A Beer in the Park: Beer Gardens in Munich’s English Garden

It’s been said that residents of Munich know only three beer gardens: the one around the corner from where they live, the one down the street from their best friend, and the one near where they work or study. In a city with just shy of 1.5 million inhabitants, that makes for an awful lot of beer gardens dotting Munich’s neighbourhoods.

Where to begin if you’re a visitor to Munich thirsting after a beer in the shade? If you have a friend who lives in Munich, it’s easy: just follow your friend. If not, check back here over the course of the summer. By the time Oktoberfest rolls around, I’ll have posted about three or four articles introducing you to well-known beer gardens and hidden gems in and around Munich. We’ll start with Munich’s inner public transit zone and move out from there. Today we’ll take a stroll through Munich’s Englischer Garten (English Garden).

*Pro tip: If you’re planning on visiting several breweries and beer gardens in Munich (who isn’t?), purchase a 3-day pass for Munich’s “Innenraum” (€16.80). Alternatively, if you’re planning on visiting Weihenstephan, Kloster Andechs, or Aying, you can mix and match single-day passes for Munich’s “Innenraum” and “Gesamtnetz” (which gets you further afield on S-Bahn and regional train lines).  

*For more beer gardens to visit, check out “Munich’s Beer Gardens East and West of the Isar.”

In the English Garden

Larger than New York’s Central Park and London’s Hyde Park, the English Garden was once a hunting ground for the Wittelsbach dynasty. In 1789, Prince-Elector Karl Theodor decreed that military gardens should be laid out in each garrison city so that soldiers could engage in farming during peacetime. In the same year, he announced plans to open his hunting preserve to the public, calling upon his new chief military aide, Benjamin Thompson, to establish the new park in the English style of landscape garden popular at the time. (If Thompson’s name sounds about as German as high tea, it’s because he was born in Massachusetts and had served on the Loyalist side in the American Revolutionary War before relocating to Central Europe and taking up a post in the Prince-Elector’s administration in 1784.)

Thompson’s successors expanded what had become known colloquially as the “Englischer Garten” into its current form over the next several decades. The erstwhile agricultural uses of the park by peacetime military personal gave way to an even greater emphasis on the landscape. Ponds were transformed into small lakes, and the lands of the Hirschau to the north added further expanses of meadows and woodlands. This variegated landscape has left its mark on the beer gardens that dot the English Garden today.

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Aumeister (Sondermeisterstrasse 1, 80939 Munich). On tap: Hofbräu

It’s late in the afternoon, you’re tired from seeing the sights and visiting a museum or two. You might be thinking twice about the trek to the outskirts of the city just to relax in a beer garden. Don’t think twice. You won’t be disappointed by this gem in the English Garden’s northern reaches where the air is fresh and the scenery bucolic. In contrast to the southern part of the English Garden closer to the hustle and bustle of Munich’s city center, the woods and open expanses of the Hirschau feel more like the countryside. Some of the Hirschau’s meadows are mowed for hay, and a handful are even home to grazing sheep.

Getting to the Aumeister is half the fun. You have several options: Take a long, leisurely stroll through the English Garden from the center of town to build up a thirst; rent a bike and cycle through the park; explore the shops and cafes in Schwabing en route to the English Garden; or take the U3 or U6 subway line to Freimann or Studentenstadt and walk the short distance from there. There’s something special about the quality of the interplay of shade and light at the Aumeister, an X-factor that’s hard to pinpoint. Beyond that, unlike the Chinesischer Turm beer garden to the south, Aumeister feels like you’ve walked in on an intimate gathering of local beer garden denizens. The Aumeister’s Wirtshaus (inn) serves up fine fare should you need a break from all that Weisswurst and Obatzda.

Seehaus im Englischen Garten (Kleinhesselohe 3, 80802 Munich). On Tap: Paulaner

Just to the south of the Hirschau and not far from the cafés and shopping streets of Schwabing, the Seehaus offers something that not too many beer gardens do: lakeside seating. The origin of both the artificial lake and the beer garden dates back to the early days of the English Garden. Benjamin Thompson’s successor Reinhard Freiherr von Werneck saw to it in 1800 that the small pond in the middle of an erstwhile military facility was transformed into a lake. The decision was a boon to the “Auwächter” (park warden), who had a watch house at the gate that opened out onto the Hirschau. The enterprising park warden had already set up a small beer counter (Ausschank) in a shaded grove to cater to the needs of workers at the nearby dairy. Now, the banks of the new Kleinhesselohe See were right at his doorstep, and many of those who came to rent gondolas stayed for a beer.

Nowadays, you can watch pedal boats drift by while you sip a beer in this beer garden offering an ideal mix of shade, dappled sunshine, and lakeside sun terrace. The Seehaus is also unique for another reason: it’s the only beer garden in Munich that’ll open up during the winter time if the weather’s relatively nice. Bring a few extra euros with that extra clothing, though. The lakeside ambience doesn’t come cheap.

Chinesischer Turm (Englischer Garten 3, 80538 Munich). On tap: Hofbräu.

The Chinesischer Turm (Chinese Tower) is way up there on the touristy scale. But no matter. Just as the Hofbräuhaus is a bona fide beer hall, the Chinescher Turm is a classic beer garden. Given its location close to the Ludwig-Maximillian-Universität in Schwabing, the Chinesischer Turm beer garden attracts a high proportion of students to its leafy precincts in the southern section of the English Garden. With room for 7000 like-minded folks, the beer garden is Munich’s second largest after the Hirschgarten.

If you’re lucky, grab a table in the gazebo-like structure formed by the ground floor of the 5-storey pagoda, which was opened to the public in 1792. Originally, the pagoda served as a public viewing platform until the surrounding trees grew too tall. As for food options, traditional Bavarian fare is on offer at the buffet-like set of stands near the entrance.

Fun fact: The annual Kocherlball (cooks’ ball) takes place on the third Sunday in July, beginning bright and early at 6:00 a.m. The event pays tribute to the cooks, servants, nannies, and gardeners who’d meet in the early hours of every Sunday morning during the summer months to dance in the shadow of the Chinese Tower. Why so early? They gathered in the early hours of the morning so that they’d still have time to go to church or to prepare breakfast for their noble employers. Today, the ball attracts thousands of dancers decked out in traditional Bavarian clothing and historical costumes.

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Got a favourite beer garden somewhere? Let us know in the comments. Prost!

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And if that schnitzel’s too expensive, there’s always beer or coffee. Vielen Dank, and thanks so much!

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Related posts:

Exploring Vienna’s Beer Gardens

In the Cool Shade of the Beer Garden

Sources:

Christian R. Kast, “Bayrische Biergärten und ihre rechtliche Tradition –– das Brotzeitrecht,” Anwaltskontor, https://www.anwaltscontor.de/bayerischer-biergarten/

Bayrische Biergartenverordnung (20 April 1999), http://www.staedtebauliche-laermfibel.de/pdf/Biergarten-VO.pdf

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinesischer_Turm_(M%C3%BCnchen)

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastst%C3%A4tte_Seehaus

Süddeutsche Zeitung, Mir san Bier: Braukunst und Biergärten in und um München, Munich, 2013.

All images by F.D. Hofer.

© 2018 F.D. Hofer and A Tempest in a Tankard. All rights reserved.