Beer meets heritage: Inside the making of Tusker Oktobafest 2025

If Kenya had a season dedicated to barley and beats, October would be it. The Tusker Oktobafest, now in its sixth edition, has grown from an ambitious idea hatched over drinks into East Africa’s biggest beer festival; a rolling carnival of lagers, culture, and a little nostalgia sprinkled in for good measure.

This year, just as last year, the festival is doing what Kenyans do best: taking the show on the road. Forget about squeezing the entire country into one massive Ngong Racecourse party; Tusker has instead deconstructed the concept, spreading the gospel of hops and heritage across the regions, with Nairobi getting first dibs on October 4th at Carnivore Grounds. And the hook this time? A nostalgic throwback branded as ‘Kulture,’ an ode to Kenyan music of the 2000s.

But let’s rewind a little. If Oktobafest feels like it has always been part of our cultural calendar, Marek Fuchs should perhaps get some quiet nod of recognition. The former Sauti Sol manager is the founder of AfricaCentric Entertainment (ACE), and quite possibly the man who first whispered “Oktobafest” into being.

“This came about with a few people at EABL…we conceptualized something to reach out to younger demographics as well and to really live the brand values. It was in 2019 that we co-created this; between ACE and EABL,” he tells Citizen Digital during an exclusive interview held during the Oktobafest launch on a rainy Thursday evening.

What’s most striking is how fast it went from sketch to spectacle. “It took about two weeks of conceptualization and then another seven weeks to actualization; which was crazy because something like this normally takes months, not weeks,” Fuchs says. Anyone who’s ever tried to organize even a chama meeting knows that’s the kind of turnaround that borders on witchcraft.

The format itself has shapeshifted since then. In the early years, the single mega-event at Ngong Racecourse was the centerpiece. But then Covid happened, and like most things in 2020, Oktobafest was shelved. Its return in 2021 was reimagined; fewer crowds, more cities.

“The first time we did the regionals events was in 2021. We couldn’t do the event in 2020 (because of Covid), so we came back in 2021 but we still couldn’t have that many people in one place. So we decided to do a deconstructed version of the Oktoberfest,” says Fuchs.

“The second time we did it was last year. And both of these years showed the business that this is actually really living to its true name of being a national product and brand. So we enjoy, not just focusing on Nairobi, but actually taking it nationwide – heck, in 2023, we took it East Africa wide.”

And how did that shift play out? He admits it’s a “double-edged sword.” “There is a big part of the country that enjoys having Oktoberfest closer to them, and there are people who really enjoyed the very unique large-scale event that we did. So it’s two sides of a coin…But in business when you’re growing, you have to sometimes take a step back in order to make two steps forward. There are some people who really want the big one back, but for now I think it’s a great and noble kind of effort to take the celebration nationwide as well.”

That nationwide push is exactly what the 2025 calendar embodies. After Nairobi kicks off with ‘Kulture’ at Carnivore, Eldoret will host the Rift Edition at Tamasha on October 11th, Mombasa takes the Coast Edition at New Big Tree Bamburi on October 18th, Kisumu joins in at Atella Beach Resort with the Lake Edition on October 25th, and Nanyuki rounds things up on November 1st with the Mountain Edition at The Stinger Lounge. Alongside these, over 200 activations will pop up across bars and venues nationwide; flash sales, discounts, and the full Tusker family of beers waiting to be clinked.

Kenya Breweries Limited (KBL) Marketing Manager Mark Mugisha, speaking at the launch held at the Tusker Brew House, captured the spirit of this evolution: “In the six years of providing a platform to celebrate Kenyan beer and culture, we have built a phenomenal property with Oktobafest. Even as the brand evolves and the format varies to meet the needs of our consumers, our commitment to celebrating how we do beer and culture remains unwavering. This year, we are taking the festival to our consumers, allowing us to truly meet them where they are and deepen our social and economic impact across the country.”

Acting Commercial Director Edward Kimathi underlined the business logic of this format: “This year’s deconstructed approach is about creating richer, more authentic experiences that resonate with our consumers. It also allows us to open up our value chain to a wider network of local service providers and talent. As a proud Kenyan brand, KBL remains committed to growing and supporting the local economy.”

The Nairobi leg has an especially sentimental twist thanks to ‘Kulture,’ curated by showbiz legend Fakii Liwali. Liwali is no stranger to blending heritage with fresh energy, and his vision is to bring back pioneer Kenyan artists to a younger generation that may have grown up knowing the songs, but not the faces.

“The pioneer Kenyan artists did not enjoy the time that the current crop is enjoying, with the digital space. So they didn’t really enjoy their music being consumed on digital platforms properly,” he explains. “You will find that Gen Zs now would know a Necessary Noize song, but they don’t know who the artists are. Some of them know Wyre as an independent artist, but they don’t know his connection with Necessary Noize. I’m trying to bring that out, and bring that music to the younger audience.”

For millennials, ‘Kulture’ is a nostalgia trip; for Gen Z, it’s a history lesson disguised as a party. “We mostly end up attracting millennials who grew up to these songs, but the beauty about it is that these millennials now have Gen Z kids, who they’re telling about that generation of artists and their songs. What this leads to is more discovery of older artists that now re-ignites the algorithm to give the pioneers more traction on digital platforms,” says Liwali.

He cites the U.S. example during the Covid-era ‘Verzuz’ battles where old-school acts suddenly saw their streaming numbers skyrocket. “So I’m trying to see if we can get that in Kenya. Because it’s then also an opportunity to pay homage to those people.”

Of course, homage isn’t just sentimental, it’s about economics too. Kenya’s music industry, as Liwali points out, still wrestles with royalties and rights. “It’s sad that there are still a lot of elements in the Kenyan music industry that need to be worked on, right down from just basic royalties. This is a fight that people have fought for so long, such that while we would still want to fight, we also apply that energy in other solutions to that problem, which is largely digital,” he says.

His concern is that pioneer music is often hijacked on streaming platforms by opportunists. “So one of the things that we’re hoping to deal with is to even be able to present the artists and their record labels to digital service providers and tell them these are the rightful copyright owners, so that they can strike down others who have been making money off their music. That will, hopefully, put more money into the pockets of the pioneer artists.”

It’s only fitting, then, that Tusker is on board. “‘Kulture’ is an event that is largely about pioneer artists. Tusker is one of, if not the only, brand in Kenya that has been with music from back in the day and over the years. So, it was only right that for such a heritage event, we have a heritage brand with us. Tusker was just the best brand to have because they understand the music industry and where we’re coming from, so it’s very easy to blend our values,” notes Fakii.

And perhaps that is the quiet glue holding all of this together: impact. As Fuchs put it, when people wondered why he’d left Sauti Sol management only to reappear in beer and culture, the answer was simple.

“I want to do things that make an impact. I want to do things that people can be proud of. And whatever we touch, we really just want to take it to the nth degree. That’s just my personality and that of the people that work at ACE. If you’re gonna do something, you might as well do it big. If you’re gonna think, you might as well think big,” he says.

Tusker Oktobafest 2025 is doing exactly that; thinking big, pouring wide, and toasting to a Kenya where music, beer, and culture don’t just meet; they mingle, dance, and remind us that sometimes, the best ideas really are born over a drink.