German Beer Gardens are SO MUCH BETTER than ours! (American Reaction)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 ต.ค. 2024
- Thank you for watching me, a humble American, react to German Beer Gardens. This was so interesting! Who knew a beer garden was actually a legit thing? Not me. Thanks for subscribing for more German reactions!
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Self-service is like this: You and your friends choose a table and sit there. One of your friends "occupies" this table while everyone else goes to the counter. There you buy your drink and get it poured. Non-alcoholic beverages are mostly served in bottles. At another counter you get food. These are also billed and paid for directly. With your hands full (food on the left, drink on the right) you walk back to the square and enjoy your meal.
Or In the uk you so OVER! THERE! And get the kids to run to the table 😂😂
I have never noticed they don’t do this in the US I always thought it was normal picking your own table
I guess it’s not and going to bar as well
One addition: Don't expect to be able to pay with a card. Bring cash ;)
Yeah I’m not sure why he doesn’t know what self serve is - they’re extremely common in US breweries.
@@HomeWorkouts_LS are they ? When I step dad was over he said he never seen a single one and they always like to see if anything is okay and keep checking up on you I do t think I would like this at all I would get very annoyed I know it’s there job and I remember someone talking about tableservice when they worked there on a video and they said the manager of the boss used to say if their European don’t talk to them much they don’t like it so if there from the uk or Germany so on
Fun fact about beer logistics: The largest Metal festival is in the small town / village called Wacken (Wacken Open Air) and the beer consumption was so high that all the trucks delivering the beer damaged the roads and driveways to the festival. And at that point the well known German engineering skills kicked in: They builded a pipeline to keep the beer flowing. Yes, a freaking beer pipeline. From the brewery directly to the festival, 4 miles long, 14 inch in diameter, with enough pressure to serve a beer every second.
Try metal festival in Czech city of Vizovice, festival takes place directly in alcohol factory. 😀
@@Pidalin also a good solution lmao
why only one beer a second?
@@oliverbraun8639 It's every second per capita.
It's 1km long, not 4 miles, it delivers 6-7 glasses of beer per second and it doesn't start at a brewery, but a pump station.
I remember a schooltrip to Munich at age 16 back in 1985.
Every student was allowed to drink only one beer.
However one beer meant 1 litre.
Also most girls capitulated even before drinking half their beers.
The boys willingly assisted the girls with finishing their beers so it was a most interesting way back to the hostel for us.
Also if I remember correctly there was a bit of sweat on the foreheads of our teachers 🤣
Funny Story !!
I am 16 and also from Germany. This Sounds a lot of fun.
only one beer - challenge accepted
Yeah. School trip to Munich back in the day... I've only faint memories of that one. I suppose i completely blacked out at least once ;)
hehe, how to work with a one drink limit
So i didnt look into the comments if someone already stated this but i just want to mention that the original "Biergarten" were built directly over the "Bierkeller" (she told ya) and that these cellars were cooled not just with the shadows from the trees and those white gravel on the ground to reflect the sun. No, there was something more and that was heavy work: Each cellar had an icechamber, that was a special room at the highest place in the cellar and it was filled with ice during the winter, when the temperatur was cold enough to freece the water of a nearby see. Than they saw big blocks out of the ice and transported these iceblocks to the cellar and put it into the icechamber. The cold air from that chamber flow down into the Bierkeller and kept a temperatur of around 5 to 7 degree celsius. The water from the ice flew in a trickle outside the cellar. That system requiered to be filled up every winter, nevertheless it was rather efficient and didnt need any regulation.
Plus large amounts of ice close together and protected from sunlight can take so long to melt that you still get a cooling effect by the time you are ready to re-stock the ice chamber. Ice kept in underground storage can last a long long time.
@@knownothing5518 Similar to Icebergs which can even take years to melt
Cool! Das wusste ich noch nicht👍
Additional Fun-Fact: in Versailles they had them too and could eat sorbet during summer ❤
"So you only drink 1 beer, huh" O my sweet summer child...
😂
not exactly - most of the time one beer is for the thirst (we go to the gardens after work when it is hot like 30 Grad Celsius) - the second is for enjoyment.. But you have the option to order a "Radler" (beer with lemonade) oder a "Russn" (wheatbeer with lemonade) - so you water down the content - the gardens close usually at 22.00 - Greetings from munich
We bavarians need a 1L beer just for the way to the bench where we sit down and start with the second.
The first beer is just warm up 😂
In germany we say: "Eins ist keins"
@@VatIva Also called "Wegbier"
Self-service in Beergardens looks like a counter in a canteen. Most of the time it is a little barn where food is prepared and dishes are washed. Customers order and pay there like in a canteen and take their beverages and meal with them to the table.
Oh, ein Augsburger Avatar :) Ich komme auch aus der nähe von Augsburg :)
When she talks of Selbstbedienung it basically workes like in a cafeteria. You go to a counter, order what you want, pay for it and then you have to carry it back to your table by yourself.
Really good explanation
Or any Fastfoodrestaurant, starbucks ect.
the "only beer and bread" comes from the fact, that both beer and bread need yeast. So many brewers worked closely with bakeries.
Beer does not use yeast in germany
@@pancakeplate ehm... Hefeweizen?!?
@@m.h.6470 Ist kein Bier nach deutschem Reinheitsgebot
@@pancakeplate das "deutsche Reinheitsgebot" ist eine Marketing-Erfindung der Brauereien. Es gab kein solches Gesetz in Deutschland bis zum späten 20. Jahrhundert. Es gibt zwar hier und da ein paar historische Funde von LOKALEN Richtlinien, aber ein einheitliches Gebot gab es damals nicht.
Und für diesen Kommentar ist es irrelevant, ob Hefeweizen als Bier zählt oder nicht. Es wird und wurde von Brauereien hergestellt und daher haben Brauereien Hefe gehabt. Das ist ein Fakt.
@@m.h.6470 Ich akzeptiere
Fun fact: these long tables and benches, which are basically wooden boards (traditionally painted orange) with foldable metal feet (traditionally painted green), are actually called "Biertisch" ("beer table") and "Bierbank" ("beer bench") in German.
The reason is:In bavaria beer is not a drink,it´s staple food.
Und alles zusammen nennt man Biergarnitur.
And it's a good solution for the next backyard barbecue party
Let me share another fun fact : today i found out why the mugs for beer are called ,,halbe'' in romanian. I have been drinking from them for 30 years without a clue of what really the name means,😄
Depends on the region, here in Austria we call them Heurigenbank und Heurigentisch because we’re more a wine region.
There are really three main kinds of beer gardens in Germany.
1. The first one would be the original beer gardens like explained in the video. They have a self-service counter, where you go to order your beer (and food if they have) and pay directly at the counter. The people there will make the beer and food and give it to you for you to carry it to your table. It's set up like explained in the video.
2. The second kind is fairly similar to the first one. The main difference is that it's not coupled to a brewery, but to a tourist attraction. You'll often find that kind of beer garden on a mountain, in some theme parks or near other tourist attractions. They serve a limited selection of food and beer, but everything is small and overpriced. Similar to the first one is the self-service, the seats and tables (called beer-benches) and the high trees, although sometimes replaced by big sunshades. Some might not call those beer gardens because they're too touristy and don't have their focus on beer, but I will do so, because they're fairly similar to how original beer gardens work.
3. The 3rd kinds of beer gardens are both the farthest away from the original and what you'll find most.
Those are beer gardens coupled to a traditional restaurant. They are the outside seating area of those restaurants. Such beer gardens normally have folding tables, actual (although also folding) chairs instead of benches and a real menu. They really can be anywhere - in an inner yard, on small green garden patches in front of or behind the restaurant... They're really popular in summer and you'll find lots of restaurants putting signs out "mit Biergarten" (=with beer garden).
The biggest difference is that they have a real restaurant menu and aren't self-service. Sometimes there will even be waiters guiding you to a table, although that is fairly uncommon. Everything that applies in a restaurant applies here to, so it's really just a nice place to eat your dinner in Summer.
My favorite beer garden in South-West Germany is somewhat a combination of 2 and 3.
You get your drinks and a few ready to eat snacks at the counter, but you can also order and pay for food that has to be prepared, where you give them your table number and that food is brought to your table. Which removes a lot of the wait for food to be prepared step at the counter.
so I wasn't in a "real beer garden" when i visited munich... because I visited a restaurant type #3 but they had beer banks like in the video and not normal chairs.
there are also venues that have both the third type and the first or second type, with some area exclusively for restaurant business and another acting as a traditional beer garden.
@@michaelz.7140 Those benches and tables are firstly just tradition and secondly very convenient. Two benches usually have the same width as one table, so when you fold them down, you can stack them very easily, both for storage and transportation. Also, they are relativiely simple in construction (even though they have the wooden top). Usually, restaurants have a supplier deal with a brewery (most breweries also produce non-alcoholic beverages or their distributor has a deal for that, so they get all their drinks supplies from one supplier), and the brewery provides the tables and benches.
To the „waiting for food prepping“: usually, the food sold in beer gardens is made continuously and stored in a warmed up display until sold. So you usually don‘t wait long. Also the beer is often just pulled continuously. By the way, for those wondering: The huge glass in that one shot is the traditional glass in Bavaria, it‘s one litre and named after the old unit „Maß“ (which was a unit specifically for beer and was a bit more than a litre to allow for foam). So the portion size might be huge for American standards when considering beer, but you won‘t get gallon-sized cups of sodas here, so you still outperform on beverage sizes. And you would want to drink more of our beers, because we make good beer, not that stuff you call beer. I tried several larger US beers, and they are all disgusting, even compared to the most ridiculed and cheap Bavarian beer, Oettinger.
@@gi0nbecell yeah remember when in the youth fire dept. they stored the benches when there wasn't a festivity
Another concept she didn't mention is that you normally share tables.
It obviously depends on how full the beergarden is. Up to 10 people can sit around one of those tables. If you go there in a group of maybe 3-4 people on a sunny day you will probably get asked if the other half of the table is still free. Sometimes it's quite cool to get to know new people but you also don't have to interact much if you don't want to.
At Oktoberfest you could also see 12 people at one table at the same time because it is so overcrowded. And they dance standing up on the bank.
You're 100% right - she missed that and in my opinion it's a big one.
I moved to another part of the city during the pandemic and because everything was closed back then I never realized at first that I was now within 5min walking distance of a beer garden.
I only found out when they finally opened back up and went there by myself for 1 or 2 beers since I didn't really get to know anyone from the neighborhood. It didn't take long and I was drinking with a group of people that took up two tables. Fast forward to the end of the night. After the beer garden closed we had moved the party to someones house until 3AM.
I've been in Bavaria for over 10 years already and am still surprised at what my colleagues and friends can drink. When you go to a beer festival (there are many different ones besides the October Fest), the first Maß (1L) disappears in the span of 5 minutes (the hotter the weather the faster the beer gets devoured). The second Maß gets downed at a normal-ish speed of about 30 min. The third one you can either sip or drink as fast as the second one. I think the record I've witnessed was 5 Maß in one evening (approximately 4 hours). And therefore, there is a saying n Bavaria - 5 Maß are also a Schnitzel (meaning that you can skip dinner and have a liquid meal). After observing my friends and colleagues flabbergasted and asking the obvious question of where they even put the amount of liquid, I got the secret - all is right and you can dring one Maß after the other IF you don't go to the toilet in the first 30 minutes. Otherwise, you are forced to run to the bathroom every 15 minutes for the whole evening.
Beer cellar.
Don't imaghine it as a room under a house. More like a "bunker" in the fields.
It is just the door that leads underground. Often were natural caves extended and uses.
Or places with a "soft stone" undergrund like sandstone.
So you have this cellar in the outskirts of the town and the beer there. Rather before taking the beer back, they build these beer gardens near the beer cellar.
13:44 - it really depends on your alcohol tolerance, the food you have with it and many other factors. But usually many people here in CZ (not far from DE) can drink 2litres of beer in a sitting (usually 4 hours), but if you have the training you can go through 4-5litres if you want :D there is no point in getting smashed with spirits, the beer just keeps you in good mood the whole evening.
4:50 That explanation refers especially to beergardens in Franconia, where you find very traditional beergardens up on hills (especially sandstone hills in the region of river Main, which allowed easily digging of caverns to store beer as well as ice made in winter).
My own town (which is not in Bavaria, but in Upper Swabia) has also beer cellars digged into sandstone, but since they were on the other side of the river from the town, most of the tradional beergardens were not there (except one which belonged to a thermal spa), but in the garden area at another side of the walled old city, where also the town festival was held since at least the late 1600s. Some of them were real gardens, where the innkeepers also grew onions, garlic, salad and herbs for their kitchen. Chestnuts were used because they give not only shadow, but can also withhold rain for some time. In some cases some walnut trees could be mixed in (which do the same) or even Boskop apple trees ("Hochstamm" or "standard size", which grow to a mushroom-formed treetop). Every brewery in town had exactly one beergarden however. Nowadays there is unfortunately only one of that traditional beergardes left, and that one once held the record for most beer served per square meter and day in Germany (during the town festival). This beergarden has up to 400 seats in regular times, but this is doubled during the town festival.
In some more traditional beergardens, especially in Bavaria , it is still allowed to bring your own food. Since however many beergardens belong to some restaurant now (like the one in my home town), that is not longer the rule, but the exception.
9:20 You can buy such "beergarden sets" each consisting of one dish and two benches (made from wooden plates with foldable iron legs) at any DIY store at least during the season for your own garden parties.
12:25 As a vegetarian you can get some food, but probably nothing warm or cooked. A traditional Bavarian beergarden food would for example be a white radish, cut into a "accordion" (half-cut from different angles, so it still holds togehter, but can be pulled apart like an accordion) and salten, with some bread or a brezel on the side.
13:25 Correction: A "normal" beer would never be a "Pils" in Bavaria. The beer served in 0.5 or 1 liter glasses would mostly either be called a "Helles" (light-colored Lager) or a "Export" (which can be colored 'light', 'blond' or 'dark' and is also some kind of Lager) or sometimes simply "Fassbier" (cask beer, for beers which are only sold from the cask, not bottled). There could also be some special beers depending on region and brewery (sometimes simply called "Spezial"), in some beergardens you can also get "Märzen", the "March beer"; in 1553 Albrecht V Duke of Bavaria decreed that beer may only be brewed between 29 September (St. Michael) and 23 April (St. George) (for work security reasons: the risk of fires or explosions while heating the ingrediences was higher in summer. Additionally the bottom-fermented beers popular in Bavaria [except wheat beer, which is top-fermented] brewed best at temperatures not much above 10° Celsius). The last beer brewed in spring had therefore to last the whole summer, so it was made stronger and contained more hops to extend its shelf life, then put in deep cellars and cavernes filled with ice harvested in January (from ponds and 'ice gallows', see e.g. www.kellerberg-hoechstadt.de//images/eisgalgen.jpg).
I grew up in Bavaria and didn’t know why we had Biergärten 😂 really interesting!
I would recommend not to go to the big ones, but rather to a small traditional one in a village. They are much nicer and not as touristy as the Augustiner Keller for example 😉
And by the way: Oktoberfest is not a Biergarten, but a “Volksfest” (the equivalent to a fair?). And it is also very touristy and you can find more traditional ones in villages again
Have to agree - I wouldn't want to sit between hundreds of drunk people. The smaller ones are normal, family friendly - often near an attraction for a day trip.
Nowadays beer production is centralized in company's - who dominate the market. So sadly no cellar beer production. I mean we also have local small beer production - but that makes up only 2% of beer production.
For festivals I can recommend the smaller wine festivals - located in smaller historic cities people are much nicer and weirdly not that drunk. And often without the obligatory "Blaskapelle" - marching band.
But you can also get alcohol free beer or beer mixed with lemonade - a "Radler" named after customers who want to bike after.
@@theresabu3000 that is depending on which region in Bavaria/ Germany you are at. Oberbayern is beer-country hence festivals with Bierzelten (beer tents) if your are in Franken with the right climate for growing wine you will find wine festivals. Also Franken has numerous smaller private or even village owned breweries with very distinct tasting beers.
There are very pleasant beergardens in monasteries where the monks are brewing and have been for centuries. I once sat in one of those next to a busload of visitors who happened to be nuns. All of them had already had several (large) beers. It was quite a sight....
some of the famoust and oldest Breweries in the world are founded by monks in bavaria and operated until today.
e.g. Andechs or the oldest one in Weihenstephan.
both are hundreds of years old.
@@EnnovonSchwerin isnt weltenburger the oldest monasterian brewery?
5:09 bingo. Chestnut trees were planted to cast shade on the ground to keep it from heating up too much iirc. This then also turned out to give a nice place to sit in and have a nice beer on a warm day.
Sadly they will all be gone in a couple of years - thanks to the gracillariidae moths(brown leaves) and the bacterial horse chestnut dieback.. Its everywere. My parents had to take the one down, that they planted when my sister was born - same with mine.. 🙁
Garten is used in the original sense of the word. It refers to a piece of land that is being cultivated by people for some reason. This includes the small green behind your house, where you have your BBQ, the place where you grow your own food, a place that was artificially created to spend your leisure time in (think English Landscape Garden) or where you can get your Zen on (think Japanese Dry Garden). In this case it's a place created for the purpose to enjoy cold beer with your friends.
Let me highly recommend the Kloster Andechs. It is a 900 year old monastery at the Ammersee - about a 40 minute train ride from Muenchen. It is small; the monks brew the beer, which is excellent; and it is a lot smaller and "gemuetlicher" than the large biergarten.
This is why a lot of beergardens ar called " Keller" ( like Augustinerkeller). It's their history as a cool storage for beer. Btw they don't drink Pilsener in Bavaria in the big glases. It's Helles ( the same as Lager).
These beer gardens are quite common in the surrounding countries as well. I was born in Czechoslovakia, used to live in Hungary and I’ve been living in Austria for some time now. These countries have beer gardens as well. In Budapest in some places you can also buy a 3L or 5L “giraffe” which comes in a tall glass 🤭 you can then share it with your friends or drink the whole thing yourself 😉
16:39 - The Czech Republic with its capital Prague is a direct neighbor of Germany and was part of the German Empire in earlier centuries. So the culture is similar.
Some Czechs even say there are many Czechs who are historically somehow German, but speak Czech. :-)
@@spirwes64 If my ancestors would have been thrown out in 1945 I could say that for myself 😁.
@@spirwes64 You can see it on old Cemeteries, the old part of Olšany Cemetery for example. There you can see a lot of German Family names on the old gravestones.
BS!the Czech Republic was a part of Austria-Hungary!
@@pebo8306 and before WW1 Austrians called them self Germans and where part of the holy roman empire of German nations. And before it was part of Austria-Hungary it was the kingdom of Bohemia and also part of the holy roman empire of German nations. whats your point? google is your friend buddy.
My brother (German) and his wife (American) who live in Minneapolis visited us in Munich. We met with other German friends. Each of us had 4 of the big beers :) Expect my brother´s wife. The next day, my brother had a pretty tough hangover. He said, he is just not used to the foam anymore :)
6:41 Since the "Hirschgarten" is in my immediate vicinity, I can mention something else.
The "Hirschgarten" is a 40-hectare (98.8ac) park. It was originally created as a hunting ground as part of the Nymphenburg Palace Park. (ger. "Hirsch", English "deer") As a reminder, there is a 2-hectare (4.9ac) enclosure right next to the beer garden, where fallow deer are kept.
The beer garden itself is divided into two areas. A smaller area served by a waiter and a large area where self-service is available.
You can see the area where service is given by the rectangular tables with 4 chairs. The tables are also covered with tablecloths.
Bringing your own food is of course not permitted in this area.
The tables and benches that you can see in the video are set up in the self-service area.
5:30 Germany has a lot of cooling/shadow tricks, no AC here...
I think noone in the US had an AC around the year 1800, that's the time where those beer gardens where founded.
Wow- I didn’t realise American Biergärten are so different. Now I understand why tourists like them here so much. They really have a great atmosphere. Like, life is good! It was really interesting to hear your comments on this! Greetings from a British person living in Germany!
Belgian, the whole biergarden is new to me, bars, cafes, terraces and such yes, festivals too. But aclear concept of a standardise outside drinking area so uniformly in such a big area?
Oh and i can imagine a beer drinking place in belguim without at least 3 options of beer, and that low is really rare, like a small festival perhaps? But a small specific beer festival could offer 20 or more kinds of beer too!
A cafe will have pils from tab and several totally different kinds of beer on bottle.
It depends on how long you stay in a Beer Garden, as a trained German Beer drinker, it's common to drink about two up to five "Maß" (each is one liter which is about a quarter gallon) in one evening. At the Oktoberfest, people usually start drinking in the morning (11am or so) till the late evening, pretty much the whole day, it's quite common to drink from five up to ten Maß Beer or even more in one day.
sizes of beer glasses:
1 liter = 0.26 gallon (US) or 33.81 fl. oz. (US), 0.2 liter = 0.05 gallon or 6.76 fl. oz., 0.5 liter = 0.13 gallon or 16.9 fl. oz.
All sizes are gauged by the "Eichamt", the german bureau of standards
Biergarten = A garden of beers. I love that thought. 😂👍🏻🍻
Sth i think you kinda got confused on is that cellar beneath the garden was historically(!) the case.
Modern beer gardens will rarely have that. They frequently are gonna be styled like that to evoke the feelings but not in practicality have that same function but rather modern cooling and stuff from the normal Restaurant or brewery.
About the "garden of beers": in some areas, you literally have that. Close to here, in Erlangen, you find the "Berg" (the mountain), which is basically almost hollowed out because there are so many cellars right next to each other from different breweries. They also go far into the hill, and in some, there still are active breweries inside.
On top of the Berg, you find the beer gardens she described, and you can get different beers just by walking ten steps to the next one.
Oh and the beer benches (and tables) are usually made of wood only, if they are fixed to the ground (something like logs split in half, thick planks, etc),
or they are the kind shown in the video, with folding metal feet, so they can be collapsed flat and be stored stacked on top of each other (two benches on one table, then the next set on top).
Definitely no plastic though.
You can compare beergardens at least a bit to your normal cantine.
You get there with some friends or co-workers either after work or during break, but usually you can bring your own meals with you from home (its mostly not prohibited but frown upon in tradtional beergardens to order food from other chains or something similar) to have your lunch (here also called "Brotzeit" = Breadtime)
So you choose a seat with your friends and usually one will wait there and "reserve" that spot while all others are getting their drinks, or maybe food too, at the counter which is usually either a tent with a table or more like a bar. You take your drinks and take all a seat. So now either the last one who waited can get his drinks, or your friends were humble and asked what he wants so he doesnt have to queue up again too.
There are usually a variety of beer you can choose from in beergardens, so the barkeeper wont just fill any beer in you glass, because there are options.
usual options are "Weizen" (Wheatbeer), Pils and "Helles" (bright beer) which also are usually the brand of the house, regional brands, and common brands ( you can get 3-6 different brands of beer for each type, depending on the beergarden). Also non-alcoholic beers are more and more in use (especially for breaktimes) and craft beers too.
Food options in beergardens can vary from bread with sausage-salad (Wurstsalat), to White sausage with Brezel, Bratwurst and also at some places to pork knuckle and roast pork
"Oktoberfest" is just an event which usually starts at the middle to end of september and cumulates in the first october weeks (september 17th - october 3rd this year) and is held in Munich in Bavaria. The place there is also called "Wiesn" and is getting prepared for this event there. The beer options there a usually a bit smaller, because you get to serve a lot more people at the same time compared to even big beergardens. Also everything there is quite more expensive compared to your usual beergarden.
Outdoor pub is a quite accurate characterisation. Self-service is as you imagined. There’s people at the tap pouring loads of beers and you go and get it there. You pay directly (cash) or some beer gardens have tokens you buy in advance. Often there is a deposit you pay for the glass. You get that back when you return it.
Hi Ryan, just started watching your videos and it's totally interesting to see your reactions, or shall I say preparations? 💪😎 this is the first vid I find where it's mentioned that things may differ from region to region. That's in fact true for many things, such as mindsets of people, earnings and cost of living, architectures and style of living etc etc...
I hope you're going to enjoy it once you are here🤗
9:45 No, it works differently. You don't tap the beer yourself, but pick it up at a central bar and pay for it there. In this case, self-service means that no waiter comes to the table, but you get your things yourself but do not prepare them yourself.
In Austria there are beer gardens that work together with neighboring restaurants. It is based on a peaceful coexistence and you can get something for the beer garden in the restaurant. Sometimes neighboring restaurants also make outposts at beer gardens.
I lived in Munich for some years and I know the "Augustinergarten" and the "Hirschgarten" she mentioned, but in my opinion, if you ever should get to Bavaria or Munich in special, go to the small, local Biergarten where also the local people enjoy their beer. It's just a nicer atmosphere and it's often cheaper, too 😉And about the different kinds of beer in a traditional Biergarten, you will always get "Helles", which is lager beer in the big glasses, or "Weissbier", which is wheat beer. Sometimes you can also get "Dunkles", a dark beer which is less bitter. What you always can get is "Radler", beer mixed with lemonade, which is very refreshing in the summer and often the only beer besides Weissbier you can get in a "small" glass. Around the time of "Oktoberfest", you'll also get special "Festbier", but you have to be careful with that because it is stronger 😉
these camping-tables with banks are called "Bierbankgarnitur" (set of beerbenches) in Germany.
And they are very cool. You can use them for almost everything. As Children we bulit footballfields, realy big castles, or slides with them
the reason all of this is outside is: these cellars were HUGE.. much bigger that the building... sometimes there only was a small building on top of it.. so there was much space to use in the summer for the benches etc.
One of the reasons those cellars were so huge is, because they did not only store the beer there, the actual brewery was underground as well... because beer needs cool temperatures for brewing and so they used the cool cellars for that and they had to store it for months... because in the summer it is still cool there, but it was to warm for the brewing methods some hundred years ago.
Oh and regarding the sizes.. "eine Maß" is exactly 1 liter (and heaven help the host if it is less than 1 liter) weißbier or weizenbier is served as 0,5 liters.. pils sometimes as 0,3 liters... kölscg (NOT a beer in my opinion.. more kind of a substitute if even tap water is out) comes in 0,2 liter glasses... so i recommend to order 2-3 at a time. And don't get me wornf 1 liter is a lot of beer... i am mildly surprised that the land of xxl portions (the usa) don't sell beer per gallon from time to time.. would only be 3,7 liters *laughs*
Correct country this time! :) And I do love beer gardens! ♥ As I live in the very south of Bavaria, we have several breweries in town and a lot of amazing beer gardens.
Maybe you want to check out the area I am living in Germany as there is an incredible short movie (~ 8min) showing my place and surroundings in Niederbayern. Very well made movie with an easy story, great pictures and without (!) anyone speaking! But you'll get the story of this movie anyway as the pictures tells it! But it's not really about the story, but about the living, nature, people and stuff going on.
It got several awards in the category "Memorable Experiences"- also a "Silver Rooster" award from Portugal ... I like this movie a lot as I know all this spots in the video very well. They look amazing on camera, but are even more impressive in real life. So: If you like it and come to my area, I could show you those places in real life! :)
I can link the video if you want me to. Otherwise search for "Entdecke das Unerwartete" by "CenTouris".
What you describe of your Biergartens is more a Bierzelt( beer-tent). Something you would find at the Oktoberfest for example.
Biergarten are often very traditionell real gardens with very old trees and sometimes the might even be older than the United States 😊
Edit: 7:04 no but there are people who just let one Beere after the other out of the tap without even closing the tap.
I worked at a Biergarten for up to 2000 people. 1-2k gallons a day is the standard in the summer. So basically you fill up beer mugs with the speed of a gas station. A quart of beer in under 2 seconds.
These Benches and tables mostly use the same folding system and you can get them at any hardware store in the country. It's quite common für Sports Clubs, Schools, Churches, etc to have some 10-20 "sets" of them in storage for different events (also official things without the intention to get drunk). They're a popular thing to rent out for your private birthday party at home if you know someone at the church or school...
Nowadays you would expect anybody above the age of 15 in Germany to know how to set those up with the folding system...
Those benches and tables, that the woman sits at, are called Bierzeltgarnitur.
Perfect for seating loads of people on festivals like the Oktoberfest or weddings or birthday parties or stuff like that. The Bierzeltgarnitur has a length of about 220 cm (7.2 ft) and can fit about five to six normal-sized people (or seven to eight slim people)
A biergarten is set up by a brewery on their property. You only can get one brand of beer there; In Muenchen it is either Augustiener; Pschorr; Spatenbraeu; Loewenbraeu; or Hofbraeu. The brewery employees will tap a beer keg and fill the 1 liter beer glasses (only 2/3rds full; the rest is foam) and hand them to you. A separate food counter is where you buy your food that you then take out to your table. A Bavarian local specialty is a "Radi" - it looks like a large white carrot; tastes like a radish; is cut in a spiral; and it goes well with a cool beer.
trees lower Temperatures, forrests can be up to to 10°C colder than the sourroundings. A few big trees in your garden may lower the Temperature a little.
Beergardens are basically small "forrests".
History is a little more complex, since it wasn’t done in big breweries like today, but more like brewed at home or at a pub itself. Because people like their beer cool it was stored in cellars that were attached to buildings, the planted shading chestnut trees , as the roots wouldn’t go to deep to damage the cellar. In the past these pubs weren’t large enough, they started to use the shaded gardens outside to serve beer, hence Biergarten
Self service just means there's no table service. You have to go to the counter and order there, get your food, get your cutlery and most important your beer on a tray and bring everything to your table yourself :)
When my dad visited a beer garden, while we were in Berlin, he ordered a MASS (that’s what you call a 1L Beer in Bavaria).
The Bartender was like: „Sorry, We don’t have that here. Do you want a small or a big beer?“
My dad: „Well, I want a big one, please.“
*Bartender reaches him 0,5L glass.
My dad: „excuse me, I said I want a big one“
Bartender: „? This is the big one“
Bruh 😅
On the other hand, a Berliner wonders about the prices and quantities of drugs you can get in Munich clubs.
The "Maß" pitcher is pretty much only used in Bavaria, sometimes in nearby regions if you're lucky. But anywhere else you probably won't get a 1L pitcher at once. If you order a beer, usually large is 0.5L and small is 0.33L. Except for Köln (Cologne) where for some reason they only use 0.2L beer glasses to serve their local "Kölsch" beer
In Berlin your father should had ordered " Berliner Weisse with a shot "
Every Berlin tavern or beer garden knows it. Berliner Weisse with shot are given to 2 Cl syrup either red or green syrup in a large glass. In addition there are wheat beer. With a straw. The beer is drunk with straw.
@@A._Meroy
bavarians say, its a thimble 🍻
You can most often get like half a litre of beer. It‘s called, depending where you are, for example „schnitt“ (cut) or „spruz“. Where they put your glass under the tap and open it briefly wide open and close it, when it‘s half full. Because of this „pouring“ methode you have a huge crown of foam on top. Also there is this „rule“ where you can only order a spruz in the end of the evening or when you‘ve already bought a full litre. We also have „Radler“ (biker, i guess), which is half beer half sprite, for people who don‘t to drink that much, if it‘s hot outside or if you want something sweater than most beers.
In Nuremberg, in Bavaria is every year the "Bierfest", there you can try a lot of beer from the local brewerys. It´s every year in June.
0:45 Oktoberfest has the most visitors worldwide. It has around 6-10 Million Visitors each Year and its only two weeks long. Btw it’s called “Wiesn” in Bavaria itself, where the Oktoberfest is Situated. It started as Wedding celebration in 1810 when Ludwig I. got married. The People thought it was so nice, they decided to do it every Year. Fun fact: Lederhosen and Dirndl are not (as Americans might think) costumes we only wear for this occasion. They are traditional clothing. And it is only Bavarian. The other Regions have their own traditions. You should watch a Video about the History of the Bavarian “Trachten”, as they are called.
Oh my god... She said that there would be Pils in the Maß glasses.
As a Bavarian, I must strongly protest such defamation.
We drink Helles, Radler, Goaßn or Bockbier from Maß glasses... Never Pils
Richtig! Wir Schwaben auch!
Why do Bavarians always have to act up like this? That has something sectarian about it. Can't you point out, without freaking out, that Pils doesn't come in the "Maß" in Bavaria?
Here in bavaria we also have beer gardens on top of some mountains with some nice views
These tables and benches are called "Biergarnitur" or "Bierbank" and "Biertisch" as standalone. The are made of wood and steal. You can fold them together to about 2-3 inches flat to store them. They last for decades.
And don't sit on the far end outside the legs when everyone gets up
You deserve more follower, rly like your videos! Greetings from Germany!
A typical "Bierbankgarnitur" consists of a wooden table and two benches (half the width), all collapsible. While this is a very simple and modest setup, there is some weight to them. If you have to put up tables for a few hundred people, you'll be sore the next day.
... and if you have to put them away and are still drunk, you most likely will hurt your fingers 🤣🤣🤣
Very simple. In Bavaria you can only call a place beergarden when you can bring your own food with you. Otherwise it is prohibited by law to call this place beergarden. In the rest of Germany this is different. But as a Bavarian a beergarden is located in Bavaria ;D
There are several reasons for the pebbles on the ground. It keeps the area cool, but it also causes it to dry out quickly after a downpour.
The German town of Mendig is close to where I live. About 150 - 200 years ago it was one of the biggest beer producing towns in Germany because underneath it are giant rock caverns where it was possible to store the beer cool.
We used to have a bierkeller in the town where I lived, steins of beer with schnapps in between and an oompah band. Much singing and quaffing of beir. Quaffing is like drinking with more spilt.
the tables and benches are called "Bierzelt-Garnitur" (Beer-tent-furniture) in german
Hi Ryan,
Just found this - It's an amazing review of a medieval folk festival (Peter & Paul Festival) in a small town (Bretten, about 35.000 people living here I believe) in the vicinity of the town where I live in Germany. In the pre-pandemic years it was known as "Southern Germany's biggest folk festival" attracting more than 250.000 people each year through the 4 days it takes place. Apparently it shot down but reopened and is now at 150.000 visitors again. It takes place over the whole of the historic old town with half-timbered buildings which gives it an incredible atmosphere. Add to that authentic German food, medieval music, stands and attire... and that it's mostly popular with locals (not many outsiders even know about it but it's an absulutely hidden gem you wanna check out if you ever get the chance...! I promise). This video made my mouth water and long for medieval music, architecture, atmoshere, drumming, parades and concerts. So much to do, see, watch, listen to, taste, buy, try out and experience here...
AUTHENTIC! Americans Experience a Bucketlist German Medieval & Renaissance Festival. Travel Guide.
Credits go to Near From Home YT channel which did an absolutely thrilling job here in captivating what that festival is all about. I absolutely love your video!
Have you ever considered streaming your reactions live on twitch (or also YT)? I'd definitely be down to watch that as well
You look quite exhausted. I hope everything is going well with your little baby.
As a Bavarian I was glad she also talked about traditional Bavarian Biergärten and not only about that one in Berlin
😆 I am somewhat but it’s going great
@@ryanwass that's great 🤗
In some Biergärten or more often Brauhäuser (Brewery with Bar / Restaurant) people have their own glasses or more often beer mugs in special lockers. Those mugs are oft mostly costly works of art and inherited over generations.
In franconia (northern bavaria) when you want to go in a beergarden you say literally "...to go on the cellar" ["...auf den Keller gehen"] because of the beercellars underneath and mostly they are situated on top of a hill.
When you come to Germany, you definitely have to go to Munich and southern Bavaria first. Because there are THE most stereotype german places to visit and activities to do. And also most traditional food you've seen in your other videos is located there. Not to say the rest of Germany isn't nice either, but for your first days here it will be perfect.
If you wanna get an impression of whole germany, like visit Berlin, the beautiful city of Hamburg the or East and West Germany, you at least need to come for three weeks.
Living about an hour from Munich, I can definitely attest to this :)
@@nctpti2073 me too. I live in Kempten (Allgäu)
@@goufackkentsaleandrinlebel8826 war dieses Jahr im Urlaub im Unterjoch. War zwei mal in Kempten. Mega Umgebung, schöne Stadt und coole Bahnhofsapotheke
@@jenspeters8187 ich kann nur zustimmen. Kempten ist wunderschön!
Today there is usually nothing under a beer garden, because now we have good insulation and refrigeration so we don't need to dig cellars deep underground anymore to brew and store beer in a cool environment. But in earlier days in fact the cellar usually was under the beer garden. The brewers put gravel and planted trees above the cellar to keep the ground cool, and when people came to get their cool beer from the cellar they preferred to drink in the shaded spots under the trees. That's why the brewers finally decided to put benches there so that the people would be more likely to stay and chat and possibly drink even more beer.
I think hirschgarten is probably the Biergarten to self-service, as you thought it worked. You go to the counter, get an emty glass, if you want Radler, you go to the Soda tap and just fill your glass with as much Soda as you want, then go to the beer tap and there a worker will fill the your glass with beer and then you go to another worker to pay.
And in Bavaria, we don't drink Pils (pilsner) we drink Helles (I think pale ale)
there are some pubs where you have a tap right at the table and you pour yourself the beer. you can pour how much you want and you can have a beer any way you want. there are even scorecards on monitors around the pub where you can see how much each table has drunk and even how much is drunk in different pubs of the same franchise.
The big beers are 1 liter = 0.26 Gallons and you normally drink like 3-4 of them.
chestnut trees have very deep roots, which transport water to the crown of the tree, which leads to an active watercooling effect in thoose beer cellars
1 Liter beer (the big ones) are 33.81 us fl oz, normally you buy beers in bottles at 0.5 Liter (16.90701us fl oz) or small ones at 0.33 Liter (11.15863us fl oz).
Those chestnut trees are horse chestnut. "Rosskastanie".
Unfortunately we can´t eat them. They were planted to spend shade.
But there is a edible variety here in germany, the "Marone", a european sweat chestnut, as well.
I am from germany and I really love your reaction videos. Also I like to know what difference there is for other countrys that are watching us xD Keep up the good stuff, cya next time
the shallow roots also keep the ground flat so you dont trip over the roots
That, actually, is the other way round; shallow roots spread out from the trunk, always close to the surface; „Pfahlwurzeln” basically go straight down, no tripping over them!
I laughed so much at your reaction to the big beer :'D
If there is an in your town, next to Walmart at a parking spot, you can go to the guys and force them to plant a Kastanienbaum or even dig a cellar.
In Austria, especially around Vienna, you have the same concept with wine, called Heuriger
In Bavarian military barracks, soldiers were previously allowed to drink beer for lunch.
Every German in those days who was collected to the military not only learned to shoot also to drink in military beer gardens
One small fact that could be added as a bonus; is that the tables are open to the public and can not be reserved in a traditional Beer garden. If there is space at a table and no one is sitting there (or getting something from the food drinks dispensary), you can join whoever is already sitting there. It is a pleasant way to mingle and meet new people. Just ask beforehand if the space is free and they will either say yes or inform you that the space is taken, but the person is currently out and about.
Well, that only comes into question for small towns and villages.
Our village has about 650 villagers, which is less than would fit into the beer garden.
I love the general confusion in this video 😂 The garden of beer lmao 😂
@Ryan, here is some america specific feedback for you. The places where the beer is stored, or "lagered", gave name to the Lager bier. And, no, you likely have never seen a chestnut tree in the US. The american chestnut tree was wiped out by the chinese chestnut blight, maybe a century ago. However, chestnut trees are resistant to rot, much like the redwoods are resistant to rot. So there are still old fallen chestnut trees in the woods that have fallen a long long time ago. The german chestnut tree is a very impressive shade tree, and it is a real shame that most americans will never see one, unless, of course, they go visit a bavarian beer garden. nerd fact: they are working on restoring the american chestnut tree here in the US by crossing it with blight resistant chestnut trees. They seem to be getting pretty close, too. If you were to chance upon an old fallen chestnut tree, you may find that even 100 years later new saplings are still coming up from the old trees, only to be killed off by the blight. I have seen pictures of old, and i mean old, split rail chestnut fences in existence today. they do not rot....
At the counter there are usually employees of the local brewery and pour many beers in advance and put them on the counter, the sellers stand at the counter and then just need to reach behind them and take as many beers as the customer wants to have.
You should react to a video about Austrias „Heurige“ - it’s similar to Germanys Biergärten but instead of beer people sell wine and a short list of freshly made food. The name Heuriger refers to the wine which was made that year. In wine-growing regions you can still find areas where one Heuriger is right next to the other. You find many different Heurige basically everywhere in the wine regions, from small villages over bigger towns to Vienna.
The winemakers have/had rather small vineyards so they were allowed to sell their own products seasonally from their houses to make more money. That way they get tax benefits. They still aren’t open all year round, only for a few weeks at a time, like two weeks open then two weeks closed and so on (there are very few exceptions to this rule). When they’re open it’s called „ausg’steckt is“ and they put a bundle of pine twigs outside to symbolize it. That’s why they’re also called Buschenschank. Many are family based „companies“ with very few employees. There’s obviously more history and facts about them but those are the most important basics.
They offer different wine varieties and classic Austrian food (which is similar to German food). Most don’t offer a long list of meals but what they sell tastes great. We like bread too ;) and eat it with spreads like Liptauer, Erdäpfelkäs or Bratlfett. Caraway roasts are a classic and can be eaten warm or cold. Many (especially women) like a combination of white wine with sparkling water which is called a Spritzer.
Some are very famous and popular and the view is often amazing. The Heuriger Edlmoser exists since 1374 and there’s still a building from 1629. The Heuriger Sirbu has one of the most amazing views from the Kahlenberg you can get. They have a playground, you can get there with a liliputbahn and you can even book a place in an old Farris wheel gondola.
One might add that bier gardens are for families. In the day in a classical restaurant kids were expected to stay well behaved and thusly quiet on their seats. Bier garden were always more liberal, more noisy, a place where you could stay for several hours, and experience the somewhat elusive 'Deutsche Gemütlichkeit'.
As for the self service. There is typically one place where food and drinks are handed out, and you bring back your china, glass- and silverware ... to get back your deposit. Typically you can buy the often themed glasses. Staff will clean the table, but you are expected to leave it empty.
The Kapuziner Weiss Beer 🍺 is amazing.Made in Germany 🇩🇪 Kulmbach Franconia near Nurnberg
These picnic tables and benches are absolutely everywhere in Germany. Whenever there's an outdoor event, these things just appear from thin air in large quantities. They're basically a thick wooden plate with metal legs screwed to the bottom that flip up for easy storage.
Fun fact: As you can see in the video, the legs on the benches are located roughly half a meter inwards from the end. That's easily enough space fro a person to sit if it's crowded. That's absolutely no problem as long as there are other people sitting on it, but if people get up while someone is sitting on the end, the bench turns into a seesaw and deposits said person onto the ground.
As these things are so common, people have become quite good at being aware of this danger, but it still happens every now and then, always to the amusement of everyone around.
As German I can tell you some details about beer self service: You have to walk to a place where 1 person is palced next to the tub of beer, catching an empty glass and opens the valve. The art is to keep the correct angle of the glass so you can get the next galss in your free hand replacing the first glass in the moment the first glass is full. Another person will sell the first customer the number of beer he asks for, get money and next customer. If the beer garden is full it may happen that the valve is not closed until the tab is empty (if the preparation is correct and enough empty glasses are in reach). Following this process on the "Octoberfest" will result in getting quite more than 50 Mass out of a 50 Liter Tab. (Because the glasses are delivered with less than a liter).🍻
When the Raleigh Beer Garden was opened several years ago in the heart of the capital city of NC, it had the largest selection of beers on tap in the world. While the complex includes a substantial building to host all the beers, it has substantial outdoor seating/areas as well.
Because you asked how many beers you normally drink, i would say on a normal day with just friends coming over and talking i drink about 5 "halbe" so 2,5 litres of beer.
On a normal day out i would probally drink about 10-12 "halbe" so about 5-6 litres of beer. :)
The big 1 ltr beer is helping in keeping self-service queue short as you don't have to get new beer often.
You are usually drinking 1-2 of those if you want to keep it relaxed. Dedicated Driver is usually limited to 1.
In the Biergarten you go to the "Wirt" (Host) say "Ein Bier" (one beer) or "Ein Pils", pay it and the Wirt gives you a beer (1l) and then u go back to the table and drink
Well, the term of the Biergarten has evolved from the functional use of chestnut plantings over beer cellars as outdoor restaurants with cold, fresh beer, to what they are today.
And while the term has absolutely expanded a lot, the functionality has largely remained on the consumer side. We can just refrigerate beer anywhere now.
And the expansion to "just about any outdoor seating area" is largely due to a lack of term that would limit the application, aside from maybe terrace.
Ofc I'm German and I have to say I'm somehow addicted again to this kind of video. Had such a phase 3 or 4 years ago, and now it hit me again. I need to binge watch your channel now, help me :(
A visit to a beergarden is really a must, whenever you will manage to come to Germany.
If you want to have a really memorable experience, come to Cologne in the Rhineland.
Here, there are still a number of traditional breweries that sit right in the middle of town, and that combine on their plot a restaurant, a small beergarden and the brewery itself.
Just find a seat somewhere, and then ask the "koebes" (beer waiter) for a bottle of mineral water or a jug of wine... 😉 ["koebes" and "rude" are more or less synonymous.]
In case no one mentioned it before...
The reason that it is "always" chestnut trees in a beergarten is that is gets the leaves first in spring.
Meaning shade, keeping both beer and drinker cool(er).
9:20 If you have in your own backyard a party, one or two beer garden tables with benches could be helpful and they are easy to store and easy to install.
yeah at some beer gardens it is definitely like that, that the guys behind the bar just pre-tap the beer after a certain point when they see many guests appearing at the entrance etc... for the exact reason that there is only one size.
of course they dont do that all the time because if they have too many beers standing around it will get stale.
so they keep an appropriate reserve depending on how populated the beer garden is. and this way they can mostly just give out the beer quicker.
but if it is suuper full then they will have one guy constantly getting beers out of the tap and the other guy constantly handing them over the bar counters...
Ok, that was in some points new to me as an native german. I know a Biergarten often as a outside area of an restaurant. Or even as a sitting area of a small kiosk without inside seats. (Unnecessary to say that it is closed in winter.) But there is usually no cellar full of beer under it ( *noticing that I´ve never really checked this* :-D ). And I know it with a counter where you can buy drinks and food and take it to you seat. There is no "all you can drink" or something. As usuall in restaurants, there are also no tons of brands of beer, you could taste through. There is often a local brewer, you have different types of beers, and that´s it. (the restaurant runner has a contract with this brewer, so there is often the logo of that brand on all pitchers, umbrellas, lamps and so on. As far as I know does the brewer give it at least cheaper to the restaurant owner). In some rare cases, there might be a restaurant that brewes its own beer. But you wouldn´t find that in other shops, because of the low amount. Of course this isn´t true when it comes to the restaurants of the big famous brewers. But I think they are restaurants because they have beer, and do not have beer because being a restaurant. If you know what I mean.
The Biergärten (plural) I visited in my life where mostly in rural areas and therefore not that big. Often there are only a few tables. But I like that. I have never brought my food with me and I wouldn´t recommend this, even if it is allowed or not. Because there is usually tasty food available, and that is the reason why I go there (I rarely drink beer). Hope my english is not to bad and I could give you some impressions how I understand a Biergarten. Cheers! (Prost!)