Saturday, July 30, 2011

Bier Hall Walkabout Part 3

Our final destination on our quest to find Munich's best beer and beer hall was the famous Hofbrauhaus. We had a feeling this would be our favorite and we were right.





Besides the never-ending array of tables as far as you can see in all directions and the jovial patrons, there are three things you immediately notice in the Hofbrauhaus that distinguish it from other beer halls:

the racks of locked steins (for regular patrons)...


...the lively oompah band playing and singing entertaining drinking songs,
 in German...


...and men and women attired in traditional Bavarian clothing - lederhosen, feather hats and dirndls...


 ...enjoying their mugs of beer under their stammtisch (reserved) signs
hanging above the tables where they meet regularly.


At the Hofbrauhaus, you can only buy beer (except for their Weissbier) by the one-liter mug. 
We didn't mind that at all. :))) We both gave the HB beer 5 points.


 Naturally, the menu was all German...


We challenged ourselves to decipher the food choices without our German/English dictionary. After all, we'd been in Germany over a week now, we should recognize many of these words by now, ja? Nein. Our server kindly explained the entrees in English...


...and Tom ended up with this delicious meal - a definite 5 points.


Mine was good, too. Chalk up another 5 points.

I have heard and read that the beer hall servers can hold up to ten full mugs of beer at a time (five per hand). I struggled to hold three in one hand...including an empty one...hurry up and take the picture! 


FINALLY! A smiling picture of Tom - courtesy of Frau Buxom...Tom and Steve both enjoyed her serving skills; every time she leaned over the table to grab our glasses or deliver more mugs of beer and our food, their eyes widened as they waited expectantly for her ample bosom to pop out of her low cut bodice...alas, they waited in vain.


Before we walked back to our hotel for the night, we peeked into the upstairs festaal (fest hall?) where there is a nightly folk festival and all-you-can-eat buffet. The place was packed! Adolph Hitler reportedly gave his first speech before a large crowd was in this room.


If you've been monitoring our points closely, you've noticed that Tom gave all the beers 5 points, showing that as far as he is concerned, beer is beer, they are all good. I, on the other hand, am a little bit more discerning, with very particular likes and dislikes depending on the flavor, after-taste, and tap vs. bottles or cans (preferably tap beer). The combination of the frothy beer, festive atmosphere, and reasonably priced and tasty food are what propelled the Hofbrauhaus to the top of the list and into the beer hall winner's circle.

But truly, all the beer halls are winners in their own way, and we discovered the Munchners have a great attitude about life and beer - YOLO!!

2 comments:

  1. After reading and re-reading your blogs I want to return to Germany just for the Beer and Food. Great descriptions!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Me, too! And then I want to go back to the Neuschwanstein area and explore it a little more.

    ReplyDelete