Written by Franz Hofer for A Tempest in a Tankard
You’re rarely at a loss for an excuse to have a beer in Bavaria. You’ve got beer garden season in the warmer months, and Oktoberfest in the fall. You’ve got Maibock season in the spring and a slew of Bockbier tappings through late autumn and early winter, especially in Franconia.
But what about the dead of winter, that time after the Christkindl markets close and the beer gardens reopen? It’s a dark and dreary time of year, brightened in places like Cologne by Carnival. Munich has its own answer to Cologne’s “fifth season”: Starkbierzeit, or the Season of Strong Beer.
Paulaner’s Starkbierfest, a three-week bacchanalia fueled by Salvator beer, is virtually synonymous with Starkbierzeit.[1] For centuries now, the residents of Munich have streamed east over the bridges of the Isar during the Salvatorfest to partake of Paulaner’s renowned elixir. Once an eight-day affair that took place around the Feast of St. Francesco di Paola, today’s Salvatorfest atop the Nockherberg is associated as much with Lent as it is with the Italian founder of the Pauline order.
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