June 29, 2024

Beer Gardens with a Dash of Spice: The Menterschwaige in Munich

The sun was already low in the autumn sky as I finished up my beer at the legendary Waldwirtschaft (WaWi) and headed north toward the equally legendary Gutshof Menterschwaige. I’d been to the WaWi several times over the years, but hadn’t yet made it to the Menterschwaige on the other side of the Isar River. The weather doesn’t always cooperate with the best laid beer garden plans. But today was the day.

The short walk from the WaWi to the Menterschwaige takes you down a path toward the foot bridge spanning the Isar, and then up to a wooded trail along the embankment high above the Isar. It’s this kind of walk that gives you a sense of how the topography of the Isar Valley favoured the sinking of beer cellars from Munich all the way up to Bad Tölz at the foot of the Alps. The cellars no longer store beer, but the stands of trees still cast their shade over the cellars for those of us who enjoy the respite of the beer garden.

The chime of clinking glasses in the distance fill the evening air, a telltale sign that the Menterschwaige isn’t far off. Villas line the path that lead to the Menterschwaige, a onetime estate of the Wittelsbach dynasty. A small Swiss-style hut stands just off to the side of the beer garden.

It’s this rather unassuming chalet that contributes to the Menterschwaige’s latter-day allure, for it’s here that King Ludwig I is said to have met Lola Montez for their nightly trysts. (That’s the same King Ludwig whose marriage celebration in 1810 occasioned the first Oktoberfest.) Hold that thought till we get a beer.

History of the Menterschwaige as a “Gutshof”

What’s in a name? To English speakers, “Gutshof Menterschwaige” might not sound as mellifluous as the sound of wind rustling through the leaves in a beer garden. But the very name of these sylvan precincts reveals much about its past. Let’s start with the word “Gutshof,” which means farm, estate, or manor. In the case of our current pastoral settings, it was once an agricultural estate. The word “Schwaige,” an archaic term that once referred to Alpine pastures used only during the summer months, makes the connection even more explicit.

As for “Menter”? After the centuries-old estate was rebuilt in the wake of the Thirty Years’ War, it remained in the possession of the Wittelsbach dynasty until 1793. An inn was built on the estate in 1803, which became famous among artists and the nobility, before it passed into private hands. Peter Johann Gaibl, who also helmed the Menter brewery in Munich’s old town, acquired the inn and the surrounding estate in 1807 — hence the name Menterschwaige.

Nineteenth-Century Leisure Destination

Thanks to its location on the embankment overlooking the river, the Menterschwaige became a popular destination for city dwellers seeking to escape to the countryside. It even afforded a view of the Alps. Visitors described the estate as an idyllic place “where the magnificent mountains in the distance reveal their intimate secrets.”

But it wasn’t just serenity that drew residents of the big city to the countryside. King Ludwig I remained attached to this country manor even after it passed into private hands. A friend of artists, architects, and performers of all stripes, the king hosted an annual First of May cultural festival at the Menterschwaige, where the meals were sumptuous and the Maibock flowed freely.

King Ludwig I and Lola Montez

Back to the present for a beer. I’ve found a spot with my liter of Löwenbräu near the playground. Rambunctious children weave in and out of the tables playing tag, while their parents look up occasionally from their early evening beers to make sure the kids aren’t creating too much of a ruckus.

Menterschwaige beer garden, Munich — *Diehard beer gardeners braving an autumn evening*

Nowadays, the sprawling beer garden reveals little of its royal past. What’s left of the manorial estate resembles other traditional Munich establishments that were built or rebuilt in the late nineteenth century. But one aspect of the Menterschwaige’s royal past still echoes through the beer garden: the story of Ludwig’s romantic interlude with Lola Montez some 175 years ago.

Once the location of the smallest royal blacksmith, the Swiss-style hut at the edge of the estate allegedly served as Ludwig and Lola’s love den. Some claim that the king met Montez there for nightly trysts after their relationship had aroused the ire of Munich, while others claim that she hid there on 11 February 1848 while she was fleeing Munich.

Myth and Legend as the Spice of Life

King Ludwig’s relationship with Lola Montez did, indeed, ignite a scandal in Catholic and conservative Bavaria. But the story that links Montez with the Menterschwaige is apocryphal — or, at the very least, the product of stories and rumours woven into a single narrative thread. Whatever the case, generations of chroniclers have not let facts get in the way of a salacious story, and it still serves as a useful marketing tool for private events at the Swiss hut, latterly christened the Lola Montez Haus.

The Swiss hut on the Menterschwaige property — *The Swiss hut where Ludwig and Lola allegedly met for their trysts*

Here’s one of the more common versions of the story, which I’m including here because, just like Greek mythology, sometimes it’s the legends themselves that add spice to culture.

Things began going south for King Ludwig I in 1846, when the peripatetic dancer Lola Montez arrived in town from Paris. She had been forced to quit the City of Lights after her amourous entanglements occasioned a duel that resulted in a man’s death. She soon caught the wandering eye of the king, who made her his mistress. Adding insult to injury in the eyes of Munich’s citizens, Ludwig granted her Bavarian citizenship and the title Countess of Landsfeld.

Some contend that when the queen got word of the illicit affair, Lola Montez was forced to leave town. Others link Montez’s exile with the student uprisings of February 1848 and the general discontent that Ludwig’s relationship with Montez had engendered. Still others add their own twist by suggesting that Lola didn’t quite leave town. Rather, Ludwig ensconced her at the Menterschwaige, where their affair kept right on going until popular discontent forced Montez to leave Bavaria for good.

Local historians have thrown cold water on the steamy story about Montez and the royal love nest at the Menterschwaige. Montez had been spotted at the Menterschwaige on occasion, but not on that fateful February night (or nights). After riots broke out in Munich because of the pair’s affair, Montez fled the city and spent the night at an inn on the opposite bank of the Isar, as a letter from her hand to the king attests. The next night she retreated to the Blutenburg estate before continuing to Switzerland via Austria. No Menterschwaige.

There you have it. Now you can just smile, take a long draught of your beer, and nod knowingly next time you hear the story.

The Menterschwaige Today

I still have time for one last beer and a bite to eat. I wind my way through the stalls selling a wide range of food, picking up a scrumptious Krustenbraten (crusted pork roast) with potato salad and another refreshing mug of Löwenbräu Helles to wash it down. When you’re there, be sure to check out all the rustic cow and goat bells on display at the stands where you order your food and beer.

It’s become truly autumnal as evening arrives in this beer garden surrounded by woods on all sides. Energy reserves replenished, I don my sweater and return to the bright lights of the big city.

Getting There and Away

As is the case with so many of the beer gardens on the leafy margins of the city, getting to Menterschwaige is half the fun. The easiest way is Tram 25 to the Menterschwaige stop, followed by a 20-minute walk to the beer garden.

If you have the time, include the Menterschwaige as part of a wonderfully epic 15-km “urban beer hike.” This ramble follows the Isar from the Brückenwirt in the south to Flaucher in the north, taking in Gasthof Hinterbrühl and the Waldwirtschaft (famous as the central character in the 1995 “beer garden revolution”) along the way. I wrote a short version of this hike in one of my Beerscapes Newsletters a few years back, and am working on a longer version due out soon.

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Happy beer gardening!

Krustenbraten and beer at the Menterschwaige beer garden — *Krustenbraten and beer*

Beer Gardens in Baden-Württemberg, Germany’s Southwest

Beer Gardens in Bavaria, Or, How to ‘Beer Garden’ Like a Local

The Art of the Beer Garden Food Feast

Munich’s Beer Gardens East and West of the Isar

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