Montag, 13. September 2010

How the Germans can drink you under the table - and still stay sober

In Bavaria all the best things come duplicate...

With the Oktoberfest just a few days away what better to talk about than Bavarians and their beer habits.

I’ve always marvelled how the Bavarians manage to toss down the contents of a liter jug quicker than you can say “Deutscher Rheinheitsgebot“. Not even batting an eyelid and still stay amazingly sober. Unlike in my home land, where beer is seen chiefly as a means of inebriating one’s self, there’s some thing very civilised and cultured about the way this beverage is consumed in Germany. You only have to walk around the Hofbräuhaus to marvel how calm and collected drinkers behave outside what is ostensibly the greatest booze bar in the world. Were this establishment in Britain people would be staggering out day and night in state of drunken ga-ga and there would be a constant sound of glass shattering on the pavement. Beware Saturday nights in particular.

Not once have I seen even a single shred of broken glass within throwing distance of a pub in Germany.  I love the law-abiding orderliness of the Germans, even when they’re drinking themselves silly en masse to the deafening oompah accompaniment of “da-da da-da!

My overriding memory of the Fest is of roaring drunkenness, amidst croaky cries of “A prosit!“.
And that none of us could make ourselves understood without cupping our hands like megaphones to shout ear to ear. One year we managed to end up on a table of Aussies - not the best idea. If you’re going to get properly drunk make sure you don’t do it with anyone from Down Under. Unlike the Germans they really don’t know when and where to stop.

While I don’t plan any more laps of honour round the Wies’n I have a deep soft spot for Bavaria’s wonderful beer gardens. Where you really can hold a proper conversation with friends. And the forecast till month’s end is looking good – temperatures of 21 degrees on the last three Wies’n days. That might not matter if you’re huddled together in a Wies’n tent, but it’s good news for all us alfresco drinkers.

Enjoy your beer, wherever you drink it.