Food & Beer Culture

Oktoberfest Blumenau is one of the largest beer festivals in the world. It began in 1984 after a severe flood of the Itajaí-Açu, meant to boost the city's economy and lift spirits. Even the first edition drew around 102,000 visitors over ten days, nearly half the city's population at the time.

Today the festival runs for about 18 days each October at Parque Vila Germânica, and according to organizers, around 700,000 visitors come every year. There are folk costume groups, parades, and the crowning of a queen. The mascots Vovó and Vovô Chopão, Grandma and Grandpa Chopp, can be seen all over the city.

German classics fill the plates: sausages, pretzels, pork knuckle with sauerkraut, and strudel. Alongside these are dishes from the colonist kitchen, such as stuffed Marreco, a duck with red cabbage, and Cuca, a yeast cake with streusel.

The rich, salty food calls for a beer with freshness. The cold Chopp cuts through fat and salt, and a Catharina Sour pairs well with strudel and sweet streusel, since the acidity balances the sweetness.

The festival is the best known, but not the only one: many towns in Santa Catarina hold smaller beer festivals, and breweries open their taprooms to visitors. Anyone drinking should avoid driving and know their own limits.

Outside the festival, the beer culture lives on in the city's brewhouses and taprooms, where families gather on weekends. A round of Chopp is ordered for the table, along with snacks to share, and the evening runs long. Especially in summer, beer is often the drink that carries the afternoon into the evening.