The festival brought together over 2,300 beers from more than 50 countries and regions, alongside a sprawling food street highlighting local seafood, delivering an authentic taste of the coast.
Qiu Yi, from Zunyi, Guizhou province, organized a beer festival trip for her parents and their friends.
"In Guizhou, when we gather, we enjoy having a few drinks, sharing some food, and having a good time. The lively atmosphere of the beer festival provided the perfect setting for our parents to socialize and enjoy themselves," she says.
In 2023, she visited Oktoberfest in Germany, the famous folk beer festival held annually in Munich, Bavaria. She says that by comparison, the Qingdao International Beer Festival offered a wider variety of food, more diverse performances and more amusement facilities, though she feels it lacked some of the cultural distinctiveness that gives Oktoberfest its strong sense of identity.
According to Wang Defang, a former worker at Tsingtao Brewery, the inspiration for launching the Qingdao International Beer Festival came from the brewery's technical staff members who were sent to Germany in the 1980s to study brewing techniques and experience the grandeur of Oktoberfest firsthand.
On June 23, 1991, the first Qingdao International Beer Festival kicked off in Zhongshan Park. Drinking contests, fashion shows and float parades were staged one after another, drawing more than 300,000 visitors over eight days.
"At that time, there were only about 40 to 50 domestic beer varieties and a few international ones, but it still excited the local residents and visitors alike," Wang recalls.
"Back then, there weren't many entertainment options. In summer, people would gather there, whether they knew each other or not, and they'd clink glasses, chat, sing and dance. It was a particularly carefree time," says Xi Wei, a Qingdao native who has witnessed the festival grow in scale and attract more out-of-town visitors.
Many of her childhood summer memories are tied to beer.
"When summer arrived, small shops in the alleys would put out tables on the street. Five or six people would crowd around each one, and every restaurant's doorstep was packed with diners. Every eatery had a draft beer dispenser. I often took plastic bags or other containers to fetch beer for my dad from those machines," she recalls.
Today, her home is just a 10-minute walk from Golden Beach, and she often takes a stroll to the beach during the festival.
In her view, everyone can find something to enjoy at the festival.
Those who love a lively atmosphere can watch performances and clink glasses with friends inside the beer tents; those who prefer quieter moments can watch the festive fireworks from the nearby beach.
"When the fireworks go off, I can smell the sea breeze mixed with the scent of gunpowder. At moments like that, whether the people around me are friends or strangers, we all look up and cheer together, and that doubles the joy," Xi says.
When the final firework fades, and the last mug is emptied, the city's summer lingers on — in shared cheers, in the froth of beer, in the salt on the breeze, and in the promise of next year, when the tents rise again.
