Tag des Bieres 2020

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We’re in our sixth week of Ausgangsbeschrankung, which is not a complete lockdown, but most businesses are closed, and there will be no festivals. We’re coming through pretty well so far–working through our stages of grief, but with sufficient food and toilet paper.

April 23 is the Tag Des Deutsches Bier, the anniversary of the Bavarian Reinheitsgebot, which I have seen (really!) and already written about.

There it is. In a book with dozens of other obsolete ducal decrees.

Traditionally on a Thursday every April, Freising holds a Tag des Bieres celebration in the Marienplatz. After a short ceremony where the Reinheitsgebot is read and Freising’s beer is pronounced good and healthy, and it is recommended all the townspeople enjoy it, a keg is tapped and Freising’s breweries start filling mugs with the proceeds going to a good cause. You can find a nice video of the 2018 proclamation on YouTube, and browse photos of the 2019 on the city’s official website.

And now, set the mood for the rest of this post with music from local band Premium Bavaricum.

Tag des Bieres–zuhause!

The public ceremony was canceled, so we had our own at home with three classic Freising beers.


Our Hopfenprinzessin (hops princess) is Hannele, who followed us home from Norway in 2017.
Beloved local celebrity Freisinger Bär is being played by Knut, who also followed us home from Norway.
He looks just like the bear on the bottle, no?
Our herald is Petzi, who came to us from Köln last year. His noble steed is Butterblüme, a genuine Iowa State Fair Butter Cow.
The crowd listens raptly to the proclamation.
As April 23 is also St. George’s Day (George is the patron saint of Bavaria), the honor of tapping the first bottle falls to our Bavarian-born dragon, Georg.
Georg only needed one try! O’zapft ist!