The beer was just being poured out en masse on the Theresienwiese, sometimes there was a liter in it, sometimes less. Those who prefer it smaller, with the beer and in general, should perhaps pay a visit to the Kölschbar in the Werksviertel. Instead of a marquee, the celebrations take place in a container not even 30 square meters in size. The beer glasses are only 0.2 liters in size, one costs 1.90 euros, and because it is empty really quickly, two or three people can also order a so-called wreath for 20.50 euros, as people from Cologne call it round plastic frame that fits eleven long, narrow glasses. Transporting eleven beers at once, you almost feel like a Oktoberfest waitress.
Reissdorf-Kölsch is served, which operator Alexander Baehr calls “the Augustiner of Cologne”. Where the steps lead up to the Kölschbar, the guest is greeted by a sign listing the paragraphs of the Kölsch Basic Law. “Et hätt still always jot jejange” (It still went well) is written there, for example, or: “Et kütt wie et kütt” (It comes as it comes).
“We need something like that in Munich too,” Baehr once said to his wife after a night out in a bar in Cologne, which is when the idea for the Kölschbar came up. It opened in 2003, at that time still on the site of the cult factory, right next to the night canteen, previously there was a Chinese soup kitchen. At some point the people from the brewery asked for a few documents and were a bit surprised that so much Kölsch was being served in such a small bar. “We had the highest sales of Reissdorf per square meter in all of Germany,” says Baehr. When the new Werksviertel took shape in 2017, the Kölschbar was one of the first to move into the Container Collective on Atelierstrasse, where it is still housed today.
Cologne songs with a pinch of Mallorca hits and a touch of Schlager party
The Kölschbar is not only tailored to the homesick Cologne exiles, who are quite numerous in Munich, but also to the – mostly younger – party crowd who enjoy themselves in one of the numerous bars and clubs in the Werksviertel. “Mer lose the cathedral in Kölle. Leev Marie, I’m not a man for one night. Real friends ston zesamme. So long mer still am lävve sin.” Anyone who wants to sing along a bit – and the Kölschbar is a bar for singing along – should perhaps have been to the Cologne Carnival.
The Cologne songs are garnished with a pinch of Mallorca hits and a touch of hit party: The breathless Helene Fischer, Wolfgang Petry’s Hölle, Hölle, Hölle, the hit mix appreciated by connoisseurs Pureeven the discredited Layla is sometimes played here in the container, at least that’s what a Facebook announcement promised for the after-Wiesn party in the Kölschbar.
A Kranz Kölsch costs 20.50 euros.
(Photo: Stephan Rumpf/Stephan Rumpf)
The fact that the music occasionally has a pop theme is perhaps due to the fact that Alexander Baehr also runs the “Schlagergarten”, which is only a few meters away in the Werksviertel. In a way, he is the big brother of the Kölschbar and will eventually take it under his wing. When the containers in the Container Collective are history one day, then the small bar next to the Schlagergarten will become the new Kölschbar. But until then, a few more wreaths will go over the counter. And besides, the following applies anyway: Et kütt wie et kütt.
Kolschbar in the Container Collective im Werksviertel, 81671 Munich, Thursday to Saturday 7 p.m. to 1 a.m.