History of Starkbierfest: the Lesser-known Beer Festival
HISTORY OF STARKBIER FESTIVAL
Starkbierfest is a public celebration throughout March this year, though some biergartens began in February.
The heart of this festival is in Munich, Germany, specifically at Paulaner am Nockherberg Brewery, where it all began.
The two-week Salvator tap on the Nockherberg, which is traditionally opened with the “Salvator-Probe“ in the period between Carnival and Easter. The celebration runs from March 6 through March 29. Different breweries hold their celebrations on different dates. In a few ways, it is unlike its more well-known sibling, Oktoberfest.
Little Known
It’s not widely known outside Germany, and Munich in particular, except among German expats or beer lovers. Or historians who have visited Munich in the Spring.
Narrowly Observed
Perhaps half a dozen locations in Munich celebrate it, including restaurants and breweries.
Misunderstood Starkbierfest
What is Starkbierfest?
It’s the festival for Starkbier.
What is Starkbier?
It’s German for “strong beer.”
What is Strong beer?
Some assume the name refers to its higher alcohol content, but that’s not the primary reason, though it is more alcoholic, between 6.5% to 14% by volume. Not your father’s 3.5% beer.
Instead, the name is due to the higher gravity, or Stammwürze of the beer, with its concentration of solids like proteins, starches, and sugars… the wort.
Starkbier contains 180 grams of solids, or the equivalent of a third of a loaf of bread. The monks who created it were originally dubbed flüssiges Brot, or “liquid bread.” It’s liquid nourishment.
History of Starkbierfest
When did it start?
The story goes back to the monks of Munich. Indeed, the German word for the city, München, means “by the monks,” referring to the Benedictine monks who ran a monastery in what is now the Old Town of Munich.
At the beginning of the 17th century, the Paulaner monks of Munich, in observance of the 40 days of Lent – known as the “Fifth Season” in Germany – did not eat during the daylight part of the day.
For years, they had been brewing beer, so they turned to creating a “strong beer” that was particularly rich in nutrients.
They were allowed to consume this during the daylight hours due to the eventual decision in 1662 by Pope Alexander VII:
Liquidum non frangit jejunum
…or in English, “liquid does not break fasting.” Starkbier would curb their appetite during the day. It took only a few decades for other Munichers to tap kegs of starkbier and institute annual public celebrations. The clever Paulaner monks did this without violating the Purity Law of 1516, which required all beers brewed in Germany to be made with only water, hops, malt, and yeast.
But what if the current Pope should not approve?
They sent a barrel of this rich, malty Doppelbock to the Pope in Rome for his benediction. The trouble began with the long journey from Bavaria to Italy across the Alps.
By the time the beer arrived, it was sour and spoiled. When the Pope tasted it, he found it so terrible that he assumed it must have been intended as some form of penance. He told them that if they wanted to drink this strong beer, they were welcome to do so. They were permitted to fill their tankards five times a day with the brew. But their tankards were a liter or two in size.
In 1751, the Paulaner monks created the “Holy Father Beer” for the name day of their religious founder, Franz von Paula, or Francis of Paola, after the namesake of the Paulaner monks, and “Sankt Vater” (sacred water) soon became “Salvator.”
Bier Steins
In the 1780s, laws changed, making the monks’ beer available to the public. Beer prices climbed until 1888, when a fight broke out, with celebrants drawing swords and walking sticks and using their heavy ceramic beer mugs (steins) as weapons. Things have calmed down lately, with less saber-rattling.
Naming of Starkbiers
Starkbiers have names that typically end in “-ator,” giving them a strong, dinosaur-like name:
Salvator, by Paulaner: father of the Doppelbock beers- Triumphator, by Löwenbräu
- Maximator, by Augustiner
- Aviator, by Airbrau (at the airport)
- Delicator, by Hofbräu
- Suffikator
- Predator
- Optimator
- Spekulator
- Delicatior
The Starkbierfest
Munich Löwenbräukeller
This event traditionally occurs annually in Munich. It’s not held on the traditional Theresienwiese festival grounds of Oktoberfest or Frühlingsfest.
Instead, it’s in the local breweries:
- Paulaner am Nockherberg – the first tap and one of the largest beerhalls in the city, holding 5,000 inside and a few thousand outside under tent coverings.
- Löwenbräukeller – long tables
- Augustiner Keller
Starkbierfest at the Löwenbräukeller
Löwenbräu Keller. Author’s photo
In 2003, I was speaking in Munich for work. The local office invited me out to Löwenbräukeller for Starkbier. I knew little German then and understood the words bier and Löwenbräu, but not by the German pronunciation.
We got to the brewery at 6 pm. The ballroom is one of the larger event spaces in Munich and holds 2,000 people. They served us “lighter” beer to fortify us for the strong stuff.
Author and coworker at Löenbräukeller. Author’s photo
Long tables filled with people of all ages lined them, and they got started with glasses of beer the size of 55-gallon drums. They were called steins. I knew that Stein meant stone, and that is what people were soon becoming.
The band in lederhosen started with traditional German music. The locals began to sing along. When the starkbier emerged later, the signature 7.6% alcohol Triumphator was thick, rich, malty, slightly sweet, and almost chocolaty. The crowd became more animated. Another band came out, and the music changed to American rock and roll. Everyone knew all the words.
European coworkers dancing. Author’s photo
By the end of the evening, we were dancing on the tabletops with total strangers and singing “Twist and Shout” in English.
Yet another band ended with “You Can Leave Your Hat On,” a song written by American musician Randy Newman and featured at the end of the British movie The Full Monty, where the men drop their pants. This band then did the same at midnight.
Bill Petro, your friendly neighborhood historian
billpetro.com
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