The first Oktoberfest was a communal celebration of the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria and Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. It was held just outside Munich and attended by both royalty and citizens. The epic event started on Oct. 12, 1810, and lasted five days. The festival became an annual event, a celebration of autumn, harvest, agriculture, and the year’s locally brewed Märzen - a dark beer, suitably aged and in prime condition for fall consumption. By the 1870s, Josef Sedlmayr, brewer at Franziskaner (today part of Spaten), noticed that lighter beers were becoming more popular. So, he developed a Vienna-style lagerbier that was introduced at Oktoberfest in 1872, becoming the official style of Oktoberfest bier. Downtown Phoenix Oktoberfest will feature a variety of German Oktoberfest-style biers and das boot to drink them from!
