Hofbräuhaus Munich

Legendary brewery and restaurant
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Since the beginning of the 17th century, the Hofbräuhaus at "Platzl" in the middle of Munich's old town, which was completed in 1607 and has been open to the public since 1828, has been the world's most famous address for authentic Bavarian beer enjoyment. Every day from 9.00 a.m., waiters and waitresses dressed in traditional costumes serve 3,000 to 30,000 guests beer from the state-owned company "Hofbräu München", usually served in a beer stein.

"There is a Hofbräuhaus in Munich..."

When the Berlin composer Wilhelm "Wiga" Gabriel, of all people, composed the world-famous drinking song in 1935, neither he nor his contemporaries probably knew that the Hofbräuhaus in Munich was basically born out of necessity. It may be hard to believe today, but until the Duke of Bavaria Wilhelm V commissioned the construction of the Hofbräuhaus at the end of September 1589, most of the beer drunk in Bavaria came from northern Germany (Einbeck) as well as Franconia, Hesse and Saxony for expensive money.

In order to guarantee the quality of the freshly brewed barley juice locally, an Einbeck brewmaster was lured to Munich in 1612, who from then on produced beer there in the Einbeck style. The Munich dialect quickly turned the "Ainpöckisch Bier" into "Bockbier", which was only allowed to be produced by the Munich Hofbräuhaus until 1818.

Even Lenin liked to drink beer at the Hofbräuhaus

Between the 1850s and 1870s, wheat beer was also brewed at the Hofbräuhaus. Around the same time, its rapidly growing popularity with the public caused much envy and jealousy among neighboring Munich innkeepers and other city brewers. As more and more visitors from outside and abroad began to flock to the Hofbräuhaus from the end of the 19th century, the brewery operations were finally relocated in 1896 to the "Hofbräukeller" in Haidhausen, which has also been used for gastronomy since 1995. On the site of the demolished brewhouse and demolished administration building, the "Schwemme" with today 1,000 seats and the restaurant area were opened in September 1897.

In the first half of the 20th century, the Hofbräuhaus repeatedly made national headlines as a meeting place for political parties. It was here, on "Palm Sunday" in April 1919, that the workers' and soldiers' councils proclaimed the communist Munich soviet republic. Not quite a year later in February 1920, the "National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP)" was founded here.

The Hofbräuhaus survived two world wars

During an Allied air raid on Munich shortly before the end of the Second World War in 1945, the Hofbräuhaus was almost completely destroyed, apart from the pond on the ground floor. Just in time for Munich's 800th anniversary in 1958, the tradition-steeped institution reopened its doors. After the last major restoration and renovation including reconstruction in 2004, a good 5,000 liters of beer per day are consumed along with culinary classics such as veal sausage, meat loaf, roast pork as well as knuckle of pork and white sausages.