Munich Hofbrauhaus
Jul 11th, 2009 | By Kudo | Category: Bayern Spezial
The Munich Hofbrauhaus is one of Munich`s greatest attractions and well known all over the world. Founded in 1589 by Wilhelm V. - Duke of Bavaria (1579 - 1597) - the Munich Hofbrauhaus is the most famous beer hall in the world today.
The history of the high quality of bavarian beer began in 1516. In the earlier days beer was not regarded as beverage but as fundamental food like bread. Some brewers in Munich also made some strange experiments with beer which caused some dead people after the consumtion of this stuff. Therefore Duke Wilhelm IV. issued a brewing order for all of Bavaria in 1516 which became the first food law of the world. Only 73 years later the bavarian Duke Wilhelm V. (1579 – 1597) ordered his royal court to find a way to get his own munich beer with high quality and wonderful taste. The idea of an own brewery in the city of Munich was born and the master brewer of the Geisenfeld Monastery, Heimeran Pongraz, should be the first Munich Hofbrauhaus master brewer. Location of the new brewery was the former chicken house.
On the 10th of June, 1602 Hans Sigmund von Degenberg died without leaving an heir. This meant that the Bavarian Duke Maximilian I could finally reclaim the wheat beer brew right which had been spent in 1548 by his forefather Wilhelm IV to the Degenberger … and Maximilian I went one step further: He granted a wheat beer monopoly to his own Hofbrauhaus. From now on only the ruling dynasty of Bavaria was allowed to brew and sell the precious wheat beer. The ducal profits reaped from the wheat beer monopoly were so huge that they financed Bavaria’s entire military budget!
As Maximilian`s ducal Hofbrauhaus at the Old Court could not keep up with demand of wheat beer, Maximilian I decided 1607 to move the wheat beer production to the new “white” Hofbrauhaus at Platzl, a small square not far from the court. In order to finance the constructing of the new Hofbrauhaus at Platzl, Maximilian I. allowed Munich ’s tavern keepers to purchase wheat beer from the ducal Hofbrauhaus and to serve it to the common folks.
In 1828 King Ludwig I issued a decree to open up the Hofbrauhaus to the public. in 1852 King Maximilian II. privatised the Hofbrauhaus to the State of Bavaria which became the owner of the Hofbrauhaus.
1879 the brewery director Johann Nepomuk Staubwasser officially registered the world-famous trademark of the Hofbrauhaus, first at the Munich Regional Court and later on at the Imperial Patent Office in Berlin. With the increasing tourism in Munich the brewery of the Hofbrauhaus moved 1896 to the “Innere Wiener Strasse” in Haidhausen, where the Hofbräukeller is located today. In 22. September of 1897 the Hofbrauhaus opened with a great guest area which was very similar to the actual Munich Hofbrauhaus.
During World War II the Munich Hofbrauhaus was almost completely destroyed. On the night of April 25, 1944, the first airborne bombs struck the Hofbräuhaus and three subsequent air raids almost completely destroyed the building. 1958 the Munich Hofbrauhaus reopened after World War II.
Landlords Michael and Gerda Sperger took over the management of the Hofbrauhaus in 1980 and Gerda Sperger continued successfully After the death of her husband until the beginning of 2004. From this time Wolfgang and Michael Sperger, the sons of Michael and Gerda Sperger, are managing the Hofbrauhaus.
