Oktoberfest in Munich 2024

There’s no Wiesn without the Schottenhamel-Festhalle because this is where Oktoberfest is officially opened every year with a tap. At noon on the first day of Wiesn, the mayor of Munich taps the first barrel of beer with as few strokes as possible. “It’s tapped! To a peaceful Wiesn!” Only then may the other tents start pouring. Why does the tapping taking place at the Schottenhamel? Because it’s where the event was “officially” was tapped for the first time in 1950 by Thomas Wimmer, the mayor at the time. Legend has it that he was in quite a hurry because he had to open a mass at Theresienhöhe shortly before noon, that it was raining buckets, and he took the shortest route into a tent: that tent was the Schottenhamel. Whether it happened that way is hard to say.

It’s hard to believe: In 1867, the forerunner of the Schottenhamel tent was still a small wooden shack with 50 seats. Today, the large festival hall alone can accommodate more than 6,000 guests. The Schottenhamel family invented the Oktoberfest beer in the hot summer of 1872. The lager and summer beer reserved for the Wiesn had been used up prematurely, so Michael I brought a new beer to the Oktoberfest: the Märzen. With 16 percent original gravity, it was more robust and more expensive but became the classic Wiesn beer. In 1886, the Schottenhamels set up the first canvas tent on the Theresienwiese.

Today, around 9,000 people fit into the Schottenhamel-Festhalle and beer garden. The beer tables and benches are unusual, different from other beer tents: You sit opposite each other in the classic beer setup and around the corner. This increases communication and the potential for flirting! The Schottenhamel is a meeting place for the young people of Munich.

The Schwarzfischer band has been playing at Oktoberfest since 1950 and played the first cordial toast after tapping. Conductor Christian Sachs' motto is "traditional and modern" - Bavarian brass music for Wiesn lunch, the first beer with roast chicken, party songs in the evening, and of course the latest Wiesn hits get things cooking at the festival hall. And things get pretty romantic again for the "grand finale" on the last Wiesn Sunday. For example, with "Weust' a Herz host wia a Bergwerk" (Because You Have a Heart Like a Mine) set to thousands of sparklers...

"Three times Bavaria," for example, can be enjoyed in a single dish in the Schottenhamel-Festhalle: veal patties, beef and pork roll, and Munich-style Rostbratwürstl sausages. All served with potato mash. Of course, you can't forget the half roast chicken, the knuckle of pork, and the pork roast, as well as vegetarian dishes such as Allgäu cheese spätzle or potato waffles. On top of that, there are "Deandl- und Burschenburgers," and for the traditional gourmands, there's a beef rump pot roast.

Fun fact: Albert Einstein worked here

In 1908, the Schottenhamel family commissioned Gabriel von Seidl to build a beer castle for 8,000 guests. It was the very first Wiesn tent to have electric lighting instead of candles. The technology was supervised by the Augsburg company J. Einstein. Back then, the boss' nephew also helped as a holiday employee with Albert Einstein, 17 years old. The later inventor of the theory of relativity screwed numerous light bulbs into the Schottenhamel tent as an auxiliary electrician.