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Disclaimer

Munich Friday Beer Gardens
(& indoors in cold, wet, & winter etc)

This page http://www.berklix.org/bg

Every Friday & odd extra days too.
Indoors when too cold/ wet & in winter.

pic. from Erik If you also fancy a beer in the country or up a mountain, you may also want to join the walkers groups &/or ski groups.
No Smoking Do NOT Bring Smokers ! Not even outside ! None of us smoke. Some are allergic &/or hate smoke.   Non smokers welcome. Until recently there were insufficient smoke free venues; In a polluted Gaststätte, going off a couple of tables to smoke was Not acceptable.

INDEX

No Questions By Email

Please do not mail the author questions unless your question is really Not covered below ! He has no time for repetitive email questions, when he should be doing computer work, sorry ! - Please ask any organiser or others At the Beer garden, when we're happy to chat, de-focused from screens!

SCHEDULED VENUES

  • Conditions
    • Join the right mail list where we announce this week's venue.
    • We do not decide future venues sufficiently in advance to list them here.

WHERE IN MUNICH ?

Index

As Jim (an organiser) dislikes Franziskaner beer, (& I've chucked away much of 2 dunkles beers at Stiglmaier), I've marked some F. places to aid selection/ deselection. Yes it's not complete, Yes I know more. No I don't have time. You type & email me one that's missing.

Names That Are Compound/ Concatenated Here Have Spaces.

If you use search engines you may want to try variants with & without spaces & hypens.
    (Most Germans don't spell place names (or other compound nouns) with spaces. Instead, they ram words together, discarding spaces, making things harder to read, especially for foreigners guessing where to split words up, prior to looking up words in a dictionary. (Sometimes Germans put a dash/ hypen/ "-" in, followed by a space). No need to perpetuate foolish removal of spaces, ( It took the Quebecois to fix French numbers over 80; it takes Non English native speakers to iron out irregularities in English; Don't wait for Germans to realise German could use a simple easy fix. At the last Rechts- Schreib- Reform Germany dithered over triple S etc, changed the rules, then changed back after lots of new dictionaries were sold.)

Other Indexes. Maps

Beer garden indexes on line (in no particular order, tell me in a beer garden which is best index & I'll list it first): To find beer garden locations on maps try
  • Web Maps .
  • A paper map
  • Muller bakeries sell new beer garden guides for 5 or 6 DM in 2001.
  • Ludwig publish "Die Schoensten Biergarten in Muenchen und Umgebung" ISBN 3-7787-2131-3, Mine is 2. Auflage 1993

VENUES: LOCATIONS & COMMENTS

This list does Not pretend to be complete, or to be PR / tourist info. hype. Here warts are mentioned too.

U-Bahn numbers

Since the MVV annoyingly renumbered what was the old U 8 plus another line too, it has not been possible to blindly trust U-Bahn numbers from older maps & books, without checking year of issue, against year when MVV caused avoidable confusion, so always check U numbers yourself.

Bus Line Routes

These of course are even easier to change than U Bahn numberings, Example: Details in the 2003 MVV book weren't correct for for Hinterbruehl by 2006.

Publishing Dates

: Only clue to publishing date in the MVV 2003 book came on the last para. of the last inside page, talking about a Kombi Karte price.

Walking speeds

Be dubious about walking times as they may have derived from slow walkers eg inc MVV guide, or fast walkers such as me. Look at a map, decide the distance, & make your own estimate.

Gasthaus Alte Messe (on the Theresien- Höe).

New B.G. (West of edge of Wiesen, South of what was Hacker Pschorr Keller = Bavaria Brau: http://www. gasthaus-alte-messe .de How to get there: U4-U5 to Schwanthaler-hohe. Take exit at rear of train coming from Hauptbahnhof. Then the stairs to the right, just follow signs for the Verkehrs-museum. Above ground walk straight on between the buildings into a square and the beer garden is on the other side. Walk through the service area to the self service area at the back.

Alte Wirt Ramersdorf  Alte Wirt Ramersdorf

Alte Wirt Ramersdorf
Aribonen Str. 6
600M from U2 Karl-Preis-Platz.
Fallback inside exists. Service area near door exists. I guess further away may be self service.
Another beer garden: Zic Zac is nearby.

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Augustiner, Arnulf- Str 52, 80335 München. Tel. 594393

www.augustinerkeller.de,
S-Bahn Hacker- Brucke is nearer than S & U Bahn at Haupt- Bahn- Hof. Tram 16 & 17: If Dry {stop at Hacker- Brucke, then walk East (city direction, downhill at end) to Zirkus- Krone- Str, then North along Z.K. str to B.G. gates on right}. If Wet: {Stop at Hopfen- Str then West uphill & in through main gates & up to beer hall}.

We go to Self Service area (so avoid anything with a table cloth), near-ish to kids play area. Easiest to find us via side gate entrance on Zirkus- Krone- Str, then walk back South along fence toward Arnulf- Str & we'll be most of the way in that direction, & either near to fence, or at most about 5 rows in from West fence.

Shady Big beer garden. Own food allowed (eg could be packed from home, a shop, or eg a donner kebab picked up en route from Schiller Str). Hot & cold food sold there. Sells normal beers outside, or go inside to buy Dunkles.

Wet Weather fall back:
Inside the hall of the beer garden, near Herbst- Str, perhaps down in the deep cellar (if front upstairs crowded/ noisey/ smokey, & other top level big rooms reserved for private events). (2007.05.15 they said they had non smoking rooms, but not tonight as reserved for events). To get down use either of 2 spiral staircases, one particularly narrow, or use lift. (In event of fire there's a big broad exit staircase at back I've checked).
Mobile phones do not work in that deep cool spacious cellar

11th July 2008 we found it chained shut. Later someone (Doris or Sabine maybe?) said she'd heard infested but with what we could only guess. Don't know.

Dunkles Maas from inside 7.2 EU at 2009.05

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Au- Meister

(Muenchen-Schwabing), Sondermeier- str. 1 : Tel +49 89 325224
  • U Bahn: U 6 Studentenstadt: On Ungerer Str head North East for 5 minutes; then turn right=East on to Foehringer Ring; when main road bears Left (North East & North), walk on Aumeister Weg East for 5 minutes, then North East parallel to Schwabinger Bach, & somehow try to cross river (if necessary, follow river down to Foehringer Ring & Leinthaler- str).
  • U Bahn: U 6 Freimann: South (into town), Across (Under ?) motorway; left=East South East on Leinthaler- str; right=South West on Sondermeier- str for 2 minutes, passing under old rail bridge.
  • Cycle: North North East down the Isar, pass under Mittlerer Ring, then short cut across park Or stay by river, cycle under Herzog Heinrich Bruecke (of Foehringer Ring), immediately West North West on Leinthaler- str, South West on Sondermeier- str.
  • Car: Easy parking on adjacent roads as out of town.

Large picture of beer garden (& Gaststätte) under 2 foot of snow

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  Blutenberg Wein fest

Starts 21-24 May 2009

Way out West. Near roundabout at end of the Stuttgart Autobahn, Near Wurm river. From S2 OberMenzing (1 beyond tracks split at Laim) it's 7 or so blocks West. Or cycle. google

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Concordia Park

Has become a Greek Taverna. They still have self service & served areas at 2009.05.19

Spacious, shaded, & un-crowded: No rubbing backs ! Beer a bit cheaper than Taxis-Garten nearby. Self service so you can also bring your own food. Good choice of food. Small, so you can't miss us; when not busy, some less frequently ordered foods get cooked to order. Large room in Gaststätte under same management adjacent if it suddenly rains, (no problem about running in wet with drinks, & ordering more from waitress later). Big kids play area under trees, optically near enough, but acousticly offset ;-) Ideal for midsummer, plenty of shade. Gary reported large portions of ribs.

Directions to Concordia Park Beer Garden, Landshuter Allee 165

  • U.Bahn line U1, Station: Gern, Then 1 of 2 routes:
    • Quickest Easiest Way:
      take stairs at front of train coming from city centre on next level stairs to the right. Above ground turn right alone Klug Str. After 500M there is a Tengelmanns on the other side of the road then turn right into Esebeck Str. It is a dead end road but at the end is a back entrance into the beer garden.
    • Alternate route
      Go to the South (city centre, back of train if coming from city) end of platform; up stairs & left (East) along Simeoni Str, right (South) into Taxis Str, left (East) into Hane- Berg- Str, Left (North) into Landshuter, a few metres; Left (West) down foot path ending in Concordia Park.
  • Tram 20/21 from Stachus (via Haupt- Bahn Hof, Leonrod- Platz) to stop Olympia- Park West. Walk round the back of the tram and cross the south-east bound (into the city) lane of Dachauer Str. and then alone Landshuter Allee.
    The main entrance to Concordia is 220M on the right.
  • Bike: From city centre North West along Dachauer Str, under the Mittlere Ring, Left= South on Landshuter Allee a few metres. , Right = West on narrow lane/ foot path.
Concordia Tel No: 155241.
Don't confuse Concordia with larger Taxis Garten nearer Gern U Bahn.

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Map http://www.berklix.org/maps/

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  Dicke Sophie

Direk by S8 Johannis- Kirchen, Out in the sticks.

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Flaucher ("Zum Flaucher")

Isarauen 1, 81379 Munich. Tel 7232677
Not perhaps the easiest of places to find, so here's copious information:

Location

  • Near the left (West) bank of the river Isar (Left bank is conventionally looking down river. River flows to North East).
  • South (up stream) of where the Mittlerer ring (south side of city) crosses the river. At that point the Mittlerer ring is called Candid- Str
  • West of the North end of Flaucher- Steg.
  • East of Schinder Brucke.
  • South end of "Isarauen" (My map from RV GmbH 1985 merely shows the street in the park called Isarauen, but does not name or index it).

Getting There

  • Bike: Through Isarauen toward Thal- Kirchen. See Below
  • U-Bahn: U3 Bruder- muhl- str or Thal- Kirchen.
  • Bus: 54 along Candid str, Alight at Schaeftlarn- Str. May also be one at Bruder- muhl- str
  • Car: Schaeftlarn- str, Hans Preissinger Str, Schinder Bruecke.

Getting Back

When It's dark, you may want a torch, to go blundering about in the bushes trying to find Schinder Bruecke. (not sure the path is lit or not) Or with no torch walk along the wide path (lit I think) either down stream to Candid str (= Mittlerer Ring), then left at the ring to Bruder- muhl- str; or up stream, over canal, & up the canal to Thal- Kirchen U-bahn.

Cycling

Cyclists who remember annual trips South, up (as in up-stream along) the West bank of the Isar to Grosshesseloehe, may remember a beer garden half way there, that sprawls across the cycle track, & into the park, ... that's Flaucher ! Shortly before you've been cycling through trees, curving right with the park on your right. If you overshoot, you arrive at the junction of the long Flaucher pedestrian wooden bridge across the river.

Notes

They do films outside occasionally I think, round the back, but don't know their schedule.
Good kids play area.

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  (Zum) Gr\xfcenen Baum

Verdi Str. 47 corner Fraunendorfer Str.
Obermenzing: 100M from S2 S-Bahn.
Beer Augustine Helles from the barrel. 6.00 Euro for a Mass @ 2009.06

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  Hacker- Pschorr Bräuhaus - braeuhaus- an- der- bavaria .de
(Ex Bavaria Braue Ex Hacker Pschorr Keller

Big place inside, Bavarian Italian & Asian sections. Beer garden outside not self service. Hacker-Pschorr Bräuhaus, Theresien-Hoehe 7 - 80339 München, Telefon: (089) 500 59 38 - 00


Harteck Gaststaette

Info < Pamela 2009.05: A new place has opened near where I live and due to the opening are offering # 2 per drink on all drinks. Gaststätte Harteck, Tues-Sunday 10 - 02 Uhr (so I guess not this Monday but one could check) . Trenklerweg 5, 80937 München and is 5 mins walk from Harthof U2 U-Bahn which is 13 mins to Haupbahnhof. Take the Weyprechtstr. Exit and turn left at the church and walk straight on, it becomes Trenklerweg I believe. Their mobile: 0160 / 968 899 92 or Fax: 089 / 370 674 01.

the flyer they put thru my door says: Für 300 people, large lawns, Kinderspielplatz, Tropical Bar im Freien, Grill bei schönem Wetter, gemütlichen Pavillions, Wasserpfeife, and W-LAN and that's all in the Biergarten. In addition, in the Gaststäte they have Fußball Live (Premiere), space for 180 people, a large Saal mit trennbaren Nebenräumen, Ideal for parties, etc., international Küche, Internet, Dart & Kicker. The drinks price reduction is due to the new opening and lasts until 10.06.2009.

And if one doesn't like it, in the same street is a typical German Biergarten with a Kinderspielplatz on the right opposite the church when you are walking down Weyprechtstr.


Harlachinger Einkehr

Apparently @ 2008.07: Ribs are 5 Eu.

Hinter Bruehl (Gasthof Hinter-brühl am See)

Address

Hinter- brühl [er Weg ] 2, 81479 München.
Tel +49 89 794494 Fax +49 89 798724; Open daily from 10:00-24:00

Description

  • South (upstream) of Munich. On river, West bank, with terraces overlooking the canal & river Isar beyond to East.
  • Beer: Hacker Pschorr (Prices: cheaper than in town. @ 2003.07 : Litre Helles 6,10; @ 2006.08.19 : Alkohol- Frei half litre 2.85, Spare Ribs 6.75; @ 2009.05.25 ribs 6.95, Chips 2.9.
  • Self Service & Served areas about equal size. Can bring own food to self service area . All benches even in self service area have back rests. More importantly they're well spaced, so no back rubbing unlike many central venues eg Augustiner & See- Haus etc.
  • Hot chips done to order (when it was a non hot quiet Sat August afternoon)
  • Children's playground opposite self service area
  • Owner is president of Munich football club TSV 1860 München (Löwen)

Travel

  • S7,20,27 Siemens- Werke. (considerably nearer than either U Bahn. South (out of town) to Siemens- Allee, Left = East to Wolfratshauser- Str, Left=North 100 metres, U turn South along Ludwigs- Hoeher- Str, Left=East (no road for cars), cross Heilmann- Str, East down Gerbi- Str
  • U3 Ober- Sendling. (perhaps a little shorter than U Bahn Thal- Kirchen, but more complex) East along Irschen- Hauser Str, turn right=South into Plingangen Str, keep on left=East. Before Kreppel- Burg, take path down across to Benedik- Beuren- Str which goes East down toward river. Turn right=South along Zentral- Laend- Str, past camp site on left, same distance again along Zentral- Laend- Str till you get to Junction with Gerbi- Str
  • U3 Thal- Kirchen, then South up river approx. 1 or 2 km
  • Bus: U3 Thal- Kirchen, then Bus 135 (@May 2009) direct to Hinter- Bruehl, or Bus 134 (@May 2009) to Kranken- Haus Martha Maria then a few mins on foot
    Bus 134 As is it a Stadt bus, it only goes every 20 minutes. Maybe a convenient U-Bahn or S-Bahn station to hop on bus No. 134 is Harras.
  • Bike: south up river, on the West Bank, . If you pass an island with more drinking space on it, on you left (East), (run by other management).
    between canal & river, then you'r about the correct place but look West up hill to the terrace.
  • Car: Half way along Hinter- Bruehler- See (small lake), there's a junction. It's on South corner of the junction With a navigation system type in Zentral- Ländstr./ corner Conwentz- Str. Parking: Keep driving down road & eventually you'll find a space maybe.

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Hirschau

Tel.: 089 - 322 10 80 Fax: 089 - 322 10 819
Warning: Domain hirschau-muenchen.de top page is crippled by incompetent design requiring Flash: In turn requiring un sourced untrusted flash binaries to view it, &/ or Microsoft too, opening you to viruses.

Description

Self Service. Own food allowed. Cooked food there. Also sells Dunkles & Weiss bier etc, not just Hellas. Sells halves as well as Litres. Long narrow-ish beer garden, North-South. High trees to West. Jazz band stand, middle of West side. Kids play area, big well equipped fully fenced, at North end. Tennis Courts & car park East beyond servery. Coffee Mug deposit 3 Euro (for boring plain white mug!), don't forget to return mug!

Directions In Ascii Ready For Email

  Gyssling-str. 15, In Englischer Garten, 81545 Muenchen Schwabing. 
  Do _Not_ confuse with Hirsch- Garten (with deer, way out West)!
  U-Bahns:
    U6 Diet- Linden- Str: Walk South East on D.L.Str or take a bus., OR
    U3 & U6: Muenchner Freiheit: Walk East into park, North East past lake.
    U4: Richard Strauss Str: & longer walk or bus North West, past
        Effner Plz. & over John F Kennedy bridge into park.
            
  North of Mittlerer ring (=Isar ring). West (Tennis court) side of
  South end of Gyssling Str.  If you start from the See- Haus: (on
  edge of lake "Klein- hesseloher See"): 2 ways to Hirschau, Either:
    Half a minute's walk East (toward River Isar) then curving
    Left=North East on quiet road under busy Mittlerer ring. Just
    after going under bridge, turn Right (North East) into Gyssling
    Str. After 2 minutes turn Left between car park & tennis courts
    (use your ears, listen for balls), beyond the building
    OR: 1 minute's walk North (toward Schwabing), then Right=North
    East onto footbridge over Mittlerer, after bridge, straight on
    in same direction, then slightly right (maybe you'll hear band
    if playing).
 North end (away from road entrance to beer garden), East side (near 
 car park & entrance to Beer Schanke).
         
Bus numbers for the above are welcome. Tell Julian

Old Owner Gone - Good !

Owner was daft enough to send all 8 external beer garden staff home Fri 2003.06.06, after a spot of rain, leaving about 3/4 internal restaurant staff to struggle: Time consuming queue to buy beer resulted. One responsible deputy manager did his best to handle the flood of trade & problems his landlord had dumped on him. Later visit 2003.07.25 they were serving as normal. Friday 13th August 2004 Again they were closed outside, & we were fetching beer & food from inside, - it had been somewhat windy & cooler earlier. That seemed a frequent pattern, fortunately, 2006.06 I'm told there's a new owner. That's good news ! Another beer garden guide completely dropped entry for this place then restored it with new owner. Tel (089) 3120550 (from web other index) or 3221080 (my 2003 book).

Bad Weather Fallback

For temporary shelter, the adjacent Hirschau Gaststätte/ cafe exists, but if it's obvious in advance: Oster- Wald- Garten, Kefer- Str. 12.

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Hirschgarten

Re. Racks of glasses: They do wash them. Its just traditional to rinse them. It harks back to the days when you paid a direct price for the beer, and the rest, the food and plates were your own problem. At least 3 of us have had heated arguments with the Schanke over short measures. Was OK last time there. View into park on East side. Evening sun over dear park on West side.

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  Jagd Schlössl

Direct by Rot Kreuz Platz U Bahn. Beer garden is not self service (so don't bring your own food). Nymphenburger Str. 162.
Directions:
U-Bahn U1, Rotkreuzplatz, take the stairs at the rear of the train coming from the city centre, then on next level the first exit to the left. Above ground the restaurant is right in front of you.
@ May 2009:
Also going to Rotkreuzplatz is the 53 Bus and 112 Bus replacing the 12 Tram.

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Kapuziner Beer garden, run by Paulaner Bräu Haus am Kapuziner Platz

Kapuzinerplatz 5, 80337 Munich. Tel 544611.0

Description

Price (self service) 7.0 Eu/litre @ 2009.04.15
At 18:00 14.04.2009, only 2 tables left in Sun, (early season, sun low).
Lots of shade. Damn expensive ribs (10.5 Euro @ 15.04.2009, just a few years back was good value at 5 DM ! Full range of beer, including Dunkles, Weiss, & an unusual deliberately cloudy house brewed Hellas, but other beers too etc. Good fallback indoors if weather turns nasty, though loud inside in winter, & somewhat expensive.) Great place if announcing a future event in unknown weather: They just switch staff between beer garden & outside, depending. Used to be good deal on spare ribs (better value than eg Hinterbruehl, even though Kapuziner is a central venue ). Some years they convert more beer garden to high priced waiter service (no cheap ribs there), I hope someone stops the rot ! The Koenig Ludwig Biergarten Erlass allowed these places to sell beer on the understanding citizens were allowed to bring their own food. Cant bring your food easily if not enough space to sit & drink, 'cos all the self service is taken ! Most of the self service now extends round the corner toward road, so if you don''t see us walk round corner. No football world cup screens on Wed. 28th June 2006 :-). If weather is bad, it might be more crowded/ noisey within sight of copper brew vessels, so also check the likely quieter back room near the beer garden.

Location

Line Map Beer garden is opposite large red brick & concrete Arbeitsamt on Kapuziner Str Indoor address: Paulaner Brauhaus, Kapuzinerplatz 5, 80337. U Bahn 3 & 6, Goethe Platz. 1 block South East on Kapuziner Str, or South on Haberl Str, merging at Kapuziner Platz, Then where Haberl Str. merges with Kapuziner Plz, either:

  • For Beergarden: half a block South East on Kapuziner Str, & left into beer garden. (or from Isar cycle track, 4.5 blocks North West).
  • For the Brauhaus, if cold / wet, it's on Kapuziner Platz behind the mini car park, on left, on right is gate through to Beer garden.

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. Hof- Bräu- Keller

Central area, crowded, smells of smoke, as too sheltered by high buildings & doesn't get enough wind, & Germans smoke too much, so we sit on North West corner, where it's less crowded (corner with cocktail bar on one side & park on other side). Has a walled kids play area. Have to go inside to buy Dunkles beer. Can bring own food. They sell hot & cold food outside. They stop selling at 22:00 (2006.08 staff informed us, walking round). They have to close outside by 23.00 as overlooked by flats. Big inside area if it rains. Non smoking room. Probably the best (only) kids play area inside I've seen (acoustically out of range of non smoking room :-) High ceilings typically Bavarian/ Muenchen. Food inside is sometimes on special, smaller fixed portions at 5 Euro, They make up for the loss of profit with expensive beer: For a proper litre measure had to return beer back twice on 2006.08.18 ! 3.50 per half Bill calls it Dunkles Gold. Dance hall or some such in cellar, (for older people I'm told). Few minutes walk south from U-Bahn Wiener Platz. Tram stop outside North corner.

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  Olympia Alm

A fair walk from transport. Near top of the hill. No wet weather fallback. (the other beergarden at bottom of hill - inside is a smokers ghetto )

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.Oster- Wald- Garten

It's a beer garden, but not self service, so not bring your own food either. However, conveniently near the See- Haus in event of bad weather there.

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. Muffat Halle

  • Zell- str. 4, 81667 München
  • Tel. 458750.80, Fax. 458750.89
  • 300 Seats. Normal cheap space saving 10 seat benches.
  • Jammed together seat benches touching, so people can rub bums backs & elbows with next table. (Tables used to be are slightly oblique rows, so only 4/5th could be annoyed, but now straight so 100% can. Beergardens that cram in deserve to lose customers.
  • No Dunkles beer sold (2009.05).
  • South West aspect & they say large umbrellas, but not true, a few medium size wood & white canvas, smaller than little cafe single table umbrellas, but not Big modern aluminium & white plastic Large umbrellas
  • Walled all round & a small B.G. so not much draught, which may be a bad thing: with all the tobacco drug addicts round me when it was at about 25% seat occupancy, I left, rather than buy a 2nd mass, because of the smoke drifting about erratically.
  • Öko- fleisch vom Lava- stein- grill. 2 sausages for 5 Euro
  • Small sand pit for few small kids & 2nd KPA at 150 metre out of sight.
  • Near Isar cycle path.
  • Bike parking not compatible with racing handle bars, only good for "city bikes" & mountain bikes.
  • Mo bis Do: 17 Uhr bis 1 Uhr. Fr bis So: 12 Uhr bis 1 Uhr
  • Look for a yellowish orange building, baroque, (with a swimming pool inside), & a large square factory chimney further North (= down river) from Deutsche Museum, & West (= down hill) from Gasteig.
  • Wet weather fallback: They have an adjacent "Cafe [similar name to Electra, or dynamo), whether its free entry or just for concerts I don't know. Labelled something like Elektrizitaets- Haus, perhaps was a way station for 1st electric line between Kochel & Alte Botanische Garten.
  • On a tram line, between S Bahns Isartor & Rosen- Heimer- Str.

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  Löwen Bräu Keller at Stiglmaier Platz, Nymphen- Burger Strasse 2,

80335 München, Tel +49 89 526021, Fax +49 89 528933

Getting There:

U-Bahn U1, Stop Stiglmaier Plz, Tram routes 20, 21, N20

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Where In Beer Garden:

Usually in self service area, towards far end, not near main gates on Stiglmaier Platz (unless its raining, when we may be inside, or just outside, served, under umbrella).

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Beergarden Description (for announcements) :

Sheltered as city central, You can bring your own food, eg from home, shop or take away en route, whatever. They sell ribs, haxen, chicken etc. No kids play area.

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Wet Weather fall back:

Umbrellas outside, also big inside area, just Bavarian food served inside. Later possibilities could include Indian (Maharani) to North East & an [African] is North on Dachauer Str etc.

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Beergarden Description (extended notes, not for announcements):

Beer: Lowenbrau (which means Franziskaner for Weissbier, (which Jim doesn't like). & 2 Maas of Dunkles tasted foul to me 2008 07 04, I chucked much of both on the stones. It was a fresh lively barrel, foaming like crazy, & I did check I was not palmed off with old, & all came fresh from tap. Perhaps it was washing solvent on the glasses, insufficiently washed off. Normally I've drunk dunkles there OK. But often from bottles, or dunkles draught from inside (was closed for renevations). Currently they have both draught & bottled Dunkles outside.

Long narrow beer garden, running East-West, Parallel to Nymphen- Burger- Strasse. Enough sun in summer. particularly at West end in Summer 2008 as building site adjacent to so shadow. Better than an edge of town beer garden on cool days. Low level is sunny, higher is shadier. Can sometimes be noisy from the road. Can be damn noisy occasionally if some rotten radio station invades, bringing `Schickeys' (Posers) im tow, recruited by radio, penalty of any central convenient location.

@ 2008.05: Dunkles on sale outside from bottles (so you get a full measure, Even their Hellas was a full measure @ 2008.05 Somewhat unusual for Muenchen ! )

@ 2008.07.04 they have completely gutted the inside, raw concrete & steel, so no wet weather fallback at all for next several months.

[The cellar ?] is another traditional place for Stark Bier Fest, substantial entrance fee then though.

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Mangostin

Opposite Wienerwald at Thal- Kirchen (U3). @ 2002.06: Beer Eur 5.80 / Mass. Usual big tables and chairs as per other real beer gardens, bits sunny, bits well shaded. Big Chicken wings and scampi etc. deep fried and tasty. Watch the trucks carting away the logs of the Isar rafts for the next day. Food from the woks can be spicy if you ask nicely / insult the cook enough. Chilli spare ribs were excellent after they had been jazzed up a bit.

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  Menterschwaige:

MENTERSCHWAIGSTR. 4, 81545 München Tel.: +49 89 640732 Fax: +49 89 6422971 menterschwaige@schottenhamel.de
Jim says Lowenbrau => Franziskaner
Est of River Isar, South of city.
Near the river, a bit South of the Zoo. Good for cycling along river.
Trams 15 und 25
both stop direct on Menterschwaig Str.
These Trams connect from other lines (List starting in North, going South)

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  Michaeli Garten:

Formatted ready for email announcement:
U-Bahn: U5, Michaeli Bad; Walk in same direction as trains heading out 
    of town ( East South East, Compass 112.5 ;-) ; Along Heinrich
    Wieland Str, past Michaeli- Bad on right (first past long low
    single storey buildings behind which lie grounds of the swimming
    pool); past main pool entrance, past push bike park, curving
    gently right into park, past flower bushes, past Restaurant (a
    bit off to right, adjacent to lake), right turn, down path into
    park; far end of beer garden, past kids play area, near lake.
Cars: Ost-Park is East of the East side of Mittlerer ring. Free Car Park
    South off Heinrich Wieland. But why drink-drive ?  Use U Bahn :-)
Beer-garden:
    Own Food is legal here. They sell hot food too.  Optional hill &
    park stroll after dark.  Illuminated model boats on lake sometimes.
Wet Fallback indoor venue Options:
    1) Restaurant at beer garden now has a non smoking section.
    2) Dicker Mann, (Probably still smoked everywhere):
       Heinrich Wieland Str 11, Muenchen 81735, Map grid C 73 in
       Blue Phone Book Die Muenchner http://www.diemuenchner.de
       Between U Bahn & Biergarten, nearer U Bahn. other (North)
       side of street from park.
2006: Nasty football screen dominated half the beer garden acoustically for the World Cup. Gone now :-)

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Nockherberg

  • Hoch- str 77, 81541 Mu. Shown on my map as "Paulaner" ... the brewery is adjacent. Cyclists: Along the cycle path to Reichen- bach- bruecke, South East, along Ohlmuller, up hill, left into Hoch- str (before going over rail bridge). U Bahn (flat route to avoid walking up hill from river): U Bahn Silber- horn- str, walk north north east along tegernseeland- str towards Rosenheimer Platz, North West = Left at junction with Ostfriedhof, down Nockherberg str a few meters over rail bridge, Due North (Right) Into Hoch Str. Maybe 50 Metres Right again.
  • Their Web. Tel 459913.180 fax 81 Wirt Peter Pongratz. Leiter Haustechnik Joerg Kukulies
  • Beer garden
    • Can be (if wind from West, but Munich doesn't get much wind) a pleasant view over the escarpment & into beer garden.
    • Crowded seating during the rebuilding after the fire.
    • Rebuilding complete @ July 2003, now has all the recti-linear architectural attraction & interest of an old Butlin/Pontin's holiday camp ;-)
    • In the back corner along the side adjacent to where where the Kids Play Area (KPA) was, they've put low level toilet block, & a new bandstand further down.
    • Exactly where the KPA used to be is now a pathway to the large bus car park, they didn't sacrifice any of that parking space, they sacrificed the beer garden.
    • They can now bus in hordes of eg USA BMW businessmen 2003.07.11. We were then stuck between the awful racket from the lousy `Lampion' band (some north of Munich music type ?) on the new bandstand, & the different Americanised Bavarian music from the halls.
    • We complained to management, cashiers subject to even more noise right opposite bandstand complained too, Forget any hope of a quiet relaxing beer garden unless you sit well away from halls entrance, nearer to the escarpment.
    • If you want to go, check what band will be making too much noise too close to you. They have a timetable.
    • Beer schanke too inefficient / slow though lots of staff & some quite surprisingly friendly, they'll probably get more efficient by 2004.
    • It takes a certain `skill' to manage to not pour the full content of 2 half litre Alkohol- Frei bottles into a litre mass glass, but they managed it, (the place used to regularly short measure on hellas & dunkles `vom fass' (on tap) served by the older man from the South Schanke (S. Schanke now gone) before the fire).
    • The KPA has grown, but moved down right by the main entrance, much easier to have your kids run off or be stolen from the new KPA, than the old South East corner location with high fences.
    • Amazingly a local tabloid (`yellow press') paper (TZ or AZ maybe, but not SZ), claimed lots of their readers like it ! Maybe they used to, hard to believe they still do.
    • Sad that it isn't what it was before the building were burnt down (about which some people after a beer or 2 there, have been heard to ask each other rhetorical sarcastic questions about the convenience of loose matches, can't keep cynics down ;-)
  • The Stark Bier Fest: Traditional start point for the fest. Televised live I believe. The politicians do their ponderous bit here. Some say if you enjoy that, you've been here too long, some say if you can't understand it, you'r not a local. Whether one Wants to appreciate it is debatable. I've been here too long ! 'Cos I've enjoyed the televised Bavarian humour at times.
    • The 2003 Stark Bier Fest: (Return from the tents down by the Auer Dult) Short measures & tight fit tables bolted to the floor. Tedious rubbing of backs with next table tight packed close. A waitress tried to steal the substantial change due my female neighbour - I put my arm across to table opposite, grabbed it, & the fat old waitress bounced off & couldn't escape without paying back what she had attempted to cheat. She knew full well, she was just trying to cheat the young American female customer who was trapped on the tight bench, & couldn't get her money back. I left in disgust shortly after, I finished drinking my first & only Stark bier there outside.
    • In the front building, it used to be OK even during Starkbierfest time, it was more of a civilised restaurant in the area that led off from the left side, just before where you paid for entry to the `garden' & halls, .
    • Stark beer is seriously strong: There used to be a reputation for good number of fights at Starkbierfest zeit. Men seemed more casual after leaving the premises to go home, & vaguely wandering across the road to urinate above the escarpment beyond, but more surprising one year was to see 2 young women, trousers down, squatting in the gutter urinating about 4 meters from the entrance, couldn't even be bothered to walk up or across the road, let alone to the grass beyond ! Strong beer, & things happen. Another traditional place for Stark Bier Fest is Loewen Bräu Keller @ Stiglmaier Platz
Spring/ Early Summer 2006: Weird reconstituted potato type things outside, sort of like chips bu spongy, & tapering to pointed ends, came swimming in thin gravy with some meat. I immediately poured my gravy on ground. Frankie didn't & was very queazy later.
Lousey service inside, their very friendly helpful manageress tried to sort it, but couldn't make that much progress with such bad staff, two of whom should be sacked as more interested in Not working, &/or chatting behind bar to their friends in front. (& also smoking behind the bar I recall, (but won't swear to, memory not guaranteed on that event), (Illegal BTW in UK, unless you wash hands after: saliva = health risk!)) One can speculate with 2 versus 1, who will leave first, & if service will improve.

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  Park Cafe:

2008.04.30: Summary: Not particularly reccomended.
High prices: Mass Helles=7.2 (compare with Hacker Pschorr Brauhaus also rip off at 3.7 for dunkles April 08), +Pfand=1 leaving glass),Large Brezen rip-off 3.9 (& some large brezen were not good, looked under cooked & tasted towards UK steam baked bread!). Couldn't buy Dunkles outside as usual, & whole of inside private party, no cash in till to pay for a dunkles & no dunkles on shelf (perhaps classy privates drinking wine ?) Hellas mass tasted OK, & decent measure. Friendly service. Thunderstorm, D. ran off, Pfand token in pocket, glass on table, so more probable profit to Park cafe. Staff closed big table umbrellas public had opened (fear of wind damage).
Pre formatted for email:
Outside in the self service half of the Park Cafe
        Sophien- Strasse 7, Tel 51617980 http://www.parkcafe089.de
    On edge of park (ex site of Old Botanical Garden).
U Bahns: Nearest: Karls- platz/Stachus. Others: Haupt Bahn Hof & Koenigs- Platz
Beergarten & adjacent cafe run by different staff. No Dunkles outside, but you can go inside to cafe to buy Dunkles. On after possibilities include: Nearby up Dachauer Str: Indian, Maharani, & African too.

Warning: We Avoid Here During Football Season

  • Next : 07.06.2008 bis 29.06.2008 EM LIVE
  • Their web claims to have largest screen in a beer garden,
  • Most of our group does not like pervasive football noise from loudspeakers.
  • We won't pay extra high prices for degraded environment.
  • Note the mobile number of the mail list announcer, for in case they impose football noise on us, & we leave, & you need to find us by mobile phone, as happened 02.07.2004: Rip Off Football Pricing With No Football !
    Beergarten Aus- Schanken was closed, due to bad weather. The small area next to cafe was open as usual, but had been extended, partly railed off. They'd put a large projection screen outside, possibly so they could show something, maybe a film or something I thought, but it was off, no signs of any sort, no tickets, & they were serving beer outside as usual, & it was quiet, largely deserted on arrival, so OK. After beer arrived, we asked for menus, but only one ordered food, as too expensive & a bit weird for the price. I saw the waiter looking very carefully at backs of all menus when he collected them from us before selecting some for next table. Elke paid first, for a single Weiss Bier: 3.90 Euros! We complained, & refused to pay more than normal. Found that some but not all menus had football logos on back cover, with rip off prices inside. Cafe manageress was insistent she must rip us all off @ 3.90 Euros for beers instead of their normal 3.30, for non existent football we didn't see & didn't want. She rolled out the usual Munich excremental excuses: That it was owner's orders, & owner of course wasn't there, & so she had to rip us off, & we had no choice but to be ripped off ... & that if we didn't pay their enhanced rip off prices, it must come out of the waiter's pocket - the owner would rip him off instead. We refused to be ripped off: there was no football showing, & I added I hated watching football & would Not have been there if they were showing it. She said she'd turn it on (to retrospectively justify the prices, now we wanted to leave!). I warned her not to extend the attempted fraud, by falsifying evidence, & turning on football TV just before police arrived (if called). I didn't trust her at all. I demanded she show me my 3.40 change due from a 10 Euro note on 2 beers, before I'd even give it to her. I was certain she'd short change me & the rest after otherwise. She continued arguing with us. She rushed off briefly at one point, to harass the technicians to immediately put on football, any, even a recording, they refused, saying there was no point. The waiter accepted normal pricing, & I finally got my right change from him. Then others paid & left. After group had left, last organiser reported she was still telling technicians to turn on the large screen & show football - & they were saying no, none available!

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  Schlössel- Garten

U4 Arabella Park then ' + Bus or 10 Min by foot.) Bus 89 direction Fritz-Meyer-Weg 2 stops till Eva- strasse, Then 200 Meter along small footpah across from bus stop.

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See- Haus:

Address

Klein- Hesselohe 3, Schwabing, 80802 Muenchen, Tel +49 89 381613 0
Price (self service): Very Expensive: 7.4 Eu/litre at 2009.04.15

Directions

  • The beer garden is North of the City.
  • South of of Mittlerer ring,
  • In the park "Englischer Garten",
  • On the edge of the lake "Klein- hesseloher See".
  • Nearest U-Bahn: U 3/6, Muenchner Freiheit, then walk East along Feilitzsch- str into park (Sun behind your right shoulder), Left=North briefly at T junction, then Right=East toward park, past Osterwaldgarten (pub) on left, continue into park, Left=North round lake clockwise (North, then East, then South a bit. See- haus is on edge of lake.
  • Or Bus 144 from Diet-linden- Straße (U-Bahn Münchner Freiheit) to Oster- Wald- Straße.
  • Or cycle along Isar.
  • Or by car its South West of where Mittlerer Ring = John F Kennedy Bridge crosses river Isar, small car park.
  • If you type "Gyssling Str 1" into stadtplandienst.de it shows the right place.

Description

  • Nice view South over lake.
  • If hot & crowded we sit further back toward cash tills.
  • Within easy distance of many Schwabing locales
  • If weather gets bad we sometimes retreat to Osterwaldgarten), Kefer-Stra\xdfe 12, on edge of the park on way back to U bahn. Also useful for later, if cool after dark at beginning or end of season.
  • An expensive restaurant there, that we never use, run by kuffler.de has a small picture.

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  Spektakel

  • self service & waiter served areas.
  • Pfeufer- STr. 32, 81373 München Sendling Tel 767 58 359
  • Beer garden has self service & served halves.
  • Directions @ May 2009
    • From U3 & U6 Pocci- Str: Walk on Lindwurm-str in same direction as train out of town, South West, into the sun. Up the hill, sharp right (=North) on to Pfeufer-str. A few minutes & Spektakel is on the left=West. Beergarden is at end of a short dead end road to side of Gaststaette. ( Similar walking distance from 3 U bahn stations Pocci- & Impler- Str & Harras)
    • These Buses go to Herzog-Ernst-Platz:
      • 53 Muenchner Freiheit U-Bahn to Aiden- Bach- Str. U-Bahn via:- Hohen- Zollern- Plz. U-Bahn, Rot- Kreuz- Plz. U-Bahn, Donners- Berg- Bruecke S-Bahn, Schwan- Thaler- Hoehe U-Bahn, Harras U+S-Bahn.
      • 131 Viktualien- Markt to Knie via:- Marien- Plz. U+S-Bahn, Frauen- Hofer- Str. U-Bahn, Pocci- Str. U-Bahn, West- End- Str. U-Bahn, Laim S Bahn
      • 132 Rot- Kreuz- Platz U-Bahn to Roten- Han- Str. via:- Donners- Berg- Bruecke S-Bahn, Heimeran- Plz. U+S-Bahn, Pocci- Str. U-Bahn, Harras U+S-Bahn, Limmat- Str. U-Bahn, Forsten- Rieder Allee U-Bahn.
      • 134 Theresien- Hoehe to Fuersten- Ried West U-Bahn via:- Schwan- Thaler- Hoehe U-Bahn, Harras U+S-Bahn, Ober- Sendling U-Bahn, Solln S. Bahn

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Taxis Garten

  • Taxis Str 12, 80637 Muenchen
  • No Dunkles Bier :-(
  • Good Kids Play Area.
  • Cooked Food & Can Bring own.
  • Spacious - They were forced to reduce seating numbers some years back, after noise complaints from neighbouring residents.
  • Concordia is nearby, but lesser known, smaller, quieter than Taxis.

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Tollwood

General Location
Spiridon Louis Ring /Willi-Gebhardt Ufer.
Where we meet:
Andechser Zelt Location: On South-East Corner of Festival Grounds 1. Enter "Main entrance" (from Spiridon-Louis Ring) 2. Stay Left. Walk along left periphery. 3. Continue until you see the Andechser Tent. It is one of the circus tents with a blue roof and blue-white sides. see pictures Ringed around the Andechser Tent there are many Beergarten tables. 60% have blue sunshades. 1. On the LEFT of the tent entrances are tables facing the grass. Also near the racket from the free band adjacent. 2. On the RIGHT of the tent entrances is an area of tables adjacent to the "Andechser Lounge" (Right / Left as you face the tent on your arrival)

Clothes

Yes some (Not Us!) annually pull out their Hippy gear to cruise (& man) the stands here. There's nothing too weird not to be on show as junk for sale at high prices here.
Beer Measures:
The hippy pseudo peace & light atmosphere does NOT extend to beer sales. As per usual Munich attitude they'll try & rip you off on short measures, I had the normal argument over measures last year, from the lounge bar then, & this year got ripped again by the bar between lounge & main tent. A pity we don't have some UK style Weights & Measures Inspectors in Bavaria to close places that regularly defraud on volume. ( See other refs to eg Muenchner Verein Gegen Bier Betrug, & The Oktoberfest tax authorities institutionalising rip offs by charging more than 100 tax units per 100 "Mass" ( not equal to a litre) sold)

Cycling To Tollwood.

Sure there's busses, but nothing beats a bike IMO. However there's still laws to obey, eg:
On a hot hot crowded night, ~20:00 Tues 21 Jun 2005, 3 police in a row were fining 3 cyclists under the trees heading towards Tollwood. North East of the junction with Dachauer Str, heading North East on Schwere- Reiter- Str, on the North West side of the street, rather than using the cycle track on the South East side of Schwere- Reiter). There were numerous more cyclists heading in to be fined next. There were many pedestrians in both directions, & cycle path was not wide, so if the cyclists had swerved, they could have endangered pedestrians.

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.Wald- Wirt- Schaft

Georg- Kalb Str 3,
South of Munich, just West of river Isar on the escarpment.
Re. location & GPS:
  • "82049 Gross- Hesse- Lohe bei Muenchen": From WaWi own web (in a foolish graphic one can't mouse copy !)
  • "Pullach Im Isar- tal": What http://stadtplandienst.de finds it with.
  • "Gross-Hesselohe (Pullach Im Isar-tal)": What GPS TomTom 700 prompts after typing in "Gross- Hessel". & can find Georg- Kalb Str 3.
  • Another GPS (manufacturer unknown, in a BMW could not find it, but I think person wrongly typed in Munich at one stage, don't know if he tried Pullach.
Tel +49 89 74994030 fax +49 89 74994039 Jazz beer garden.
We go every year on May 1st, & other times too.
Nice cycle track, converted from old rail line, takes one gently up long hill South, which avoids steep hill at end up from river.

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Zic Zac (A suggestion from Barbara J., not been there yet.

It is on an island in the middle of the Rosenheimer Str. directly opposite the Alter Wirt (co-ordinates where the Rosenheimer meets the Innsbrucker Ring). I like it because it is modern and non-Bavarian. If you go through the bar you come out at a beer garden at the rear, maybe a little bit smaller than the Alter Wirt, with a small play area. The ages and nationalities are mixed. The bus stop (very close) is Ramersdorf, buses 95 and 96, U-Bahn Karl-Preis-Platz with a 5 - 10 minute walk south according to one's condition (!). Alternatively U-Bahn Innsbrucker Ring - walk along the ring towards Salzburg Autobahn and turn right into Rosenheimer Str. I think the food is o.k. as I don't l like Bavarian food, but maybe it comes out of a freezer ? Don't know what a beer costs, but can't be too expensive, cos the youngsters go there!

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WHERE IN THE BEER GARDEN ?

At most beer gardens, we sit over the back, in the self service area, near the Kid's Play Area (KPA) if there is one, unless otherwise announced. Near the kids area started 'cos a few people have kids with them occasionally, but it's usually also easier to reserve more space for unknown quantities of people, in what is usually the quieter KPA. Don't let the frequent mention of KPA in mails scare you with thoughts of a child oriented group of parents - we're not ! There's usually only a few kids, I the author of this page, am semi allergic to kids, certainly in bulk, but there's never many, just a few & often none. We often sit near the KPA for more space, & quieter surroundings, as well to suit anyone who might bring kids.

START TIME

Default nominal approximate start times (unless otherwise announced):
  • May & June: 18:00
  • July & August: 18:30
  • September: 18:00
Some arrive earlier to help reserve space, & some later. We're many of us English, we don't expect to be exactly on time, it's a beer garden after all, not a business appointment ! If you happen to arrive before the organisers, just keep an eye out for us, & other likely beer gardeners.

Bad weather Start Time

If the weather has been bad all day, if the announcement included a fallback indoor venue, we may automatically go there rather later than the preferred outdoor beer garden. If on the other hand the weather turns nasty at the last minute, & we divert en route or fresh from the Beer garden, we'll likely be at the alternate venue pretty much on time. We're not easily dislodged from a beer garden though, a few spots of rain may of us are used to, from growing up much closer to the Atlantic than here :-)

WHO TO LOOK FOR ?

Beer Garden Organisers. List Of Organisers has been moved to a seperate page

LATE ARRIVAL

Question: "I'll Be Late, How Long Will You Be There ?"
Answer: How Late ? - Don't Ask Me ! - We're Not Going To Commit Ourselves !

  • Some of us may be there most of the evening if the weather is fine, but if the Beer garden is announced in advance of unpredictable weather, we will have no idea how long we or others will want to stay.
  • We usually leave when it's cold or dark, but sometime we leave early; occasionally we're still there even if it's raining intermittently, but we don't wait forlornly for people to arrive, when we're thinking of leaving.
  • If you want to encourage us to wait for you, send a friend in advance to keep us company, maybe that'll encourage people to stay on ... if the weather's good !
  • You're allowed to bring your own food to most or all Munich beer gardens we announce, so you don't need to eat at home first !.
  • Try to avoid always arriving late & expecting us to wait, half bored at a largely empty table. At least sometimes, arrive near-ish to time, & give organisers the benefit of your company at the beginning, rather than the end, when we've had enough, & are waiting for late-comers to drink up.
  • On good evenings, it's some times a problem defending our table space when beer gardens fill up. Try to arrive before we are likely to be pestered by strangers after our spare table space.
  • Do not follow the example of one person, who told no one he'd be coming, arrived over an hour late, to a beer garden closed by the Wirt (Landlord) on a cold day for lack of business, where we could buy no more beer. That person was actually indignant that we'd gone, & hadn't waited just in case someone we neither knew nor expected turned up ! We're not daft - we don't wait on the off chance, particularly in poor weather.

MAIL LIST, SMS, WAP, & MOBILE PHONES

Mail List

  • Most beer gardens are announced at short notice on the email list, there is very rarely time to update this web page.
  • Which Address To Subscribe ?
    • Click to subscribe to bg-announce@berklix.org
    • The organisers usually try to announce venues on Thursday afternoons, as it's convenient for those who only get email at home.
    • In spring & autumn it's hard to plan ahead, sometimes we delay announcements to Friday, while waiting on the weather, deciding if a more sheltered beer garden, or different inside fallback options are needed.
    • It's best, at least for spring & autumn, if not for summer too, to [also] subscribe your work address rather than [or as well as] your home address.
    • If you stick to just a winter home based subscription, you'll also miss spontaneous short notice mid week beer gardens

Mobile Phones

(`Cell Phone' to use the original American name, spuriously renamed as `Mobile Phone' in Britain, & mistakenly called a `Handy' by Germans using wrongly adopted English ).

Yes we have mobiles. No we don't want numbers listed here, ask us personally if you feel the need.

People who claim mobiles are essential for finding friends in a beer garden are out of their tree, mobiles are merely a convenience for the caller, but non-essential, & disturbing to table conversation of others adjacent to person called.

The beer gardens started before people had mobile phones. When we didn't know where the group was, we simply walked methodically, slowly & sequentially up & down rows, looking at faces, this method works well even in the very biggest Munich beer gardens, (IE Hirschgarten, Chinesicher Turm, Augustiner, etc). You might also by chance meet others of your friends who may want to join us, or even people you hope may become friends ;-)

SMS (Short Message Service)

If you want to know where we are: phone us, don't SMS us, some (inc. this Author) do not respond to SMS.

If you are interested to find a gateway we could use to automatically (not just manually) gateway email announcements to SMS announcements: Do realise, SMS's cost, so who will pay ? There's more to this than just being an MS-Windows end user who uses some SMS gateway to send one off SMSs. SMS gates make money by forcing people to read adverts, so the entry format must change periodically to force you to read adverts on line. It would be a thankless task to keep updating the robot interface. Also no doubt German operators would declare it illegal.

I have no free time to write & maintain the required scripts to interface to a gate, but if some other programmer wants to do the programming, I can provide the 24/7 Internet connected server base (FreeBSD Unix), with whatever Perl/Java etc type stuff is necessary.

WHERE NEXT ? VENUE SELECTION

  • Venues are decided where possible at previous beer gardens, by all who intend to come to next week's venue, failing that (& when weather changes) by the Beer Garden Organisers to this schedule:
    • Organisers normally start discussing/ deciding next Friday's venue on Tuesday.
    • Sometimes when the weather forecast is indeterminate, we delay till Wednesday.
    • We normally announce by early/ mid Thursday afternoon.
  • We try to spread the selection geographically. More weight attaches, if the venue nominated is from a regular, &/or not particularly near the home/work of the nominator, it being easy, but not so helpful if people just nominate their local beer garden.
  • If the weather's good, we often go further to a cooler open park location, if the weather is marginal, to a more sheltered one in town.
  • If you have a suggestion for a future venue, best suggest it on a Friday to one of the organisers
  • It's hard in the dark at the end of an evening, to recognise & remember who & how many will commit to coming to which next venue, so it's helpful if those involved subsequently mail the organisers saying EG "Include me in the list of faces for people to look for at next venue [XYZ], - I expect to be there roughly on time"
  • In the very rare liklihood none of the numerous organisers will be available to co-ordinate a decision, we would try to forecast & announce that in advance, & invite list members to step forward & announce something, so that an opportunity is not missed.

ALL YEAR & BAD WEATHER & WINTER VENUES

Autumn 2002, after beer garden weather ceased, we continued to meet each Friday in a variety of venue, some of us going on to Stammtisch later, (but many not). This continues, so we are an all weather group. 2006 we dumped the smokey dives, & usually use use smoke free venues.

ENGLISH ! Or German ?

Some Americans & others have asked over the years: "Is this just for Brits or ... ?" No, it's not, We don't care if you come from China as long as we can understand your variant of English, welcome !

Some Germans are afraid their grammar is a bit flakey & will they fit in ? Answer: Probably - _Far_ more important to have interesting conversation than be boring with good grammar!!

  • Some can speak both English & German.
  • Some can only speak English, (& perhaps their own language), ie the more newly arrived.
  • Many of the English speakers want to speak English much of the time. Some are fluent if not perhaps so relaxed or grammatically correct in German.
  • Some of the English speakers are not English, but American, Swedish, Bulgarian, & yes, German etc.
  • Some of the Germans who come, Want to speak English, & are disgruntled if they don't get the chance to, (if other Germans who can't hack English drift back to speaking German with them too often).
  • A German speaker who can't speak English doesn't really belong without some good excuse. Just as this author would not belong in a Russian Stammtisch, having only about 10 words of Russian). Here in Germany, there's no shortage of other clubs that Do speak German, for German speakers to go to. smiley icon
  • Mistakes in both languages are acceptable, indeed expected & accepted. Most of us are not fluent linguists (though a few are) ! Personally I'm happier to switch to German rather than explain a point of English Grammar, & then switch back to English to avoid sticking on a German construct.
  • Grammars have many inconsistencies & logical errors. Too tedious to explain or defend English when it's obviously the language that is wrong & should change. Tedious too, learning idiosyncracies & design faults of German grammar ( eg: stacking a cascade of verbs & a nicht at the end, + male female & neuter nouns, + capitalising single nouns, & ramming nouns together, discarding spaces:
    • It makes German harder to look up in dictionaries & learn.
    • Rechts- schreib- reform could have put spaces back to solve agonising over multiple letters, but failed.
    • Typically, a Brit new in Germany didn't realise "Rotkreuzplatz" was Rot Kreuz Platz just a long blur to him.
    • Rothschild in Britain get pronounced as "Roth's Child", as no one has a clue it derives from immigrant "Rot- Schild" & not "Rots- Child".
  • Better bad grammar & interesting conversation, than bland correctness !
  • It's Friday night, we're out for fun & a drink, we're not mealy mouthed; even pronouncing the Americanism "politically correct" should be done with a shudder.
  • We're Not an unpaid language school to teach English or German, & we'll call a spade a spade, (oder ein verdamt grosses Schaufel & if we get the sex (not gender) of a spade wrong who gives a flying monkey's ? ;-)

Other Beer Guides

Short Measures Fraud - Betrug

  • Muenchen is rightly proud of the Koenig Ludwig Erlass (when the King of Bavaria granted Munich brewers permission to sell their beer under the trees they'd planted to keep their cellars cool, on condition they allowed citizens to bring their own food). Rather unique, not the case in most of Germany or Britain
  • Sadly, to balance that pride, there is the Shame of Short Measures:
  • Lots of beer gardens & beer halls often seriously short measure, particularly at Oktoberfest. Some O'fest tourists might not care, & go home boasting of having drunk more maas of beer... but if a maas is 0.9 to 0.7 litres as the evening wears on & froth replaces beer, it's an empty boast.
  • Traditional bier steins, opaque, such as at Nockherberg stark bier fest, are ideal for short measures. Too many of mine were short measures. Better to buy stark bier from a bottle, poured into a glass, a half litre you can trust.
  • Magazine articles in 2008 estimate Ofest fraud is worth around 5 million euros, or .75 cents fraud per maas, & the city council don't much care, not looking to enforce an average to the mark, but just monitoring if way too short.
  • Gross consistent regular short measuring that would get any pub in England closed down promptly by the Weights & Measures Inspectorate, are tolerated.
  • On the other hand, the Reinheits- Gebot (Purity law) ensures (theoretically cleaner beer than in UK (though ask me over a beer, about a UK chemical lorry driver I met regularly delivering to a Munich brewery ;-)
  • Anti fraud club VGBE costs 6 Euro a year membership. Less than a short maas ! Prost !

Out Of Town volksfestkalender.de

Irish & Guinness pubs

- Fines against drunk cycling etc. @ June 2009

  • 10 Euro. On pavement & pedestrian zones:
  • 15 Euro if obstruction.
  • 20 Euro if dangerous inc. wrong way on cycle path.
  • 15 to 30 Euro if wrong way on a road (unless allowed by sign).
  • 10 Euro: No lights.
  • 10 Euro if earplugs for music (though disputed if illegal).
  • 25 Euro Mobile phone.
  • 45 Euro + 3 points in in Flensburg: if Red stop light for less than a second, & no one endangered. (If longer & an accident, up to 180 Euro & 4 points.
  • Alcohol > 1.6 Promille Drunk Driving. 30 days pay. + 7 points Flensburg. But they wont take your licence !? But they send you for a medical/looney checkup. If an accident & above 0.3, a higher punishment & usually an MPU test. & 7 points.
  • 350 Euro.: Over a closed rail crossing.
Copyright: Julian Stacey Munich 2006 - 2009

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