There are two sides to every city: the touristy side and the local side. As temporary visitors to an unfamiliar place, tourists only see a slight glimpse of it. We see a facade, in a way, playing to the stereotypes and expectations of a place. But underneath is the real side, where the locals live and work.
I believe in order to experience the “real” parts of any place, you have to actually live there. (Or spend an extended amount of time there.) And as much as I’d love to live in many of the places I travel, it’s just not going to happen. But I recently got the tiniest glimpse into the real side of Munich when I spent a week there for work. I stayed in a more businessy side of the city and spent most of my time with locals, away from the touristy district.
Luckily in between all the business there was plenty of beer in Munich.
A Week of Business and Beer in Munich
I first discovered Munich’s charm a few years ago when I visited for Oktoberfest. It was no surprise that the massive beer festival was everything I hoped it’d be (despite a few surprises) or that the Bavarian State Opera was fantastic. But I was surprised how incredibly delicious Bavarian food is.
So needless to say, even though I returned to Munich for work, I was excited to be back. And determined to get as much Bavarian food and German beer as possible! (Here’s what to eat in Munich.)
Work, Work, Work… German Style
Working in another country — even for a week — is fascinating. Well, besides the jet lag. (Sitting in meetings all day while jet-lagged is not easy!) The culture, as you’d expect, is different and it was amazing to overhear so many different languages spoken in the same office.
I learned that German keyboards are different than their American counterparts (of course!) and typing on them is a bit challenging. I learned milk is not refrigerated before it’s opened, like eggs outside the U.S. And I learned the hard way that air conditioning doesn’t really exist in Europe. On a related note, Germany is currently experiencing an unprecedented heat wave.
Beer Houses, Beer Halls & Beer Gardens
But after those long days of meetings, I turned my focus to finding good food and good beer in Munich, which is not hard to do. The first night we went to Augustiner Bräustuben, a 2,500-seat beer hall with a rooftop beer garden.
Augustiner-Bräu is the oldest independent brewery in Munich, opened in 1328 and brewing ever since. The beer was originally brewed by a monastery that supplied beer to the Bavarian royal family until 1589. (From then, Hofbräuhaus took over as the Royal Brewery.) Augustiner-Bräu changed locations a few times over the centuries, eventually returning to the original site near the Marienplatz in 2013.
In addition to a range of Augustiner beers (including my favorite, the dunkels), the Bräustuben serves traditional Bavarian food. The roast pork with Knödel (potato dumpling) reminded me exactly why German food is so amazing. It was so good we returned a few days later to sit outside on the rooftop for some superb schnitzel. (More on what to eat besides beer in Munich here.)
Hofbräuhaus in München
Arguably the most famous beer in Munich is from Hofbräuhaus, officially known as Staatliches Hofbräuhaus in München. The Royal Brewery is owned by the Bavarian State government and uses the original recipes developed by the Duke of Bavaria in 1589. Legend has it the Duke’s son didn’t like the dark beer Hofbräuhaus brewed (called Bräunbier), so in the 17th Century they developed a wheat beer and forbade all other breweries to do it, giving them the monopoly.
The original brewery’s location founded in 1589, Hofbräuhaus am Platzl, is now a beer hall — one of the oldest in Munich and is a must-visit. It’s Munich’s largest tourist attraction after Oktoberfest. The international popularity is partially thanks to American soldiers bringing home steins with the HB logo after World War II.
The Largest Beer Garden in Munich
There’s no shortage of beer gardens in Munich and apparently that’s where everyone goes in the summer. One night we stumbled upon the city’s largest beer garden — and arguably one of the largest in the world — Königlicher Hirschgarten. The restaurant has outdoor seating for a staggering 8,000 people with another 500 seats inside.
Majority of the beer garden is self-service, where food stands serve the most popular dishes in a fair-like setting. But we sat in the service section (with seating for 1,200 people) where a complete menu of Bavarian food can be ordered along with Augustiner, Tegernseer, and King Ludwig beers.
There’s nothing better than sipping on German beer outside on a hot summer night.
The Hunt for Bavarian Dark Beer
Another night we ventured to the heart of Munich’s touristy district: the Marienplatz. The bustling square has been drawing crowds since 1158 and today tourists flock there to see Munich’s most famous buildings. There are markets and shops and restaurants tucked in tiny nooks, each with tables full of people clinking steins of beers with each other. It’s delightfully magical, especially at sunset.
We snagged a table outside a little restaurant, and when the menu wasn’t all that appealing we opted just for beer. I was in heaven with a Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu dark beer, another of Munich’s oldest breweries (this one opened in 1397).
I was on a hunt for dark beer all week, since I didn’t have any dunkel (as it’s called) my last time in Munich. Oktoberfest serves only one type of beer: a lighter lager known as Märzen. It’s delicious — seriously all Bavarian beer is outstanding — but I was anxious to try their darker counterparts.
The German Beer Purity Law of 1516
And try it, I did. Dunkel beers were the original Bavarian beer and the most common during the time when the famous German Beer Purity Law was introduced in 1516. The German Beer Purity Law, or Reinheitsgebot, stated the only ingredients allowed in making beer are water, barley, and hops. (Yeast wasn’t mentioned because it hadn’t been discovered yet.) That made dunkels the first fully regulated beer. Dunkels have a malty flavor with less bitterness than lighter beers like hefeweizen. (But the hefeweizens are fantastic, too.)
That night we ended up eating at the Tegernseer Tal Bräuhaus, steps away from the Marienplatz. It was touristy and more expensive than everywhere we’d been, but it was a chance to try another great brewery and their Bavarian food. There I had an array of sausages (Nuremburg Bratwurst, Bavarian weisswurst, and red sausage) served with Bavarian potato-cucumber salad.
Tegernseer Tal Bräuhaus serves Tegernsee beer from the Herzoglich Bayerisches Bräuhaus Tegernsee and Weissbierbrauerei Hopf breweries. Tegernsee can trace its roots to 1675 and is currently run by the current Bavarian Prince’s daughter. (Sidenote: I had no idea there was a Bavarian royal family!) Weissbierbrauerei Hopf, on the other hand, is a relatively new brewery, started in 1892. But the Tegernseer Tal Bräuhaus itself has been a brewhouse since 1433!
Bavarian Beer and the Bavarian Countryside
By the time Friday rolled around, I’d had an exhausting week of work and a wonderful week of Bavarian beer in Munich. It was just in time to head to Frankfurt am Main for more meetings, more beer, and more German food. I was excited to to experience Frankfurt and the Hessian region of Germany for the first time.
But first, another dunkel beer from another Bavarian brewery, Löwenbräu, on the train. Löwenbräu was founded in 1383 and is one of the largest tents at Oktoberfest — and the first tent we went to there. I love taking the trains in Europe; but watching the countryside fly by while sipping on a delicious dark beer is even better.
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Related :: 6 Surprising Facts About Oktoberfest, what to eat in Munich, and a look inside the Munich Opera House.
