You can’t say it any better than the caricaturist Achim Greser, whose company sign reads “Jokes for Germany.” Why is there basically nothing better to do around noon than to visit the “Schlappeseppel” – located within sight of the Aschaffenburg Castle? Well, because there is already “no bleak tavern wasteland” at the said time of day – and instead “this wonderful rumor of babble, exalted card game reaction signals, premature drunkenness and extreme statements”.
Greser, this is the man who, together with Heribert Lenz, arrived directly at the “Zeitung für Deutschland” on the march through the institutions, the FAZ. His garland on the Schlappeseppel was of course not to be read there in 2004, but on the other side of the street in the Federal Republic of Germany, so to speak, in the taz namely. There, these two caricaturists (admittedly living and drawing in Aschaffenburg) chose the Schlappeseppel as the most beautiful inn within a radius of 100 kilometers, which may sound less formidable, but nevertheless unfolds a certain power of distinction, considering that this is a place like Darmstadt , Wiesbaden and Frankfurt.
Which in turn leads straight to the point: They want the latest Unesco heritage, the legendary one Äppelwoi, to experience and enjoy in all its grandiosity as unfiltered as possible – but do you have cultural reservations about brute Hessian Schunkel furor (“Our David Bowie’s name is Heinz Schenk”)? Then off to ashtray!
The Schlappeseppel, as the host emphasizes, sees itself as a beer restaurant. But for the sake of Unesco and if you ask on your knees, the Apple Anchicker drink from (also) Aschaffenburg should already be available there somewhere.
And if it just doesn’t work: Unesco doesn’t want to see any idolatry of “Bembel-und-Stöffche” as “intangible cultural heritage” anyway, but rather the “cider culture” in general. Tending to trees, pressing wine together, initiating orchard initiatives, things like that.
Sounds less fun again. And should be difficult in the floppy. Doesn’t matter. As Lenz says: “When the light falls on my beer, my heart opens.” Even without a world title.