The Cannstatter Volksfest: Stuttgart’s Answer to Oktoberfest

Stuttgart’s Cannstatter Volksfest is the largest beer festival you’ve never heard of. It’s similar to Oktoberfest but unique enough to merit a visit in its own right, especially if you find the crowds at Oktoberfest to be a bit much. For starters, the Cannstatter Volksfest is more of a local affair, albeit one that attracts about 4.2 million folks from across the region over the course of its seventeen-day run starting in late September. You’ll hear barely a word of English, and you might even learn a few words of the Swabian dialect after a few beers with your tent-mates.

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On this particular October weekend in the “before times” I made Ulm my base for my visit to the Canstatter Volksfest, an ideal choice when space in Stuttgart is at a premium and prices high. Ulm is a relaxed city with stunning vistas along the Danube, winding medieval quarters, and a few breweries to round things out. And it’s only an hour from Stuttgart by train.

After stocking up on food at the Bauernmarkt, I boarded the train with scores of people dressed in dirndls and lederhosen. Not long after the train lurched into motion, the railcar erupted in the “pshhht” and pop of a hundred bottles ready to fuel good cheer. 8:30 a.m. It’s what I love about festivities in Germany.

The train wound its way through mountains and valleys and then past vineyards clinging to the steep cliffs on the outskirts of Stuttgart. The intercity train doesn’t stop in the Canstatt district of Stuttgart, but those first glimpses of the Ferris wheels and roller coaster are enough to heighten everyone’s anticipation. My train empties out at the main station, its erstwhile inhabitants joining the rivulets of people that have arrived in Stuttgart from all directions. The rivulets converge into streams on the main platform, and then into a river cascading down the stairs to the U-Bahn, everyone in the sea of revelers with a beer in hand.

Like Fasching in Cologne, the Cannstatter Volksfest is one of those singular events that people in the region look forward to all year long. I’m here on the final weekend of the festival and the twenty- and thirty-somethings are doing all they can to make the moment count. It’s all playfully carnivalesque, and the festivities never get out of hand as the sun travels in its arc over the Wasen.*

*The Stuttgarters call the historical meadow where the fest is held the “Wasen” (meadow). In the early nineteenth century, the Wasen was an idyllic spot on the banks of the Neckar River spread out between meadows and vineyards. The Wasen was also within view of the royal Villa Bellevue and a short carriage ride away for the festival’s benefactor, King Wilhelm I.

What is the Cannstatter Volksfest?

Like the Oktoberfest in Munich, Stuttgart’s Cannstatter Volksfest draws in the crowds with colourful festival tents and a lively fairground. And like Oktoberfest, the Cannstatter Volksfest began life as a festival that had much less to do with beer than it does now.

First celebrated in September of 1818, today’s Cannstatter Volksfest is a joyful riot of sights, smells, sounds, and tastes — which makes it all the more difficult to imagine that the festival was borne of deprivation. The winter of 1815/1816 was bitterly cold. Snow fell into May and then turned to rain. Summer was gloomy and hail storms lashed the autumn fields. The snow was back by October, and the harvest failed. People stretched what little flour they had left with sawdust. Starvation set in.

When Wilhelm I ascended the throne in October of 1816, Württemberg was reeling in the wake of its “Year Without a Summer” and was still feeling the after-effects of the Napoleonic wars. As the first harvest wagons rolled in during the fall of 1817, King Wilhelm and his wife Katharina struck upon the idea of a harvest festival to lift the flagging spirits of Württemberg’s citizenry and revive Württemberg’s economy.

The royal couple laid the foundations for today’s Cannstatter Volksfest with an agricultural festival featuring horse races and awards for outstanding agricultural accomplishment, all in an effort to encourage farmers and foster advances in agriculture. These efforts earned the young monarch the moniker “King of the Farmers and Farmer Among Kings.”

After years of misery, that first Volksfest held on the Cannstatter Wasen the day after King Wilhelm’s birthday was a breath of fresh air. The festival was such a resounding success that it became an annual tradition.

From Agricultural Festival to Week-Long Volksfest

In those early days agriculture was the primary focus. A handful of vendors around the periphery of the fairgrounds kept visitors provisioned with sausages, sauerkraut, and beer. Carnival attractions featured “strong men” and other typical nineteenth-century curiosities. As the years wore on, beer and food took center stage.

By 1841 the festival was popular enough to merit a parade on opening day. The parade quickly became one of the most popular events of the festival, a colourful procession featuring citizens dressed in the historical uniforms of the town militia, people wearing the traditional clothes of nineteenth-century professions, and festival wagons representing different crafts.

The Canstatter Volksfest Today

These days the Cannstatter Volksfest is Baden-Württemberg’s “quieter” answer to Oktoberfest, but that’s not to say you won’t have a rollicking good time. The vast majority of visitors dress in Tracht (traditional wear), well over half of the visitors are in their 20s and 30s, and you’ll find them dancing on the benches and tables well before noon. This is very much a Volksfest (people’s fest), and the entertainment is decidedly down to earth. The dearth of oompah bands is conspicuous. In keeping with a more “mass” vibe, German “beer hall Top-40” bands fill in for the more traditional brass bands.

The Beer Tents

Seven large beer tents grace the Cannstatter Wasen. Most are fronted by facades that recall Alpine chalets, a nod to the Black Forest and the foothills of the Alps to the south. Each tent seats anywhere between 1800 and 5200 thirsty festival-goers, offering different beers and different vibes. The Festzelt Göckelesmaier (Stuttgarter Hofbräu) is famous for its roasted chicken (Göckele in the local dialect). The Almhüttendorf with its stuffed deer, artificial rock outcroppings, and mountain cabins is a kitschy oddity but worth a look.

Unlike Oktoberfest, the four breweries represented on the Wasen  — Stuttgarter Hofbräu, Schwabenbräu, Dinkelacker, and Fürstenberg — pour a larger selection of beers than the Big 6 on Munich’s Wiesn, which offer a Maß of Festbier and nothing but. At the Cannstatter Volksfest, you can find Helles, Pils, Kellerbier, or Hefeweizen, depending on the tent. And some tents let you order by the half-liter, which means you can sample more variety.

The Schwaben Bräu tent with its Alpine chalet façade is a lively affair, people dancing on the tables to the German “beer hall rock” belted out by the band on stage. Schwaben Bräu’s Helles is an uncomplicated affair and just as cheerful as the revelers. Burnished gold in colour, it exudes aromas of lemon-spice hops, floral meadows, and country bread.

The yellow and gold streamers inside the Dinkelacker tent make for an even brighter atmosphere. And just when you thought that Schwaben Bräu was the rockingest place to be before noon, you walk into this place and pretty much everyone is standing on the benches. The revelers ensure that the whole structure is bouncing along to the tunes cranked out by the top-40 cover band playing soft-rock hits of the 80s and 90s. Every now and then you’ll hear the obligatory “ein Prosit der Gemütlichkeit.”

Dinkelacker is one of the tents that features a bar in the back where you can order a range of beers by the half liter. I went with the Kellerbier, a hazy orange-gold beer, malt forward but with a nice hop accent: freshly sliced country bread, cream and milk caramel, and lemon-pepper hops. Not quite like the Kellerbiers of Franconia, but fine no less.

The Fürstenberg tent offers more of the same cheerful energy and German beerhall pop. By now it’s a Pils kind of moment. Fürstenberg’s Pils offers subtle lemon and floral notes, along with spicy hops floating above neutral malt. It’s crisp, but the austere bitterness pushes the neutral malt way into the background. Good, but lacks that X-factor of the best Pilsners.

Time for one last tent before calling it a day. It’s 3:30 pm, and every seat of every table at the Wasenwirt (Stuttgarger Hofbräu) is taken. But there’s always room for one more — one more person, one more beer. Stuttgarter Hofräu’s Helles is a classic Helles: burnished gold, aromas of Alpine meadows, acacia honey, graham cracker, and floral-spice, and a cinnamon-spice hop note that accents the beer’s richness. By far the best of the beers I had on the Wasen that day.

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Which Festival?

When all is said and done, both the Cannstatter Volksfest and the Oktoberfest represent a commitment in terms of time and cash. The Cannstatter Volksfest is less expensive than Oktoberfest, but accommodations in Stuttgart cost about as they do in Munich during festival season. If you’ve always had your heart set on a big beer festival, go to Oktoberfest. It’s epic. And every beer enthusiast should visit once in his or her lifetime. But if you’d rather avoid the hordes of tourists thronging Oktoberfest, if you’ve been to Oktoberfest several times already, or if you prefer something with a more workaday local feel, the Cannstatter Volksfest might be your ticket. If you have the option, go to both!

Odds and Ends

Whether you’re arriving in Stuttgart for the Cannstatter Volksfest or visiting for other reasons, be sure to stop in for a beer at Sophie’s Biergarten if the weather’s nice.

While in Stuttgart, the following breweries and taprooms make for nice places to cool your heels.

• Brauhaus Schönbuch is situated in a recessed building not far from the Schlossplatz, Stuttgart’s vibrant center. The airy vibe is late twentieth century, there’s a sun terrace out front, and the beer offerings range from classics like a Naturtrübes Zwickl to newer styles like a dry-hopped Pale Ale.
• Carls Brauhaus opened in 2014 and occupies the northern end of the Schlossplatz on a spot that was once part of the nineteenth-century Brauerei Dinkelacker complex. There you can taste beers from Dinkelacker and Schwabenbräu, along with Dinkelacker-Schwabenbräu’s other regional acquisitions over the years (Brauerei Wulle, 1971; Weißbierbrauerei Sanwald, 1977).

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannstatter_Volksfest

https://www.cannstatter-volksfest.de/en/volksfest/history/

https://germanculture.com.ua/german-holidays/cannstatter-volksfest-in-stuttgart/

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