Concerning Beer and Bavaria
12 September 2005
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The countdown to Munich’s world-famous Oktoberfest has officially begun and once again I will leave it to the tourists and beer enthusiasts. I did visit the legendary festival the first year that I lived here in Munich, but since then I have not made a return trip.
In general, Oktoberfest is too crowded and expensive for my taste. However, I don’t skip Oktoberfest merely because I don’t like crowds or because it is too pricey: I must confess that the main reason that I have passed on it since my initial “been-there-done-that” visit is simply because I don’t like beer.
Though I drank beer as a college student, I never really cared for it. In those days, drinking was about getting drunk and as a result I drank beer because it was cheap and available. I thought that I would eventually get used to it, but I didn’t. I loathed the bitter, unpleasant taste and my worst hangovers always occurred after a night of beer drinking. Consequently, I was never converted into a beer drinker and now that my major drinking exercises are in accompaniment to a meal, I don’t even pause to consider it.
It is a bit ironic though, isn’t it? In places like Italy, France, or even western Germany where, instead of beer, wine flows like water I could have easily integrated into the drinking culture, but of all the places in the world, A. and I had to end up in Bavaria where the traditional beverage is the one that I can’t stand, didn’t we?
A few months after we moved here, I finally did try the beer, but I must admit that it took all of my will power to even halfheartedly give it a chance. Unfortunately, once I did give it a try I didn’t find my first Bavarian beer any better than I found my first American beer years earlier. After I choked down half a dozen sips, I relinquished my efforts and my Weißbier merely sat on the table in the beer garden getting warm and flat.
Since I have always preferred wine or liquor over beer, it really came as no surprise to me that I didn’t care for Bavarian beer. But beer is a vital part of Bavarian culture and the fact that my distaste for it would cause an occasional predicament was a bit unexpected.
For example, while it is acceptable to sit in a beer garden without a beer in front of you, there are social functions where the choice of beverages seems to be beer or… beer. I remember a couple of summers ago when I went to a barbeque I had to practically beg for a Coke and then before I got it I had to explain why I didn’t want beer. Luckily the hostess had a sense of humor and when I shyly replied that I really didn’t like beer she just chalked it up to my being an American.
To sum it up, I am positive that no matter how long I live in Munich, how many beer gardens I visit, or how many times I attend Oktoberfest, I will never be transformed into a beer drinker. And for that reason alone, I don’t expect that I will be getting honorary Bavarian citizenship any time soon!
