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- Nonalcoholic beer, once a curiosity, is now being increasingly accepted at that temple of beer — Munich’s Oktoberfest.
asserted
beer → click → beer
- At this year’s festival, sales of nonalcoholic beer are on the rise, reflecting a broader decline in beer drinking in Germany, the U.S. and across the globe.
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sales → reflect → globe
‘Nonalcoholic beer doesn’t make any sense to me,’ says a reveler.
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reveler → make → me
Can you have a smashing time at Oktoberfest without getting smashed yourself?
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you → have → Oktoberfest
Increasingly, the answer appears to be “jawohl.”
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answer → appear → ?
A global shift toward nonalcoholic drinks — driven by greater health consciousness from California to Cologne and beyond — has reached even the world’s biggest celebration of beer.
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shift → drive → beer
Not long ago, ordering a nonalcoholic beer at Oktoberfest could draw puzzled looks.
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ordering → order → looks
But now Oktoberfest is a proving ground for one of the most profound changes sweeping the global drinks industry as more consumers cut alcohol from their lives.
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consumers → sweep → lives
“When I was growing up and coming here about 20 years ago, if someone ordered a nonalcoholic beer, everyone would look at you and say, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ or ‘Oh, you must be the designated driver,’” said Joerg Biebernick, chief executive of the Paulaner Brewery Group, one of Germany’s largest brewers.
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Biebernick → grow → brewers
“But now it’s totally socially acceptable if you want to drink beer without alcohol.”
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you → ’ → alcohol
In the tents erected in Munich for Oktoberfest, the atmosphere can be intoxicating enough without the alcohol.
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atmosphere → erect → alcohol
Brass bands pound out songs and pop anthems with thumping beats such as Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” and Robbie Williams’ “Angels” as thousands of voices roar along.
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thousands → pound → voices
Waiters weave through packed aisles carrying foaming one-liter mugs, and strangers at long wooden tables quickly become friends.
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strangers → weave → tables
Revelers lock arms and sing together, climbing onto benches to dance as entire sections of a tent seem to move as one.
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sections → lock → one
Few people lifting a stein here would guess that beer consumption is down worldwide.
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consumption → lift → stein
Celebrants from the U.S., where slugging back brews is also on the decline, are a sizable part of the spectacle.
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slugging → slug → spectacle
About 285,000 attended last year, making the United States the festival’s largest source of overseas visitors.
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States → attend → visitors
Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is a regular and was back this year, conducting a band and thousands of singing beer drinkers.
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Schwarzenegger → conduct → drinkers
This year’s Oktoberfest will end Sunday.
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Oktoberfest → end → ?
Sales of the traditional Festbier brewed especially for Oktoberfest — which contains about 6% alcohol, meaning a one-liter mug packs about as much alcohol as three and a half 12-ounce American beers — slipped 1.4% even as attendance rose.
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attendance → brew → beers
Last year, nonalcoholic beer accounted for nearly 8% of reported beer volume, with more than half a million liters served.
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liters → account → volume
The trend extends beyond the festival grounds.
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trend → extend → grounds
Germany’s annual per capita consumption of traditional beer has fallen about 40% since 1990 to 77 liters now — an alarming development for an industry whose origins reach back to the Middle Ages.
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origins → fall → Ages
In 2025, global beer consumption fell 0.7% to 1.896 billion hectoliters — about 50 billion gallons — according to the British Guild of Beer Writers.
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consumption → fall → Writers
Germany’s output fell nearly 6% to 79.2 million hectoliters, or about 2.1 billion gallons — a mark below 80 million hectoliters for the first time.
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output → fall → time
I really like that there are options and that there’s something for everyone and everyone can enjoy it here,” Amanda Nguyen, a 34-year-old worker with a nongovernmental organization from Los Angeles, said as she took in the scene — thousands dressed in lederhosen or colorful dirndl, the eye-catching dresses with fitted bodices that have become almost as synonymous with Oktoberfest as the beer itself.
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that → like → beer
Nguyen said she planned to stick with nonalcoholic beer.
1.
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she → say → beer
Annabelle Beyer, 25, sells souvenir “Trachtenhut” hats at Oktoberfest.
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Beyer → sell → Oktoberfest
Vendors like her are informally known as “Schatzis,” German for “sweethearts.”
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Vendors → know → sweethearts
Along with alcohol-free beer, other non-alcoholic drinks sold at Oktoberfest include water, apple spritzer, Spezi (a cola-orange soda) and lemonade.
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drinks → sell → water
Oktoberfest did not even begin serving nonalcoholic beer until 1986.
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Oktoberfest → begin → 1986
What was then widely regarded as a poor imitation of the real thing has since moved into the mainstream.
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regarded → regard → mainstream
One reason is simple: The beer got a lot better.
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beer → get → ?
Christian Dahncke, Paulaner’s director of brewing, said important breakthroughs in technology have allowed producers to preserve much more of the flavor and aroma while removing the alcohol, just as increasingly health-conscious consumers began demanding better alternatives to alcoholic drinks.
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consumers → say → drinks
No one is sure which came first in this “chicken-or-the-egg” story — greater demand for more nonalcoholic beer or better quality offerings.
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which → come → beer
“People want to live healthier nowadays, and that’s especially true for the younger generations,” Dahncke said.
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Dahncke → want → generations
“It’s not just Bavaria or Germany but everyone around the world.
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It → ’ → world
They want to look and feel as good at 80 as they did when they were 50.
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they → want → 80
Getting rid of the alcohol is all part of that trend.”
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rid → rid → trend
Germany has a surprisingly long history of trying to remove alcohol from traditional drinks.
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Germany → have → drinks
…and 15 more, not listed.
The Aporia
