Bavarian Beer Garden Culture

This article originally appeared in the March/April 2024 issue of Zymurgy Magazine

By Franz Hofer

Finding Your Place In the Shade

Call it a beer garden, biergarten, or a bierkeller. Call them what you want, these green oases are so important to Bavarian identity that the Beer Garden Ordinance of 1999 gives statutory expression to the fact: “As a result of their long history and deep-rooted tradition, beer gardens have become a part of the Bavarian cultural heritage.” In short, they are “an expression of the Bavarian way of life.”

With all traditions and ways of life come certain customs, unwritten rules of etiquette that make a day or evening in the beer garden that much more enjoyable for everyone. Though beer garden etiquette is not a hard-and-fast set of rules, observing a few of these customs will have you drinking like a beer garden pro in no time. 

Access the full article in the March/April 2024 Zymurgy magazine.

This article includes the following:

• HOMEBREW RECIPE: Color Me Kellered
• Beer garden food
• Pour sizes
• Bavarian beer garden suggestions
• Kellerbier: the original beer garden beer
• Kellerbier stateside
• Brewing a taste of Franconia