It has been another incredible week in Bavaria with the highlight being a tour of Munich’s city center. I joined my favorite guide, Jax of Heart of Munich Tours, who offers incredibly informative and interesting tours.  Not only does he show you the main sites, but also points out items of interest you would miss on your own. He is the perfect type of guide I use for my clients – knowledgeable and fun.  You can find photos of the tour on my Facebook and Instagram. 

In addition to my love of Bavarian pretzels, beer from this region is also a favorite of mine. Bavarians are particularly proud of their beer and rightly so.  It is greatly ingrained in their culture and I have found that drinking water is merely tolerated. My very Bavarian partner likes to remind me of a saying they have here when I deign to order a water (to be fair I have also ordered a beer) “da poppen die Fische darin”.  I won’t translate, but you may get the gist. We always have a good laugh and I am, of course jesting a bit, but I now drink my water at home. 

Beer (Bier) is a staple of Germany.  In fact the oldest brewery in the world (or at least it claims to be) is Weihenstephan located at the Weihenstephan Abbey in Freising, Bavaria. The first historical mention of hops connected to the Abbey was in 768 and the monks who lived here produced and sold their beer until it was dissolved in 1803 and transferred to the state of Bavaria.  There are now over 650 breweries in Bavaria which make up 50% of the total amount in all of Germany.  

In Munich they have what is the called “Big 6”. These are the only breweries that are allowed to serve their brews at the world-famous Oktoberfest.  Each beer must follow the Reinheitsgebot (purity order) and the current one was decreed in 1516.  In a nutshell this means that the beer must be brewed in Munich, have a minimum of 6% alcohol and must only be made with water, barley, hops, and yeast. In 1993 the law was updated to allow other ingredients to be added as long as it is not called beer. 

The  “Big 6” Breweries
Augustiner
Hacker-Pschorr
Hofbräuhaus
Löwenbräu
Paulaner
Spaten-Franziskaner

Types of Bavarian Beer

HELLES
A pale lager, easy to drink

PILSNER OR PILS 
Golden-color with a more bitter taste than Helles

DUNKEL
Dark beer made using Munich Malt giving it a slightly darker taste.
Subtle flavors of caramel, toffee and nuts

WEIßBIER / HEFEWEIZEN
White beer / Yeast wheat beer.  
Made with more then 50%+ of malted wheat 

BOCK and DOPPEFLBOCK BOCK
A dark and malty beer. Doppel (meaning double) tastes even more so

RADLER
A minimum of 50% beer mixed with citrus, such as lemon soda