Started in 2003, the festival is held annually over five days each August as a showcase event for various beer producers.

In addition to domestic and foreign brews, the festival features live music performances each evening.

On December 31, 2005 the British newspaper The Independent named Belgrade Beer Fest "one of the worldwide events to visit in 2006".

It is believed that the man, possibly under the influence of alcohol or narcotics, may have fallen from a restaurant overlooking the bear cage, an open-air structure with no roof.

Later identified as Ljubomir Trifunović from Belgrade, the attacker was sentenced to seven years in prison.