Oktobafest: Brewing the biggest beer party – Business Daily
Kenya’s Tusker Oktobaset will start on October 8 and run up to October 30, 2022. PHOTO | SHUTTERSTOCK
No beer party in Kenya is bigger than the Oktobafest. The festival which attracts over 20,000 fun lovers has returned, starting this weekend.
Over the years, the beer festival has become a huge business opportunity as the alcoholic drinks flow and everyone who loves fun knows the place to be.
Monikered the “Ultimate Beer Festival,” it is an alchemy of music, fun and beer.
“We started Tusker Oktobafest as KBL [Kenya Breweries Limited] in 2019 at Ngong Racecourse. For three days, we brought together 20,000 Kenyans for good beers and good vibes. Oktobafest is a renowned German festival but ours has Kenyanism at its roots,” says Jean Okech-Nyawara, the marketing manager, Tusker Trademark.
The 2019 Edition was the first-ever Oktobafest, before the Covid-19 pandemic spoiled the party.
Historically, Oktoberfest (in Kenya Oktobafest) evolved from the celebrations surrounding the wedding of Prince Regent Ludwig of Bavaria (later King Ludwig) and Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen.
As part of the celebrations, a horse race was organised. While no beer tents were groaning with members of high society befuddled with alcohol, the race took place on October 17, 1810 (a week after the royal wedding) and was an enormous success. So much so that it was decided that a similar event should occur to honour its anniversary. And thus, the tradition has been passed down from generation to generation.
“With this year’s edition, we went back to the drawing board and asked the revellers, what do you want? They said they want their big sherehe (party),” says Ms Okech-Nyawara. “And their Oktobafest is back in local bars.”
This year’s Oktobafest is set to have live entertainment stages, gaming centres, sports, and unique beer experiences.
“We have over 100 musicians and DJs. We gave the power back to the people to select who they want to entertain them, whether it’s EDM (Electronic Dance Music) or Gengetone. Our job was to find the artistes on top of their game,” adds Ms Okech-Nyawara.
Much has been written about millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) and their insufferable Jekyll-and-Hyde twin—the Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012). These are very homogenous crowds, so alike yet so different. So, what would bring these two groups together, to a beer party?
“We sat down with consumers to understand this next generation [Gen Z]. We identified music and sports. We went across Kenya looking for the next generation of e-sports competitors and music stars to give them a platform to sing. That’s what we are bringing to this year’s festival—including the beers,” she said.
Beer consumption has been on a steady rise, thanks to the entry of craft beer makers into the Kenyan market. Currently, there are about nine breweries and microbreweries in Kenya, producing everything from crafts that have local names, to some with mango and ginger flavours, to those that have low alcohol content.
Sale of no and low-alcohol volume is expected to grow by +8 percent between 2021 and 2025, compared to regular alcohol volume growth of +0.7 percent, according to IWSR which tracks alcoholic drinks globally.
To meet that demand, beverage alcohol companies have invested heavily to introduce many innovative new products, and established mainstream brands have recently crossed over to develop no/low alcohol versions of their popular beer, wines, and spirits.
A beer festival held in Nairobi in September 2019, for instance, had over 35 types of beers and ciders, attracting thousands of young drinkers, defying the notion that beer drinking is an old man’s pastime and the alcoholic beverage has a strong bitter taste.
“Young consumers are not homogenous. It’s in their fashion, their shopping, their aesthetics. Tusker Oktobafest is the ultimate experience everyone is looking forward to, it is a fusion of culture,” says Catherine Twesigye, the Tusker Brand Manager, adding “If this event was a person—to use the drawn-out cliché—it would be warm, vibrant, bubbly, and full of optimism. And extremely social.”
Will Oktobafest finally be the launch pad for more craft and flavoured beers?
“Some drinkers are looking for more vibrancy, more flavour and others are looking for moderation. And of course, affordability. There is an emergence of craft beer but we have not seen it dent our performance. And that’s probably because the craft beer trend is very niche. However, very soon we shall be launching our own flavoured beers as well as a microbrewery in December this year,” Ms Okech-Nyawara says.
If there is one thing that may prove difficult to swallow is the looming price increase of beer, following the excise tax adjustment.
“At the Oktobafest, you will buy your beer at the recommended retail price. We are encouraging our distributors to sell our beers at a reasonable price, high taxes notwithstanding,” she adds.
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