Free Beer Festival Hits Belo Horizonte Saturday With 30 Local Brews
Belo Horizonte · FOOD & DRINK
The Festival Mineiro da Cerveja, a free beer festival in central Belo Horizonte, runs on Saturday 22 August from 1pm to 10pm. Entry costs nothing, but you need to claim a ticket first.
What the beer festival is
The Festival Mineiro da Cerveja is a one-day open-air event in a public square. It runs from 1pm to 10pm on Saturday 22 August, and then it is over.
Agenda BH reported on 17 August that more than ten local breweries will pour more than thirty different beers. The range runs from light pilsners to heavier specials.
Minas Gerais has one of Brazil’s densest concentrations of small breweries. A festival like this is the efficient way to taste across them in an afternoon.
Portal Belo Horizonte, the city’s own events listing, gives the hours as 1pm to 10pm. Agenda BH and the Raimundos tour listing agree on the date.
Nothing about the beer festival runs on Sunday. This is a single afternoon and evening, and then the square goes back to being a square.
Free, but claim a ticket first
Admission costs nothing. What it does require is claiming a free ticket in advance through Sympla, the Brazilian ticketing platform most events here use.
That is a common arrangement at free Brazilian events, and it exists to cap numbers. Turning up without one is not the plan.
Beer and food are paid for on site, at the stalls.
The ticket is free of charge either way. Claiming it in advance is simply how the organisers count the room.
Who is playing
Raimundos lead the music programme. They are one of Brazil’s best-known rock bands, formed in Brasília in the late 1980s and still touring.
The supporting bill is Big Ones, 100% Charlie Brown and Velotrol. Musica360’s listing put the music starting at 1pm, alongside the festival opening.
Raimundos play a fast, irreverent kind of Brazilian hardcore that has been in the national bloodstream for three decades. Expect the crowd to know every word.
The three supporting acts fill the afternoon before them. Music and the beer festival open at the same hour, so there is no dead time to wait through.
Where it is, and getting there
Praça José Mendes Júnior sits in Savassi, the district most visitors to Belo Horizonte end up in anyway. It is walkable from most of the central hotels.
The square is public and the event is outdoors, so the weather is the variable. August is dry season in Minas Gerais, which is in the festival’s favour.
The nearest big landmark is Praça da Savassi itself, two blocks away. Any taxi or ride-hailing driver in the city knows the area by name.
Why Minas Gerais, and why beer
Minas Gerais has more small breweries than any other Brazilian state bar one, and Belo Horizonte is the centre of that trade.
Thirty labels in one square is a fair cross-section of what the state makes. For a visitor, it is a faster education than a week of bar-hopping.
The range on offer runs from light pilsners, the default Brazilian style, through to what the organisers call special and complex recipes.
What else is on the ground
Beyond the beer there is a food court and a set of cooking stations. The organisers describe the site as pet friendly.
It is built as a family afternoon rather than a late night. The 10pm finish is the clue.
Cash is rarely needed. Stalls take cards and Pix, Brazil’s instant transfer system, and a card is simplest for a visitor.
If you are visiting Belo Horizonte
Savassi is the city’s eating and drinking district, so the festival is not the only reason to be there on a Saturday.
Bring identification. Brazilian events routinely ask for it at the gate, and a foreign passport or a residence card is the document that works.
If Saturday does not work, Savassi’s bars pour many of the same beers year round. The beer festival is the concentrated version, not the only one.
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where is the Festival Mineiro da Cerveja?
Saturday 22 August 2026, from 1pm to 10pm, at Praça José Mendes Júnior in the Savassi district of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais.
Is the beer festival really free?
Entry is free, but you must claim a ticket in advance through the Sympla platform. Beer and food are paid for at the stalls on the day.
Who is playing at the festival?
Raimundos headline the music programme, supported by Big Ones, 100% Charlie Brown and Velotrol. Music is listed as starting at 1pm.
How many breweries take part?
More than ten local breweries will pour more than thirty different labels, from light pilsners through to heavier special recipes.
Do I need to bring identification?
Bring a passport or a Brazilian residence card. Events in Brazil routinely check identification at the gate, and a photo of the document is not always accepted.