Before 1592, the people of Munich had to import their beer from the town of Einbeck some 340 miles away. Wilhelm V, Duke of Bavaria, simply would not stand for this, and ordered his royal court to come up with a solution. Their plan: build Munich's own brewery.
Thanks to the beer-loving duke and his advisers, Hofbrauhaus has been keeping the city hydrated since the 16th century, now selling an average of 15,000 liters of beer per day. A restaurant was added on to Hofbrauhaus in 1897 to accommodate the rise of tourism, and visitors can still stuff themselves on bread, cheese and meats while they enjoy live traditional German music. Regulars can store their beer steins in one of 400-plus lockers available for rent __ assuming that the prospective renter is at the top of an approximately 15-year waiting list.
During my visit, I feasted on bierbratl (roasted pork belly), dumplings and sauerkraut, followed by a dessert of a steamed sweet dumpling in a vanilla sauce. And, of course, I washed it all down with a liter of cold beer.
