Hofbräuhaus am Platzl beer hall in Munich, Germany

A beer hall (German: Bierpalast, Bierhalle) is a large pub that specializes in beer.

Germany

A meeting of the Nazi Party at the Bürgerbräukeller beer hall, Munich, circa 1923
A temporary beer hall erected for the Cannstatter Volksfest, an annual three-week Volksfest in Stuttgart, Germany

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]

United States

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]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "The Mathäser billed itself as "the largest beer hall in the world" with over 7000 seats"[3]

References

  1. ^ Steves, Rick. "Munich Madness: Oktoberfest and Beer Halls by Rick Steves". Rick Steves Europe. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  2. ^ a b Bosch, Claudia (2011). "'Ein Prosit der Gemütlichkeit': The German Beer Hall as Place of Cultural Performance". Environment, Space, Place. 3 (2): 97–121 at 97–98. doi:10.7761/ESP.3.2.97. ISSN 2068-9616.
  3. ^ Gaab, J.S. (2006). Munich: Hofbräuhaus & History : Beer, Culture, & Politics. New York, New York: P. Lang. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-8204-8606-2. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  4. ^ Hawthorne, Larry (2005). The Beer Drinker's Guide to Munich. Beer Drinker's Guide to Munich. Hemet, California: Freizeit Publishers. p. 95. ISBN 978-0-9628555-2-8. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  5. ^ "Bürgerbräukeller, München – Historisches Lexikon Bayerns". www.historisches-lexikon-bayerns.de. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
  6. ^ Ruschmann, Paul (2013). "Beer Halls". In Smith, Andrew F. (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 155–56. ISBN 978-0-19-973496-2. OCLC 781555950.
  7. ^ Brown, Lisa (10 December 2017). "St. Louis craft brewers expand facilities as competition mounts". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  8. ^ Brown, Lisa (1 December 2017). "After delays, Hofbräuhaus brewery in Belleville to open in January". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  9. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  10. ^ Cross, J.A. (2017). Ethnic Landscapes of America. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. p. 270. ISBN 978-3-319-54009-2. Retrieved 8 July 2020.

External links

Drinking establishments
Bartending
Categories