If you have any interest in attending Oktoberfest, chances are you’ve seen and been inspired by the 2006 Broken Lizard comedy Beerfest at some point. Beerfest is a silly film about two American brothers (with German descent) training for an underground beer-drinking competition at Oktoberfest. The tournament is, you guessed it, the Beerfest.
Although the movie’s plot does center on Oktoberfest, there are a few fundamental differences between the real Oktoberfest and the fictionalized Oktoberfest of Beerfest. We’d like to straighten these differences out before you go to Munich and start challenging Germans to an underground layer beer-drinking competition: You just might make a fool out of yourself.
Oktoberfest is Technically not a Beer Festival: People are under popular belief that Oktoberfest is the biggest beer festival in the world. This is technically not true. It is important to realize that Oktoberfest does not consider itself a beer festival. While beer is a very big part of the festival, it is actually considered a German folk and culture festival.
Beerfest was shot in Albuquerque: If you have a friend who’s looking at the Beerfest set and claiming they know the geographic locations being shown in Germany, your friend is a filthy liar. Like many films, Beerfest was actually shot in Albuquerque.
Das Boot Contest: The movie goes into deep and unnecessarily scientific length on how you have to turn the boot sideways in order to avoid the beer bubble exploding in your face. They actually got this part right. As you run into Das Boot contests at Oktoberfest, you will be faced with a similar problem and must remember to rotate the boot as you drink from it. We previously wrote on this process. You can find the article link here.
Das Boot Name: Das Boot, as it is also referred in the movie, does not really translate to “beer boot.” It translates to “the boat” in German. That’s why these contests are commonly referred to as “boat races.” However, it also refers to Jürgen Prochnow: a German actor who was in Beerfest and also the 1981 German film Das Boot.
The Cast was Actually Drinking O’Doul’s: Boo! Hypocrisy! Actually, they do consume a lot of liquid in that movie, so it might be good that they held off on beer until the end of shooting.
Looking for a Beer Stein? Explore our amazing collection here.
