Apparently someone couldn’t wait for it to get started. Ten seconds until 12 o’clock, the classic tapping moment of the Oktoberfest, the audience counts down, nine, eight, seven, six… Munich’s mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) apparently has enough and taps the tap. And how. Two hits and the beer flows. That’s what Reiter announced minutes before, and he also made his second announcement come true: that there should be “a beer outside ten seconds after twelve.”
Perhaps Reiter wanted to forget the supposed disgrace of the past year with his quick tapping. He needed three hits, one more than usual. And the teasing with Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) afterwards showed that the performance in the beer tent is no trivial matter for a politician in Bavaria. Last year, Reiter justified himself, the mallet was much larger and heavier than usual, “like giving a football player a basketball.” Two meters away, Söder only had a tired smile. Tapping is the most important official act of the year for a Munich mayor, and in 2022 Reiter was already a little uncertain. But all in all, Reiter is a “good tapper” who “can’t just be taken out.”
Söder was alluding to the fact that his cabinet is changing the term limit for politicians to 66 years. Traditionally, the Oktoberfest is supposed to be a place where there are no election campaigns, but Söder wouldn’t be Söder if he could leave politics in the tent – especially in a state election year. Even before tapping, he had shouted to the people his saying, which he had already said countless times: “Everyone should eat what they want and everyone should drink as much as they can tolerate.” That the moderator of the Bavarian Radiowho accompanied the tapping, actually asked for his hashtag #söderisst, was of secondary importance for Söder.
And once in front of the cameras, Söder of course continued to use the stage to send a political message: that he thinks it is a mistake when the reduction in VAT on food expires at the end of the year, which was intended to ensure the survival of innkeepers during the corona pandemic. “The food doesn’t have to be more expensive, it has to be cheaper: the Oktoberfest has to be for those on a budget,” said Söder and responded to a journalist’s objection that this was an election campaign: “No, that’s a serious thing will be decided for next year.”
Mayor Reiter is happy about free drinking water fountains
Reiter also talked about the costs at the Oktoberfest. He would like “we don’t have to increase the prices before the Oktoberfest”. Of course the prices are high, but “the people who go to the Oktoberfest know what they are paying.” He was particularly annoyed about the price of water, “and that’s why we’ve made it free now,” said Reiter, referring to the drinking water fountains that were set up on the festival grounds for the first time this year.
The celebrants in Schottenhamel had no ear for political messages. They were happy that there was finally beer; most of them had been waiting for this moment since nine o’clock. Among the guests were “Volks-Rock’n’Roller” Andreas Gabalier and Schlager presenter Florian Silbereisen. Both had positioned themselves on the table directly opposite the tap box and – in Gabalier’s case – shot a short video for his fan base while Reiter and Söder were still waiting.
When the first masses of Oktoberfest beer were distributed and this year’s Schlegel was hanging next to the one from last year on the shelf next to the two tap barrels, Reiter was asked what he wanted for the Oktoberfest. The general conditions are perfect, he said, alluding to the good weather and probably also to the Corona aftermath last year. He wants it to be a peaceful Oktoberfest, for everyone to have fun and for the CT in the medical center to be used as little as possible. And as far as alcohol consumption is concerned: “Aspirin is fine after visiting the Oktoberfest.”