Food & Beer Culture

Rosenheim has held a folk festival on the Loretowiese since 1861. What began as a regional agricultural fair with an industrial exhibition gradually grew into a true folk festival. It was canceled in 1873 due to cholera, and again from 1914 to 1918 because of the war. It returned in 1925 with large beer tents, a wine tent, and 19 showmen, and has been called the Rosenheimer Herbstfest since 1949.

The 2025 Herbstfest was the 164th edition, running from August 30 to September 14. According to organizers, it draws nearly a million visitors. Both breweries run their own festival hall; the Flötzinger tent seats around 8,500 people and is billed by the brewery as the largest free-standing festival tent in Europe. Guests there get their Festbier by the Maß, the one-liter stein, typically alongside roast chicken, pretzels, or grilled pork sausages.

The plates served are what you'd find in any Bavarian festival hall: half a roast chicken, a pretzel with Obatzda—a spread made of Camembert, butter, onions, and paprika—plus roast pork and Steckerlfisch, grilled fish on a stick. The saltiness of the pretzel and the richness of the chicken call for carbonation and a beer that answers with malt sweetness rather than heavy bitterness. A Märzen is built for exactly that.

Outside of autumn, Auerbräu's festival hall hosts Starkbierfest. Under German beer regulations, only beer with an original gravity of at least 16 percent may be called Starkbier (strong beer).

The Flötzinger brewhouse also includes a Bräustüberl for everyday visits. And anyone making a trip to Wasserburg can walk through the passages of the Beer Catacombs and see how brewers kept their beer cool before refrigeration existed.