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Pub Visit - Germany

Thursday 30th July 2015

Tegernsee Tal 1Bob Thompson

Whilst on my way to another beer hall in this very beery part of central Munich, I discovered this pub that wasn’t there when I last visited a few years ago. Although it says Brauhaus on the painted sign outside it is not a brew house. However I recommend it for three reasons: a) it has beers from the Herzoglich Bayerisches Brauhaus of Tegernsee, a town and lake south-west of the city centre, b) there is a very large range of beers available from that brewery and c) it also sells a wide selection of wheat beers from the Brauerei Hopf at Miesbach, a small village in the foothills of the Alps.

The Tegernsee beers come from a brewery located in a royal castle that was once a monastery on the banks of the lake. The monastery was founded in 746 and no doubt brewed beer for the monks from a very early date, and that’s the way it stayed until 1803 when the monasteries were secularised.

Tegernsee Tal 2However 1604 was an important year when Duke Maximilian I forbade the expansion of breweries in Bavaria and listed on a register all the existing breweries in the country to be given licenses. However Tegernsee was missing from the list. However the problem was resolved when a licence to brew was issued although the court denied that it was brewing well before that date.

The aristocratic connection was renewed in 1817 when King Maximilian of Bavaria purchased the former monastery buildings for use as a castle.

It was later renamed Herzoglich Bayerisches Brauhaus which translates as The Bavarian Duke’s Brew House. It is now a modern brewery producing 120,000hl of beer per annum. It has a plant that only brews bottom-fermented beer so the Munich pub is supplied with wheat beer from Brauerei Hopf of Miesbach, a veritable youngster founded in 1910.

Tegernsee Tal 3The pub itself has a long history with the first records dating from 1433. It passed through many hands over the years and became a brewery and pub sometime during its long and eventful history. It was the Brauerei Schlicker and it eventually ceased brewing in the early 1950s although remained as a pub and hotel. In fact the latter still exists on the upper floors. The facade you see today dates from 1897.

Its last use before being acquired by the Tegernsee Brauhaus was as a steak restaurant. In its present guise it opened on 14th May 2013 with a celebrity reception. The renovation work had lasted for seven months and cost in excess of €2 million. Over the years there has been a steady influx of breweries from Southern Bavarian who want to tap the lucrative Munich market. Ayinger and Andechs are two other examples.

This helps a little with redressing the almost monopoly the big four Munich breweries with their big six brands have on the city. For the record the big six brands are Hacker-Pschorr, Löwenbräu, Paulaner, Augustiner, Spaten and Hofbräu.

Tegernsee Tal 4Beers from Tegernsee Brauhaus served in this pub are Hell (4.8%), Spezial (5.6%), Leicht (2.8%), Dunkel Export (5.5%), Max I. Joseph (5.2%), an Export Hell in style. The wheat beers from Hopf are Helle Weisse (5.3%), Dunkle Weisse (5.0%), Die Leichtere Weisse (3.3%) and Spezial Weisse (6.0%). I think you’ll agree this is a very good selection making this pub a new “must do” on the Munich pub scene. They have a top chef and the food is at comparable central Munich prices (i.e. a bit expensive, but they are all the same).

Important Information:

Tegernseer Tal, Tal 8, 80331 München. Tel: 089 222626

Open: Sunday-Wednesday 09.30-01.00; Thursday-Saturday 09.30-03.00
Kitchen: advertised as being open until 1 hour before closing

This pub is only a few minutes walk from Marienplatz station on S-Bahn lines S1-S4, S6 and S8.
It is also served by U-Bahn lines U3 and U6.

Update January 2020. Tegernsee Hell beer is served from a wooden cask on Sundays from 12.00 and when Bayern München or the German national team are playing.