Experience Concept

Our idea for a home for Munich's Beer History and Experience unites fun, infotainment, joy, amazement, and thrill for all senses. No lousy museum, but a cutting-edge, technology packed museum adventure all around Munich's Beer.

Specifically, our concept is currently based on six cornerstones:

• Journey through time
• Sensation for the senses
• The art of brewing
• Variety of beer styles
• Purity of ingredients
• Living tradition

For each cornerstone especially designed and technology enabled experience rooms will be created.

Journey through time

Leveraging latest technology and 3D illustrations, visitors will time travel to key events in Munich's beer history. For example: Join us in returning to 1487, to the regency of Duke Albrecht the 4th. On November 30th he declared the Munich purity law for beer and thus launched the first quality controls for Munich's Beer. The only three ingredients allowed are: hop, barley and water. Interestingly another key ingredient yeast was at that time not yet discovered, although its use was unknowingly common. This event will become known as Munich's Purity Law - a predecessor of Germany's world famous purity law.

Sensation for the senses

Stroll through 21 feet/ 7 meters high hop plants, experience the unique smell and feel of hops, taste the difference between top- and bottom-fermented beer, listen to famous beer tent music and sounds or sneak a peak inside the renown beer cellars of 19th century Munich. 

Our planned Beer Experience is all about our senses: look, listen, touch, smell and taste...

What is the taste of mash? Does froth of different beer styles differ? Which beer colorings are achieved through different methods of oasting? How do I best draw a 1-liter stein?
 

The art of brewing

Munich yearly celebrates the "strong beer fest" (Starkbierfest) since 1799. Originally a monk idea to circumvent lent through drinking rich-in-caories beer - today is called Munich's fifth season, with beer tents and a special brew. A beer style's destiny is decided in the brewing process. Some well-crafted changes will result in culinary differences in taste, look and smell. Since the 19th century brewing is a high-technology, but the basics are still the same since the beginning of beer brewing. The artful simplicity of brewing allows to even brew beer in very small quantities. The visitors of Munich's Beer Experience may wander through brew kettles, watch coopers crafting wooden kegs and learn about the art of brewing. Building on these impressions and insights, the next non-alcoholic beer will taste even better.  
 

Variety of beer styles

Helles (lager), Dunkles (dark), Märzen (March special brew), Festbier (octoberfest beer), Weissbier (wheat), Starkbier (strong), Bockbier (strong), Malzbier (malt) are just examples of the variety of Beer from Munich. Today, Munich hosts six major breweries: Augustiner, Hacker-Pschorr-Bräu, Paulaner, Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu and the state owned Hofbräu. Each of these breweries is proud of several centuries of brewing tradition. Each brewery tells unique stories of brewing tradition and markets a variety of beer styles and marks. The different beer marks own very unique and special taste, smell, color and historic background.

In the 1880s Munich hosted about 40 breweries, with an amazing diversity of products and tradition. Todays taprooms and guesthouses only offer a small (seasonal) and brewery specific selection of beer styles. The variety of Munich's beer is much bigger. Munich's Beer Experience will be THE place where local and historic beer variety comes alive!

Purity of ingredients

In times of food scandals, artificial supplements, flavor enhancers, misrepresentations and copy-cat products there exists a strong desire for genuine, excellence and quality. Munich Beer is bound to the German Purity Law and the ingredients are hop, malt, yeast and water. These ingredients all grow or originate in the city's vicinity. The Alps to the South are home to mountain spring water. The Hallertau - just a 40km drive to the North - hosts the world's largest continuous hop-planting area. The Hallertau offers 20 different hop types and exports to 90 countries around the globe.

The natural ingredients of Munich's Beer will be a recurrent theme which will be visible and touchable in the Beer Experience like a golden thread. Munich's people rooted in its tradition regard beer as a food and merchandise. Other cities may own oil, gold or salt - Munich is the centre for Beer Purity.  We will ensure that this tradition is experienced, appreciated and cherished by locals and visitors in the future Beer Experience. 

Living tradition

In summertime, more than 1,000 beergarden (Biergärten) shall exist in the city of Munich. The term is widely applied across the world. However, only in Munich beergarden are a central part of the city's summer lifestyle. The explanation takes us back to the year 1812. King Max 1st allowed on January 2nd beer to be sold above the underground beer storages of the breweries. Before, beer selling was restricted to guest houses and restaurants. To balance the different interests, King Max 1st put out a wise ruling which allowed guests to bring along their own food to the beergardens. The business of beergardens was supposed to be restricted to selling beer - thus protecting a stronghold of guest houses and restaurants: dining and catering. Although each traditional beer garden today also sells food, it is still protected by law that guests may bring their own food and only buy drinks! Did you ever bring your picnic basket to a Munich beergarden and decorate the table with your own tablecloth and cutlery? It makes for a truely Munich original and still favorite summer experience (but please, do never bring your own beverages, too!).    

In Munich, beer history is alive everywhere you go - but you may not notice it. That is why the Munich Beer Experience will tell you the stories behind todays realities and take you on a discovery journey "behind the scenes"... Other famous beer traditions are the Oktoberfest, Starkbierfest, Brewer's Day and Cooper's dance as depicted on the daily Glockenspiel at the town hall tower. 

It is our goal to present glimpses of these events and festivities year-round and independent of the particular season.