Zwei Maß for the road

Written by DJ Spiess

Wednesday, 17 September 2008

Bavaria's state premier Günther Beckstein has surprising advice for Oktoberfest drivers.

Günther Beckstein came under fire from many groups after he suggested Oktoberfest partiers can drive home after drinking two Maß of beer. One Maß of beer is one liter, so for those of you counting along at home, he’s suggesting 2 liters of beer is ok for your drive home.

Local police suggested he might have had two before making the statement. To be fair, he said two Maß over the course of six or seven hours.

“If one drinks two Maß in six or seven hours at Oktoberfest, it's possible,” Beckstein told German broadcaster Bayerischen Rundfunk (bring on the funk!), referring to the gigantic one-litre mugs used at the beer festival. “But naturally not if one drinks two Maß in two hours.”

The first is a pint. The second is half Maß. The big one on the right is one Maß. I'll have two!

Two liters is about 67 ounces, 4 pints, or 5 1/2 beers in the can. Two Maß in 1 hour will give you a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.1327, but in 6 hours your BAC is 0.0577. While this is below the limit in the United States, you could be arrested as impaired in Germany. Since 1998, a BAC of 0.05 is driving impaired in Germany, and 0.11 is a criminal offense.

Luckily, according to German police, 99% of Oktoberfest partiers use public transportation.

(Source: TheLocal.de)

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