Where In The World Did A Beer Garden Come From

As the weather improves, people begin thinking about one of the great pleasures of springtime: an afternoon sitting with a bunch of friends, stationed at a long table, hoisting a craft beer or two.

Yes, beer garden season has arrived. Thanks to two special groups; Lager invented by the Germans and immigrated to the U.S. in the second part of the 19th century. Thank goodness for them because the only public drinking we would have in the USA would be at baseball games.

Unlike the ales that constituted all of the world's beer before the middle of the nineteenth century, the lager yeasts discovered in Bavaria at that time required a different type of fermentation. Ales - produced through the addition of top-fermenting yeast - ferment rapidly, at warm temperatures. Lagers need quite the different temperature to ferment, ideally between 45-56 degrees fahrenheit in at a slow, cool pace. And after fermentation is complete, they need to be stored and aged for several months, at even cooler temperatures.

There were no refrigerators at this time of course, so Bavarian brewers had to dig underground cellars for their barrels to 'lager'.' To make sure the sun could not hurt the beer, they laid down gravel and planted an abundance of heavily leaved chestnut trees and linden trees, as they grew larger, shaded both patrons and beer alike.

Someone did the math. Shade, gravel, beer - all just off the banks of Munich's Isar River, which provided an additional source of cooling for the beer. Put some tables and chairs outside, and start the taps. Beer garden culture was born.

In the U.S. to this point, our drinking culture came from the British Isles, where men would gather in inns or public houses to knock back their ales and spirits - generally far from the view of women and children. Meanwhile in Germany, Sundays (in particular) beer gardens had become a family affair.

And when Germans started streaming across the Atlantic in the middle of the nineteenth century, they brought their beer gardens along with them, to cities like Milwaukee, Cincinnati, New York, and Baltimore. According to Andrew Barr, author of Drink: A Social History of America,some American versions were actual gardens, some were more like pool halls with long tables for patrons to sit with their friends. Some had plants as a reminder of their outdoor origins. Occasionally, a large mural lined a wall, depicting a scene of natural splendor.

But even without sunlight, these destinations offered more than just beer. Kitchens turned out old country fare like schnitzel and wursts. Of course there was lots of enetrtainment. Many beer gardens entertained their patrons by offering shooting galleries, bowling and live music. Some places even made you pay to get in, because some people just came for the music and festivities and didn't even drink.

For a sense of the classic, pre-prohibition era of American beer gardens, take a trip to Astoria, Queens to visit the Bohemian Hall and Beer Garden. The oldest beer garden in New York City, they've been pouring out beer inside and outside since 1910. The space is a notable inspiration to contemporary restaurateurs, such as Aaron McGovern and Jeepo Vorobjovas, who opened Washington, D.C.'s Biergarten Haus in 2010, and Philadelphia's Stephen Starr, who launched Frankford Hall in 2011. There aren't any beer barrels aging in the cellar here, but with gravel on the ground and linden trees arching their branches overhead, the spirit of Bavaria shows demonstrates its continued appeal. Prost!