporates a major beer trade exhibition. Wen Yuansheng, Vice Director of the beer festival said, it’s a Citizens Festival, a Carnival Festival and an International Festival. Our first and main objective in hosting the festival is to ‘he pijiu’ (drink beer!). Here we say ‘Qingdao ganbei (cheers!) the world!!’
Derived from: The Development of the Festival Industry in China, Unpublished Masters thesis written by Na Jiang, formerly of Sheffield Hallam University. and … http://www.qdbeer.cn
Conclusions
This chapter demonstrates the diverse range of beer associated festivals which are being staged around the world, from the local community event, such as the one at Oakwood College, to hallmark events such as the Oktoberfest. Each in its own way has an impact on the community in which it is hosted and provides a link between the brewing industry and its consumers. As tastes, fashions and markets in beer consumption change so too will the nature and shape of beer festivals. This is an exciting developing area with many opportunities for further research.
References
CAMRA (2007a) at http://www.camra.org.uk/page.aspx?o=about
CAMRA (2007b) at http://www.camra.org.uk/page.aspx?0=181254
Hein, S. and Austin, W. (2001). Empirical and hermeneutic approaches+ to phenomenological research in psychology. A Comparison. Psychological Methods, vol. 6; no. 1, pp. 3–17
Janiskee, R. (2003) ‘Oktoberfest in America’. In Food Tourism around the World, Development, Management and Markets. C.M. Hall, Sharples, E, Cambourne, B, Macionis, N, Mitchell, R. (eds). Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford. 331–335
The British Food Trust (2007) at http://www.greatbritishkitchen.co.uk/ff_harvest.htm
Visit Belgium (2007) at http://www.visitbelgium.com/beer.htm.