Geretsrieder Starkbierfest: A toast to the new, old beer bliss – Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen

If there were only room for a single word, it would have to be “bizarre”: people without masks, elbow to elbow next to each other at long rows of tables, repeatedly raising jugs and loudly chanting a toast, swaying in between and giving each other the keywords with a slightly glazed look Toasting “Geretsried” and “Attack”. Was that what? A pandemic even? Potentially Deadly Viruses Still Out of Control? None of that is present on these evenings. the Geretsried Bunker Brass Music had organized one of the last events in the region before the first lockdown in 2020 with the strong beer festival. Now she has opened the new normal with her strong beer festival 2022 on Friday and Saturday in the almost fully occupied Geretsrieder Ratsstuben. And picked up almost seamlessly where the world left off in 2020. It’s a good thing that there is more space than just a word to recapitulate in a more differentiated way what ultimately made these evenings special.

The mood was almost longingly excited in parts of the audience, who indulged in the feeling of normality. Under the brass band accompaniment and occasional calls to toast, the level rose continuously until Ludwig Schmid entered the stage as Brother Barnabas shortly before nine o’clock. Most of the audience had already noticed what was probably the most prominent vacancy: Geretsried Mayor Michael Müller (CSU) stayed away from the event on both evenings. “It’s clear that not everyone who could be there is there today. But I understand that some people are just a little afraid. Also of the virus,” scoffed Schmid. “And since I don’t really talk about people who aren’t there, I don’t want to praise him any further,” he added. But maybe it will be something again with Müller at the strong beer festival next year. “The state elections aren’t until autumn 2023, so he’ll almost certainly still be mayor in the spring.” Otherwise, Schmid didn’t have much to say about the head of town hall: “There’s a dog in his life. Luigi. And privately he also has a dog called Luigi,” he explained, referring to his stage character Luigi Barnabas.

Open detailed view

Instead, Schmid focused in his speech on creating a kind of triad between ice hockey, brass band music and local politics and on working out similarities. “There it’s a team, here a chapel and there a city council. And everyone does what they want and not always what the boss imagined.” If musicians played badly, the instruments would be exchanged, and in ice hockey the coach. “And in politics…?” he asked, leaving the answer open until the artistic pause gave way to laughter from the audience. Above all, he used the comparison to ice hockey to establish a local custom in the hall: If a goal is scored in the sport, the stadium announcer calls out: “New score: Geretsried one, opponent zero.” And so Schmid had the audience repeatedly proclaim such a score in the city and community comparison or in political escalations. With the first concrete example of the evening: “Our strong beer festival may not be quite as big as usual. And the process has been adjusted a bit. But hey, at least we have a strong beer festival. New score: Geretsried one, Wolfratshausen…?” – “Nuuull!” shouted the audience gleefully, alluding to the fact that the neighboring city had once again canceled its event due to corona. And another fan relic: Schmid had Simon Hammerschmied blow the attack while the audience chanted “Attack”. In times of war and prior fundraising for refugees from Ukraine, perhaps not the most appropriate reputation. But the audience got in anyway when Schmid swung to the main topic of the evening: a new start.

The construction progress on the Lorenz site is still manageable at the moment. “But I believe that they will still be faster than the Wolfratshausen Isar department store.” However, he didn’t just want to gossip about Wolfratshausen – “after all, they will soon be with us”. There are also similarities, such as the arguments about construction measures: “We are discussing whether to build 770 apartments, in Wolfratshausen we are discussing whether to demolish three houses.” But it’s not just the neighbors who are at fault. The traffic in Geretsried, for example, is “a bit like the GDR border traffic. Nobody out – in brackets Tyczka. Nobody in – in brackets City Hall. And you can drive almost nowhere, in brackets Graslitzer Straße”. After all, the Karl-Lederer-Platz is now finished. “At least he looks pretty beat up quite often.” And yes, there is a lot of scolding among the population. Also via the underground car park. Some people wonder why they needed such a strong ceiling, which can even be driven over by tanks, when you want to keep traffic out. “But maybe Krammel just wants to be prepared as honorary consul of a post-Soviet state,” speculated Schmid.

After almost an hour of fasting sermons, he announced: “Now turn it up again!” But instead of mockery, the evening ended in fireworks of affirmation, with La Ola waves and “Ge-rets-ried” calls. He unerringly hit the nerve of the audience, who were celebrating the here and now: a toast to the new, old beer bliss.