DINE & WINE
T he Bavarian relationship to- wards beer is deadly seri- ous. That’s because for beer even to be called beer in Germany it must meet the requirements of the Beer Purity Law [Re- inheitsgebot], which was passed back in 1516 by order of Duke Wilhelm IV. This act, one of the world’s oldest valid food safety laws, originally permitted on- ly three ingredients: water, barley and hops (yeast was only added centuries later, when Louis Pasteur explained its function). Any other ingredient is strict- ly prohibited. Bread of the poor, invented by a monk Munich’s brewing roots are actually linked to monasteries. During long and exhausting periods of fasting, monks wer- en’t allowed to eat solid foods. In order to retain their strength, they started mak- ing extremely strong, highly calorific beer that they called “liquid bread”. Munich’s oldest operating brewery, Augustiner [Au- gustiner-Bräu], was founded way back in 1328, within the scope of the monastery of the order of St. Augustine. Beer garden culture The best place to drink beer in Mu- nich isn’t a pub, but a beer garden. This institution emerged out of sheer neces- sity, when – in the 19 th century – brew- ers were banned from brewing beer in the summer, due to the heightened risk of fire. They thus brewed during the winter MORE THAN A BEVERAGE Law, science and religion in a one-litre flagon Beer is a Munich staple that’s regulated by a law dating back to the 16 th century
Anatomy of a beer mug Beer in Munich is mostly drunk from a massive one-litre glass or ceramic mug, known as a Maß. The glass isn’t thin, as it is designed to withstand the strike of strong toasting. The beer must have a perfect foam head measuring exactly two to three centimetres in height, be- cause the froth serves as an insulator that prevents the drink from oxidising and weathering too quickly. And those wooden safes in Munich’s Hofbräuhaus pub? They are the ultimate status sym- bol. The right to a personal compart- ment to lock away your ceramic flag- on isn’t bought, but rather inherited.
and stored their beer in deep cellars lo- cated next to the River Isar. In an effort to further cool the cellars, they planted above them chestnut trees, which have a wide canopy and shallow roots. People soon started bringing tables and drink- ing beer directly above the cellars, in the shade of giant chestnut trees. Today’s genuine Munich beer gardens, like the one at the Chinese Tower in the English Garden or Augustiner-Keller, have a clear and legally protected rule: guests are only allowed to bring and consume their own food (brought from home or a market), under the condition that they buy drinks from the host.
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