One doesn’t have to be a beer enthusiast to have heard of Oktoberfest. The famed German festival runs for two weeks in Munich and attracts millions of visitors from around the world for an extended and raucous bunch of lager fueled merriment. Having just concluded at the beginning of the month, there are certain statistical tallies applied to the effects of such a Bacchanalian occasion and we’re here to chronicle a few of them.
Between 71% and 73% of Millennials drink beer, wine, or liquor, but the quantity of beer consumed at Oktoberfest is staggering. In 2019 alone, Oktoberfest guests consumed 7.3 million beers throughout the festival. This was 200,000 fewer than the 2018 festival. It’s always fascinating to see the numbers at the end of an event that sees so many millions of people. Especially when that many million beers certainly set innumerable other bits of hooliganry in motion.
The lost-and-found is always a treasure trove. The average college student has three credit cards and with the 465 bank cards that were lost during the festival, it’s safe to say that having more than one is prudent. There were also 780 IDs, 690 articles of clothing, 660 purses, 420 phones, and 300 sets of keys amongst the lost.
One thing that festival security keeps a sharp eye for are guests attempting to steal liter beer mugs that we refer to as steins in the United States. Inventory shrink is estimated to cost retailers 1.33% of their total sales, but the festival mugs are not for purchase. You can buy them all the same online, but in the moment, people found the tent mugs much more desirable. So desirable as a souvenir were these mugs that security confiscated 96,912 of them from people trying to sneak them out of the tents. In 2018, they confiscated 101,000 of them. It’s safe to say their security is pretty vigilant.
It would be nice for injuries to be avoided during such a lovely festival, but beer has never been renowned for making people more careful. The five most common personal injury cases are medical malpractice, auto accidents, premises liability, product liability, and wrongful death claims. While there were thankfully no deaths, over 6,000 people were treated by medical personnel, 600 of which were due to — you guessed it — intoxication. The liver pumps 1.5 liters through itself per minute, but it’s always working overtime during Oktoberfest. Two medical personnel were also bitten by a patient, but it apparently wasn’t that big of a deal:
“The patient then apologized the next day. She was terribly embarrassed,” said an officer who witnessed it.
And last, but never least, you’d think that at a festival that’s legendary for its alcohol consumption and located in a very walkable city would dissuade people from drinking and driving. Wrong. This year did set a record for drunk driving, with 774 stops being made. Interestingly, 414 of these stops involved users operating the city’s growing number of rentable electronic scooters. Under German law, these motorized devices count as vehicles. We’re not sure how many people didn’t know that before being pulled over three liters of beer deep while scooting down the sidewalk. Of that number, 254 licenses were revoked. The moral of the story: don’t swill and scoot.
It’s a little unfair that people love highlighting the statistics related to drunken debauchery at such a fabulous event, but they aren’t going anywhere. Let them serve as a warning to behave yourself whilst celebrating Bavarian style. Avoid some of these no-no’s and you’re already well prepared for next year’s fest. Prost!
