Covid Oktoberfest: Munich breweries' creative beer-surplus solution

Socially distanced sausage fest: The Munich Oktoberfest has been cancelled for a 'Covid safe' programme. Photo / Unsplash

As the home of Oktoberfest, the south German city of Munich is famous among beer drinkers.

Every September tourists wash through over 7 million litres of the stuff as part of the world's largest beer festival.

The demand for Bavarian is so high that even the international airport has its own brewery.

However, as the Coronavirus put a stopper in festivities for a second consecutive year, the city has a very unusual problem: too much beer.

Airbräu which is the resident brewery of Munich's International Airport had a surplus of 4000 litres.

Faced with the prospect of pouring away the unsold beer, brewmaster René Jacobsen proposed a creative solution; distilling 4 liquid tons of beer into 300 litres of life-long "beer gin".

Bierbrand: The Airport brewery was reluctant to let a drop of beer go to waste. Photo / Supplied, Munich Airport

The unique spirit, flavoured with juniper and hops, is a first for the brewery. Known colloquially as Bierbrand or "beer brandy", the spirit was made into a limited run of 500 bottles.

At 43 per cent, the hearty liquor is now being served at bars throughout the airport including the Airport Hilton and will last well into next year's festival. That is, unless it has all been poured by then.

Munich's breweries aren't the only places hit hard by the downturn of tourists and festival cancellations.

On Saturday what would have been the traditional start of the festival was a muted affair, although some plucky hospitality businesses have organised an alternative Oktoberfest.

Almost 50 restaurants have signed up for a Wirtshaus Wiesn or socially distanced "Sausage Fest".

Theresienwiese: The Munich festival grounds have been converted to a tented test centre. Photo / Jan Antonin Kolar, Unsplash

Theresienwiese, the traditional tented showgrounds, has instead been turned into a mass testing centre, reported Deutsche Welle.

Unwilling to make a third cancellation, this weekend Munich mayor Dieter Reiter told local news that they are considering a vaccination mandate for next year's festival.

"If someone doesn't want to be tested or vaccinated, then they won't be able to go to the Oktoberfest in 2022," he told the Augsburger Allgemeine.