Maibock in Munich: Spring fairs and fresh beer

Oktoberfest, the autumn Dult fair, the Starkbierfest, the spring Dult fair, the Spring Fair on Thereisenwiese… Anyone not from Munich would be well within their rights to assume that the place never stops partying. And indeed it doesn’t. There is always something going in Munich!

Just recently, the Spring Fair or Frühlingsfest on the Theresienwiese finished up. Although it takes place on the same patch of empty city as the Oktoberfest, however, and although there’s lots of fairground rides, beer, and traditional Bavarian garb, you’d be wrong to assume it’s simply a carbon copy. Even if you recognise the odd name like Fischer Vroni, much of the festival is different: it has a huge flea market, for example, as well as a vintage car convention and amazing fireworks, none of which the autumn visitors will find.

Indeed, Munich deserves the opportunity to enjoy its Wiesn without hordes of drunken tourists, and makes the most of it. Besides the very family-orientated feel to it and the relaxed lack of crowds, what we love about the Frühlingsfest is the fact that they write “Bavarian costume” with a big B. On 26th April, for example, they held a day celebrating traditional customs and dress in the Festhalle Bayernland tent, with all sorts of dance and lederhosen/dirndl groups, as well as the exhilarating whips of the Goaßlschnalzer, a folk dance involving stick, strings, lashes, and what look like conkers…

It’s not just in terms of what people are wearing and how they’re dancing that the clock goes back, however. If you missed the big red Hippodrom tent last year, for example, then you’ll be pleased to know that it’s alive and well and living at the Spring Fair, sans tax dodger Herr Krätz, of course, but still in all its old glory.

If you don’t watch out, however, you’ll find that time plays you all sorts of other tricks. That’s due to the Maibock – “May bock” – a strong lager brewed especially for this time of year at between 6.5 and 7.5% alcohol by volume. At this strength, it’s only just behind the strong beers of the eponymous festival and way ahead of the 5-6% Oktoberfest brews. Spaten-Franziskaner serve Maibock at 6.5%, Augustiner at 7%, and Hofbräu takes the crown at 7.2%.

But what is Maibock and how is it different to other strong beer? They key is in the hopping: while Starkbier is brewed more like a porter, with very heavy malting, a Maibock is essentially a very strong lager, meaning that it has more hops and a slightly tarter note; this also makes it colour lighter than typically dark strong beers. As an interesting side-note, “Bock” has two meanings in German: it is both strong beer and a billy goat, meaning many of the labels have impressive looking horns on them…

Whatever the case, it’s absolutely delicious, and in our recent visit to Munich, we simply couldn’t get enough. After a long afternoon at Hofbräuhaus, we went on an (in retrospect perhaps) ill-advised follow-up excursion to the Giesinger Bräustüberl and enjoyed their Maibock. You might say it was like two rams going at one another head on.

Speaking of animals: we also spotted this horse-drawn carriage packed with beer-drinkers doing its rounds in Munich. Apparently, beer and wheeled transport is a Tradition for German men on Ascenscion Day, which follows Easter by six weeks and is also father’s day there. You don’t need to be a father to go drinking, however, as we found out… Nice Tradition if you can get it!