Serving custom · Munich
Tapping the first keg
Oktoberfest does not begin at a time; it begins when the Mayor of Munich drives a tap into the first cask in the Schottenhamel tent at noon and says "O’zapft is!".
Nothing may be poured on the Wiesn until it happens. At twelve o’clock on the opening Saturday the Mayor of Munich hammers a wooden tap into a cask in the Schottenhamel tent, and the number of blows it takes is counted, reported and remembered. Twelve gun salutes fired in front of the Bavaria statue tell the other tents that service may begin.
The first Maß goes to the Minister-President of Bavaria — a courtesy that dates from 1980 rather than from antiquity — and the mayor’s words are "O’zapft is!", Bavarian for "it is tapped". Recent mayors have added "Auf eine friedliche Wiesn": to a peaceful Oktoberfest.
The ceremony is much younger than the festival. Oktoberfest dates from 1810; the tapping does not begin until 1950, when Mayor Thomas Wimmer performed it for the first time and needed seventeen blows to do it. The stroke count has been a matter of civic pride ever since, and the modern record of two is shared between mayors Christian Ude and Dieter Reiter.
How it works
Noon, opening Saturday
Nothing is served anywhere on the Theresienwiese before this moment. The festival has a start instant rather than an opening time.
The Schottenhamel tent
The ceremony has been held in the Schottenhamel since 1950. The tent’s role comes from that first tapping rather than from any older precedence.
The mayor drives the tap
A wooden tap is hammered into the cask by hand. The blows are counted publicly — seventeen at the first tapping in 1950, two at the modern record.
“O’zapft is!”
Bavarian for "it is tapped". Recent mayors have followed it with "Auf eine friedliche Wiesn" — to a peaceful Oktoberfest.
Twelve gun salutes
Fired in front of the Bavaria statue above the festival ground, signalling to the other tents that they may begin serving.
The first Maß
Handed to the Minister-President of Bavaria, a courtesy that has been part of the ceremony since 1980.
What it does
BeerHQ’s rule for anything ritual: name the mechanism or say it is convention. These are the mechanisms.
- A hand-driven wooden tap into a wooden cask is a working method rather than a prop — it is how a cask was opened before keg couplers, and doing it badly genuinely sprays beer across the tent.
- Making the whole festival wait on one act gives sixteen days a single definite beginning, which is the ceremonial function it actually performs.
What you will hear
- O’zapft is!oh-TSAPFT iss
- Bavarian for "it is tapped" — the words that open Oktoberfest, spoken by the Mayor of Munich.
- AnstichAHN-shtikh
- The tapping itself: driving the tap into the cask to broach it.
- WiesnVEE-zn
- What Munich calls Oktoberfest, after the Theresienwiese — the meadow it is held on.
What people get wrong
The tapping ceremony is as old as Oktoberfest.
Oktoberfest dates from 1810 and the tapping from 1950 — a hundred and forty years apart. It is a genuine tradition and a comparatively recent one, and the account of how it started, with Mayor Wimmer ducking into the nearest tent out of the rain, is a story the festival itself tells as a story.
The mayor taps a keg.
It is a wooden cask broached with a hand-driven wooden tap, which is why the number of blows is countable and why the count is worth reporting at all.
Questions
Who taps the first keg at Oktoberfest?
The Mayor of Munich, at noon on the opening Saturday, in the Schottenhamel tent. Nothing may be served anywhere on the festival ground until it is done. The first Maß is then presented to the Minister-President of Bavaria, a part of the ceremony since 1980.
What does "O’zapft is" mean?
Bavarian dialect for "it is tapped". The Mayor of Munich says it after driving the tap into the first cask, and it is the signal that Oktoberfest has begun. Recent mayors have added "Auf eine friedliche Wiesn" — here is to a peaceful Oktoberfest.
How many blows does it take to tap the cask?
It is counted publicly and treated as a matter of civic competence. The first tapping in 1950, by Mayor Thomas Wimmer, took seventeen. The modern record is two, shared by former mayors Christian Ude and Dieter Reiter.
Where it is practised
The beers it is performed on
Connected
The room: Beer hall
Where you will meet it: Oktoberfest
Last reviewed 2026-08-29.
Evidence
What BeerHQ knows about this, and how. Every statement carries the state of the evidence behind it rather than being presented flatly as fact.
The Mayor of Munich taps the first cask at twelve o’clock in the Schottenhamel tent with the words "O’zapft is!", twelve gun salutes are then fired in front of the Bavaria statue to signal the other tents, and the first Maß is presented to the Minister-President of Bavaria.
Backed by a source
Source: Oktoberfest.de — the official Munich Oktoberfest information service, Oktoberfest tapping and opening ceremony page
The ceremonial tapping of the first cask began in 1950, when Mayor Thomas Wimmer tapped it in the Schottenhamel tent and needed seventeen blows to do so — a hundred and forty years after the festival itself began.
Backed by a source
Source: Oktoberfest.de — the official Munich Oktoberfest information service, history of Oktoberfest, and the tapping and opening ceremony page