What’s in a Date? 23 April, Lagers, and Munich’s Iconic Beer Gardens

In brewers’ lore of yore, April meant more than showers bringing May flowers. In fact, the Feast of St. George on 23 April has influenced both the emergence of lager beers and the shaded beer gardens in which they have long been consumed.

Despite the best efforts of those who promulgated the Reinheitsgebot (Purity Law) of 1516, the quality of Bavarian beer remained uneven. In 1553, Albrecht V took steps to remedy the situation, declaring that Bavarians could brew beer only between St. Michael’s Day (September 29) and St. George’s Day (April 23). One reason prompting the decree of 1553 was a fear of summer fires caused by hot brew kettles. More importantly, though, brewers and the authorities who knew a good beer had, by the mid-1550s, learned a thing or two about the beneficial effects of cold fermentation on beer quality.

In the centuries before the invention of refrigeration, brewers had taken to the habit of sinking cellars on the grounds of their breweries. There, they covered their beer with ice blocks hewed in March from the still-frozen ponds and lakes of the region. Slower fermentation between 7 and 12 Celsius (44F-55F) in conjunction with extended lagering (storage) at temperatures near freezing yielded a cleaner beer that kept longer than the top-fermented ales brewed in warmer conditions.

Beer cellars also enabled brewers to store their beer during the months they weren’t brewing, ensuring a steady supply of stable beer during the summer months. Brewers planted broad-leafed chestnut trees as a further way of keeping the temperature of their cellars cool. It wasn’t long before enterprising brewers began to set out tables and chairs under the leafy canopy shading their cellars, ushering in an annual rite of spring and summer that millions have enjoyed since.

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Last summer I introduced you to the beer gardens in the northern part of the city (A Beer in the Park: Beer Gardens in Munich’s English Garden). This time around I’ll acquaint you with other iconic beer gardens in central Munich. If you’re already a seasoned Munich beer garden veteran, read on for some fun facts and a small dose of history to accompany your mug of beer. In subsequent articles, we’ll venture into the Bavarian countryside a short train ride from Munich.

*Pro tip: If you’re planning on visiting several breweries and beer gardens in Munich, purchase a 3-day pass for Munich’s “Innenraum” (€16.80).

*Caveat: The MVG (Munich’s transit authority) regularly changes its tram routes from year to year to accommodate construction and changing ridership patterns. Some of the tram lines and stops may be out of date by the time you read this, so grab a current transit map when you get your transit tickets or day passes.

Beer Gardens West of the Isar River

Hirschgarten (Address: Hirschgarten 1, 80639 Munich). On tap: Augustiner (including Maximator during April); König Ludwig; Hofbräu Tegernsee

You’ve arrived at the Munich train station, found your accommodations, and shed your luggage. Time for a drink. But where? The answer to this question has absolutely nothing to do with a lack of choice. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, do what countless thousands before you have done and head out to the Hirschgarten in the west of the city. On this particularly balmy day in mid-April, I decided to do the same.

To get to the Hirschgarten, take Tram 16 or 17 from the Hauptbahnhof (Central Station). As the tram heads west, the landscape quickly becomes quiet and residential, with cherry trees in bloom and birds chirping — a prelude of what awaits you at the beer garden. Get out at Kriemhildenstrasse, continue NW along Arnulfstrasse, cut left through the lane to the NW of the gas station, and then follow the side streets to the expansive Hirschgarten. Once you’ve got your beer in hand, you can start thinking about tucking into all sorts of beer garden delicacies sold by the vending stalls dotting the garden, including grilled Steckerlfisch.

The Hirschgarten started off as a pheasant run in 1720 before it was converted into a mulberry plantation geared toward silk production. The enterprise failed to turn a profit, so Prince-Elector and Duke of Bavaria Karl Theodor made arrangements in 1780 to transform the grove into a hunting preserve stocked with deer. In keeping with a growing trend, Karl Theodor opened his preserve to the public in 1784 and built the hunting lodge in 1791. The hunting lodge serves up food and drink to this day, and the erstwhile hunting preserve is now a park complete with penned deer, plenty of green space and walking trails, and the 8000-seat beer garden that drew you here in the first place.

Since it was still early in the season when I showed up, the only Ausschank (beer counter) in operation was the one operated by the Hirschgarten Wirtshaus. On this particular day, I met a 73 year-old Czech woman who had fled then-Czechoslovakia in 1965. After a career in radio in Cologne, she moved to Munich. The Hirschgarten is her “home” beer garden –– and indeed all of the serving staff knew her by name. These chance encounters are precisely what makes beer gardens (and beer halls) so enjoyable, especially if you show up solo. Their very seating configuration practically guarantees conviviality. Simply ask if the empty bench space or seats are free, order your beer, and join the conversation.

Augustiner-Keller (Address: Arnulfstrasse. 52, 80335 Munich). On tap: the Augustiner classics, including seasonals in limited availability elsewhere.

If you’re arriving from the center of town, take Tram 17 in the direction of Amalienburgstrasse and get out at the aptly named Hopfenstrasse stop. (Note: Tram 17 conveniently connects the Hirschgarten with the Augustiner-Keller.)

The Augustiner-Keller began life in 1812 as a lagering cellar for the Büchlbrauerei, a brewery that was in the possession of a book publishing family. In 1862, Joseph Wagner (whose initials still grace the Augustiner logo) acquired both the brewery and the surrounding property. At the time, only the small horse shoe-shaped area above the cellar was planted with trees, while the rest of the site was a meadow. Wagner went on a foresting spree, and now over a hundred stately chestnut trees cast their shade over a space large enough for 5000 beer garden aficionados. Today, forty-five of these trees are under conservation protection. Look for numbers on these trees.

The vast and amply shaded grove wasn’t the only reason that the Augustiner-Keller was the talk of the town. Up until 1891, the “beer oxen” made their rounds turning a rope-and-pulley system that hoisted casks of beer from the cellar. These bovine beer haulers made for quite the amusing attraction for Munich’s beer lovers, especially after a few liters of beer.

Nowadays, the combination of beer garden ambience and stellar cask-conditioned Augustiner Edelstoff doesn’t get any better than this, even without the beer oxen circus attraction. On warm, sunny days, take a seat in the beer garden oasis in the middle of the city and forget the hustle and bustle of the city passing by just beyond the outer reaches of the garden. If it’s winter or if a storm happens to be rolling through, head inside to the traditional beer hall for rustic splendour and oompah bands on stage at the front of the hall. Both the beer garden and the beer hall are boisterous in that uplifting kind of way. The food is on point, too.

Löwenbräukeller (Address: Nymphenburger Strasse 2, 80335 Munich). Look for seasonals on tap, including the sumptuous Triumphator Doppelbock.

Since a drink at the Augustiner-Keller has put you in the vicinity, you might as well stroll on over to the Löwenbräukeller. Alternatively, it’s a short walk northwest from the train station, and an even shorter walk from the Stiglmaier Platz subway station along the U1 line. Even though Löwenbräu merged with Spaten-Franziskaner in 1997 and was eventually swallowed up in 2003 by what would become AB-Inbev, Löwenbräu still manages to brew perfectly serviceable beers that are sold in more Munich beer gardens than any other brand. But as with so many beer garden experiences, it’s less about the beer than it is about the space and ambiance itself.

Though partially destroyed during a bombing raid in 1944, the Löwenbräukeller and its tower remain one of the few architectural testaments to the nineteenth-century “beer palaces” that were erected throughout the city. When it opened on 14 June 1883 to the accompaniment of fanfare from four regimental bands, the Löwenbräukeller offered beer hall and beer garden seating for 8000 thirsty patrons. Today’s beer garden is modest by Munich proportions, but the prodigious adjacent beer hall offers enough space in its various Stuben (separate rooms) for 2000 guests. If this sounds impressive, the original hall that was destroyed during the Second World War had space for twice that many.

Speaking of the Second World War and the lead-up to this conflagration, the Löwenbräukeller is one of several Munich drinking establishments that bear the burden of National Socialist history. From 1940 to 1943, it served as the venue for the annual commemoration of Hitler’s 1923 Beer Hall Putsch after an assassination attempt rendered the nearby Bürgerbräukeller unusable.

Any raucousness nowadays is more innocent. Like the Salvatorkeller on the other side of town, the Löwenbräukeller plays host its own unique tradition during strong beer season (Starkbierzeit). Once Löwenbräu’s Triumphator Doppelbock starts to flow, contestants attempt to match the feat of strength performed by Hans Steyrer, also known as “the Bavarian Hercules.” As legend has it, this master butcher born in 1848 allegedly lifted up a 508-pound boulder with a single finger. Our latter-day Bavarian strongmen are allowed to use both hands to attempt the feat, no doubt helped along by the Triumphator. A lift of 30 cm or more occasions further rounds of stein-hoisting.

Beer Gardens East of the Isar River

Paulaner am Nockherberg , aka Salvatorkeller (Address: Hochstraße 77, 81541 Munich). On tap: a range of Paulaner beers, including those brewed on premises

To get to this beer garden in the historic brewing district of Haidhausen east of the Isar River, take Tram 18 from the main train station, or from Karlsplatz or Sendlinger Tor. From there, you begin the short trek up the hill from the Mariahilfplatz tram stop at the foot of the bluff. After a few minutes you’ll see a stairway leading up to the “holy precincts” of the beer cellar called Salvator in the vernacular. Another pleasant way to work up an appetite for a beer and a pretzel with Obatzda is to walk from the center of town. Pass through the Viktualienmarkt and cross the Isar at the Deutsches Museum before wending your way through the Au-Haidhausen neighbourhood and scaling the bluff beyond the rushing Mühlbach. Either way, you’ll be rewarded for efforts with an unbeatable view of Munich’s spires and towers and an atmospheric alley that runs along the top of the ridge past the Gothic towers of the Mariahilf Church.

Along with the Augustiner-Keller and the Hofbräukeller, the Salvatorkeller is one of the few remaining cellars sunk during the nineteenth century. Not only that: the Salvatorkeller atop the Nockherberg has an esteemed place in the cultural history of Munich, not least because of its connection with the eight-day strong beer festival (Starkbierzeit) during Lent. If you’ve read A Season for Strong Beer, you’ll recall that the Pauline monks brewed a hefty beer — “liquid bread” — to help get them through their Lenten fast. That beer was eventually christened Salvator (saviour) in the nineteenth century, and its tapping during the Lenten season became a much-anticipated annual event.

Bound up as it was with the clerical tradition, Salvator was often portrayed as life-giving and life-sustaining, even if the flipside was sometimes true given the magnitude of beer flowing from the taps of the Salvatorkeller. Under those conditions, it is not surprising that the Nockherberg also had something of a reputation for the occasional bloody altercation. In 1888, what started out as a harmless disagreement between soldiers and civilians erupted into a mass brawl. For years after folks in Munich spoke of this “Battle of Salvator.” The annual Starkbier season may not be as Rabelaisian as it once was, but it’s still a significant occasion for lederhosen, dirndls, oompah bands, and satirical political cabaret (“Derblecken”). At any other time, the beer garden with its bust of Franz von Paola gazing benignly upon his contented flock of imbibers is a fine destination for a late afternoon beer.

Hofbräukeller (Address: Innere Wiener Straße 19, 81667 Munich). On tap in the beer hall: a selection of Hofbräu beers, including seasonals. On tap in the beer garden: see below.

The infamous Hofbräuhaus in the center of town is everything you’ve heard about it. It’s also a fabulous beer hall decked out in stained-glass windows and stately columns. But if all those drunken tourists are getting a bit much, there’s respite not too far away on the other side of the Isar. As you’re crossing the bridge on foot or on the tram, you’ll quickly notice how the topography along the Isar’s eastern banks lent itself to the construction of beer cellars back in the day. Am Gasteig (in the Haidhausen district of Munich) rises above a high embankment on the eastern bank of the Isar, and the Hofbräu Keller is at the highest point: the perfect place to sink a cellar and plant a beer garden!

As with other drinking establishments in Munich, the darker aspects of history are never far from the surface. After the smashing of the Munich Soviet Republic in 1919, Freikorps members summarily executed ten innocent workers and craftsmen in the garden of the Hofbräukeller on 5 May 1919. A plaque at the northeast entrance of the Hofbräukeller commemorates this dark event in its history. To the Hofbräukeller’s credit, they don’t try to hide the darker elements of its history. A historical write-up printed in the beer hall menu notes the following: “On 16 October 1919, the future dictator Adolf Hitler held his first party-political speech in the Hofbräukeller, an event he recounted in Mein Kampf. After that, the Hofbräukeller was often the venue for rightist political events. In the final years of WWII, the cellar served as a bunker to protect against aerial bombardment.”

Built between 1892 and 1894, the neo-Renaissance Hofbräukeller am Wienerplatz is one of the few remaining witnesses to the nineteenth-century era of architectural “brewing ensembles” (brewhouse, maltings, beer hall, beer garden). The arched wooden arcades were once used by the brewery as horse stables. Today, the now-inactive brewhouse and maltings rise up above the beer garden, sealing off this leafy, densely shaded inner sanctum from the busy flow of life in front of the Hofbräukeller.

I arrive at the Hofbräukeller around 7 p.m. after exploring the quaint narrow streets near Max Weber Platz and Wienerstrasse. Despite ample seating for over 1500 guests, the beer garden is packed and humming. A sign reads “No half-liter orders after 4 p.m. (except wheat beer).” This is obviously neither the time nor place to begin a debate about the merits of beer flights. And for those overwhelmed by choice, fear not: you have no choice. It’s one liter of liquid gold, plain and simple. Who am I to complain?

Related Tempest articles:

In the Cool Shade of the Beer Garden

A Beer in the Park: Beer Gardens in Munich’s English Garden

How Paulaner’s Salvator Doppelbock Got Its Name

Sources:

Süddeutsche Zeitung, Mir san Bier: Braukunst und Biergärten in und um München, Munich, 2013.

Larry Hawthorne, The Beer Drinker’s Guide to Munich, 7th ed., Freizeit Publishers, 2015.

“Löwenbräukeller,” Wikipedia.

The websites for the various beer gardens are also great resources for fun facts and the history of their establishments.

All photos by F.D. Hofer.

© 2019 F.D. Hofer and A Tempest in a Tankard. All rights reserved.