Alcohol-free to Oktoberfest? Jawohl!

At the end of September, it’s that time again: out with the lederhosen, on with the dirndl, and off to Munich with a few million others. Oktoberfest isn't exactly known as the most alcohol-free event in the world. Nevertheless, nowadays you can attend perfectly well without drinking alcohol.

In fact, in all party tents where beer is served, you can now also order an alcohol-free beer. Even at Augustiner, the last major German brewers without alcohol-free beer in their range, you have been able to order an alcohol-free Maß (the well-known liter mug) since 2024.

And this is being taken increasingly seriously. In 2025, the demand for alcohol-free beer at Oktoberfest rose around 8 percent compared to the previous year. Approximately one in twenty draft beers at Oktoberfest is now alcohol-free.

Alcohol-free, but not alcohol-free Oktoberfest beer

The six Munich breweries permitted to serve at Oktoberfest brew their famous Oktoberfest beers for the Wiesn, as the people of Munich call Oktoberfest. Robust, malty lagers that are especially suited to the festival.

If you choose alcohol-free, you unfortunately won't get the alcohol-free version of it. Simply because they don't make it (yet).

You will receive a regular alcohol-free beer from the brewery in question. Think, for example, of Augustiner Alkoholfrei Hell or an alcohol-free beer from Paulaner , Hacker-Pschorr, or Löwenbräu.

Actually quite strange. Alcohol-free beer has become so commonplace that every major tent serves it, but the six official Oktoberfest breweries do not yet produce an alcohol-free version of their Wiesnbier brewed especially for Oktoberfest.

That does not mean, however, that alcohol-free Oktoberfest beer does not exist at all. In the US, they are already a step ahead. Athletic Brewing has an alcohol-free Oktoberfest Fest Brew, and Untitled Art also makes an alcohol-free Oktoberfest. We even had the latter in the ONP5 shop for a while.

A Maß remains a Maß

It is certainly not the size that is the issue. As an alcohol-free drinker, you don't have to sit among all the liter mugs with a measly bottle. Alcohol-free beer is also simply served by the Maß.

And don't expect a discount on non-alcoholic beer: at Oktoberfest, a Maß of non-alcoholic beer costs just as much as alcoholic Wiesnbier (about €15).

So no alcohol, but the full Oktoberfest experience. Including the bill.

And then there is also OkSoberfest

If you find Oktoberfest a bit too much alcohol around you, there is now an alternative: OkSoberfest .

It will be organized in Berlin on October 10 and 11, 2026, and calls itself Germany's alcohol-free festival. So, not a traditional Oktoberfest copy, but a festival where being alcohol-free is precisely the starting point.

There are more than 100 non-alcoholic beers and other drinks to try, complemented by music, food, sports, and even non-alcoholic beer pong.

What is particularly striking is that such a festival exists by now. A few years ago, you still had to search for that one alcohol-free beer at a beer festival. Now you can attend a two-day festival that revolves entirely around it.

Prost!

For the time being, Oktoberfest will simply remain Oktoberfest. Because let's be honest: 5% alcohol-free also means that 95% of the beer served still contains alcohol.

But the fact that you can order an alcohol-free Maß in every beer tent these days says something about how fast the beer world is changing.

Now we are just waiting for the first German alcohol-free Oktoberfest beer. We would certainly love to taste it.

Ein Prosit! 🍺