My Munich Week In Beers 27.06.23

There is everything to like about Munich. Since visiting, I’ve been trying to think about something I don’t like about it and I’m really coming up short. The summer climate is pleasant, it’s easy to get around and it baptises your mouth in beer.

You can be whatever type of tourist you want to be in Munich. Many of the CBD businesses that cater to tourists (a few of which you’ll soon read about) treat you right, feed you well and supply you with litres of beer. The lesser known locations that tourists who like to call themselves travellers seek out will give you a traditional experience, test your German and similarly supply you with litres of beer. Yes, the steins are real and are not just something they do for the tourists.

Left: Feldherrnhalle, one of the things that makes people say ‘Munich is the most northern Italian city! Hawhaw!’ Right: Monument to King Ludwig I, very German.

Safe streets and amazing food make Munich one of the best places to drink beer, as does the beer itself, an intensely fresh selection of the best in Bavaria which is up there as being the best in the world.

Disclaimer: Was only in Munich for four days but the series is called week in beers and I do it for free so we’ll all just have to move on.

It doesn’t have the fairy tale look of Nuremberg but Munich does have some beautiful architecture. Anyway, boring! Beer time!

We arrived in Munich on a warm Tuesday and going off another Beer Street Boys recommendation Katie and I headed over to the cavernous and tourist friendly Hofbräu Haus. Although they produce the kind of carefree beer that is as expected by the Germans as clean drinking water, you don’t see a lot of locals in Horbräu Haus. Instead you see tables of people from all around the world, often mingling as tables are large and limited.

Pictured: Hofbräu Haus and a happy little boy.

Not sure if we’d go for a full one litre stein right away Katie and I opted for a half litre of Hofbräu original, a helles lager that is crispy, clean, a little grassy and savagely sippable. After that we were sure a litre of beer would go down OK and each ordered a litre of Hofbräu dark, the only other alcoholic, non-seasonable beer on tap. It is definitely a dark beer you could drink a litre of, several perhaps, especially paired with Bierbratle, straw fed pig with Bavarian cabbage, dark beer gravy and something called a bread dumpling which is the gourmet version of the bread ball you squish together as a kid.

Two Americans John and Tayler joined us at about this time and after a fun beer fuelled chat they ordered another stein of the original for Katie and I. John reckons the beer scene in his native Boston in amazing and offered to put Katie and I up if we visited so who knows, maybe he’ll feature in one of these again one day.

Photo (and possibly future accommodations) by John.

After they left a table of Spanish laser engineers sat with us and after a little chat in which I mentioned that I thought the Gipsy Kings are from Spain (I know they’re French) I realised I’d definitely had enough to drink and went home.

The next day we worked for a little with the reward that we would check out a beer garden afterwards. Doing some research I found Hirschgarten, a beer garden which is well loved by locals and why wouldn’t it be? It’s absolutely massive meaning on it’s busiest days you’ll still be able to get a table. A table of grey haired women sat there chatting, each with a big stein of hells in front of them. A bar sells a small range of beer made just south of Munich which is what we ordered, two steins of Tegernsee spezial, an absolutely bloody outrageously good beer which I honestly consider to be one of the best of the whole trip at the time of writing. (Watch the video and review!)

One good thing about steins is that they really make it easy for you to stick to your promise of having just one, which I somehow managed.

On Thursday we went to the English Garden where I did some work and rewarded myself with a Hofbräu Haus Helles Vollbier which was nice to have while exploring the park.

I reckon this could be an advert. That is sort of a compliment I guess.

It was a warm day and down a fast and choppy river that cuts through the park groups of young people and teenagers were treading water as the current moved them at a rapid pace. I thought about jumping in too but I didn’t have my boardies and anyway, it seemed like something that would have been a lot more fun with friends. Realising I missed my friends we went home for some quiet time and a Google about how many people have died doing the river swim (a lot).

Later we went out for a schnitzel and cheesey pasta (called spätzle) where we had two rounds of Augustiner Bräu München (since 1328) one of the biggest names in Munich beers, available almost anywhere. I don’t really remember thinking too much about this one other than it was refreshing and went really well with the cheesey spätzle.

This venue is called Wintergarten and do a great dinner and drinks if you can pay cash and speak ‘pub German’.

After that we went in search for an urban beer garden which we found at Max Emanuel Brauerei a bar with an all Löwenbräu line up. We got a stein each of the classic which tasted crispy and grassy, the perfect partner to watch day turn into night. It was so good in fact that I considered getting another before Katie suggested it wasn’t the best idea if I wanted to go around insisting I’m a beer drinking professional. Correct call.

Pictured: Katie, a true professional.

One great thing about German beer culture is that good beer is available in the supermarket so while working/watching the Panthers carve up the Storms in our apartment, we shared two bottles of the glorious Chiemseer Hell.

We had a sick little AirBnb, which tend to be on the pricier side in Munich.

Realising it was our last day and we hadn’t really seen that much of Munich we went out to explore the city, a good intentioned activity that ended up with me in The Lego shop and Katie in H&M. How bloody predictable.

Although the Munich city centre clearly caters to a visiting class, the bars and brauhauses are of a surprisingly, almost unnecessarily high standard. At one bar we enjoyed another spectacular glass of Tegernsee and something that my notes claim to be a ‘Mystery Weisse’. Although the food at this venue looked good (one German described it as ‘wünderbar’ so take that kölsch dickhead who said Germans didn’t say that) we were seated outside and it started raining so went across the road to Schneider Brauhaus, a brew pub that has been family owned for nearly 100 years.

With downstairs packed, we sat in a quaint and wooden upstairs that slowly filled up with more people as the evening rolled on. Their hells lager was brilliant, sharp and smooth and smashable another contender for best hells of the trip which would put it in running for best of all time.

Three types of pork, sausage, crispy belly and pickled, boiled and smoked (maybe my favourite) alongside a mysterious ‘bread ball’, kraut, sauce and one lonely tomato.

The one that has remained as an overall fond memory for my tastebuds is the Schneider TRIPELWEISSE a dark and punchy cross between the two styles the name implies (review here). I had it with a perfect plate of ‘good bye Germany’ that confirmed Schneider’s is also another mandatory stop when you are in Munich, which I hope to be again one day.

Munich was our last stop in Germany, a country that exceeded my high beer expectations and medium food expectations. Speaking of food expectations, the big red city of Bologna is our next stop!