A beer hall (German: Bierpalast, Bierhalle) is a large pub that specializes in beer.
Beer halls are a traditional part of Bavarian culture, and feature prominently in Oktoberfest.[1] Bosch notes that the beer halls of Oktoberfest, known in German as Festzelte, are more properly termed "beer tents", as they are large, temporary structures built in the open air.[2] In Munich alone, the Festzelte of Oktoberfest can accommodate over 100,000 people.[2]
Bavaria's capital Munich is the city most associated with beer halls; almost every brewery in Munich operates a beer hall. The largest beer hall was the 5,000-seat Mathäser[a] near the München Hauptbahnhof (Munich central train station), which has since been converted into a movie theater.[4]
The Bürgerbräukeller, located in Munich, was a particularly prominent beer hall in Bavaria that lent its name to the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch, an attempted Nazi coup led by Adolf Hitler. The Bürgerbräukeller had long been a Nazi meeting place, and was the starting point of the 1923 coup.[5]
American beer halls became popular in the mid-19th century, following a wave of immigration from Germany to the United States. They became an alternative to the American-style tavern.[6]
St. Louis, Missouri is home to a number of beer halls, some of which seat several hundred persons.[7] Hofbräuhaus has eight franchised beer halls in the United States.[8]
The Loerzel Beer Hall was built around 1873 in Saugerties, Ulster County, New York, and was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 2000.[9] It is currently an apartment building.
German brewers who immigrated to Milwaukee, Wisconsin built "hundreds of distinctive taverns and beer halls", and also built and established large outdoor beer gardens.[10]