Hopfenfest Bochum

10 Years of Hopfenfest — Bochum's Craft Beer Institution

The Hopfenfest Bochum is one of North Rhine-Westphalia's most important craft beer festivals and returns in 2026 for its 10th anniversary edition. The organizer is Hopfen sei Dank — a "taste movement" founded in Bochum that has been bringing together the regional, German, and international craft beer scene for a decade. From July 16th to 18th, 2026, the forecourt of the German Mining Museum will once again transform into an open beer world.

The Venue — German Mining Museum

The Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum, Am Bergbaumuseum 28, is one of the most important industrial monuments in the Ruhr area. With its distinctive winding tower as a landmark, the forecourt offers an extraordinary setting for the Hopfenfest — industrial culture and beer craftsmanship meet on historic ground. A place that attracts beer enthusiasts from all over the Ruhr area, Münsterland, and beyond state borders.

Hop Journey Pass — The Tasting System

The heart of the Hopfenfest is the Hop Journey Pass: a curated tasting experience across all participating breweries, with a fixed number of tastings and glasses.

• Pre-sale: €23
• At the door: €26
• Tastings throughout the entire festival
• Serves as both an entry ticket and a tasting system
• Entry to the festival grounds is also possible without a pass

The pass is the standard recommendation for anyone who seriously wants to explore the diversity of craft breweries.

Breweries and Beer Styles

The Hopfenfest presents a carefully selected range of:

• Local Bochum Breweries — the growing craft scene of the Ruhr area
• German Craft Pioneers — from Berlin to Hamburg to Munich
• International Guests — Belgium, USA, UK, Scandinavia
• Homebrewers and Microbreweries with special editions

Stylistically, all important craft genres are represented: IPA, Pale Ale, Stout, Porter, Saison, Sour Beer, Lambic, traditional lagers — the list is curated anew each year.

Street Food Market

Accompanying the beer is a curated street food market: food trucks and mobile kitchens with ambitious concepts, from creative burgers to Asian specialties, including vegetarian and vegan options. The finest event catering crew curates the culinary accompaniment with the same standards as the breweries — no standard bratwurst, but high-quality fusion and specialties.

Opening Hours

• Thursday, July 16th, 2026: 5:00 PM – 11:00 PM
• Friday, July 17th, 2026: 3:00 PM – 11:00 PM
• Saturday, July 18th, 2026: 2:00 PM – 11:00 PM

(Opening hours are provisional — updates via hopfenseidank.de)

Bochum as a Craft Beer City

Bochum has established itself in recent years as one of the most important craft beer cities in the Ruhr area — with its own microbreweries, a loyal scene, and festivals like the Hopfenfest. The former mining and steel city has broadly positioned itself culturally — from the Schauspielhaus Bochum to the Bermuda3eck to the craft beer scene, the spectrum is wide. The Hopfenfest is part of this transformation and at the same time an appreciation of the industrial past, as embodied by the Mining Museum.