It’s not easy for a Wiesn boss either. Clemens Baumgärtner (CSU) recently poured out his heart to colleagues from the tabloid press: an increase in the price of beer at this year’s Wiesn is to be expected, he said, “it is to be feared that the 14-euro limit will fall”. . That gives him a lot of stomach ache, he says.
Which you really don’t want to wish him, because Baumgärtner’s belly is phenotypically typical of Bavaria and thus offers a lot of room for pain. After all, Baumgärtner also has good news: the Wiesn will definitely take place this year, and he is quoted as saying: “Only Karl Lauterbach can have serious doubts – but nobody takes killer virus Kalle seriously anymore.”
Wiesn boss Clemens Baumgärtner
(Photo: dpa)
The question now, however, is whether the Wiesn boss still wants to be taken seriously. Less because the Robert Koch Institute for Munich reported 387 new corona cases and five other deaths on the day his sentences were published. But because beer price increases should not surprise a Wiesn boss.
After all, it is completely normal for the price of the Mass to increase by around 30 cents every year, from Oktoberfest to Oktoberfest – if only because of rising transport, personnel and material costs. And a host bonus, of course. In this respect, you don’t need clairvoyant abilities to understand that the maximum price of 13.80 euros last year will rise to over 14 euros. Anything else would be a miracle, especially after a year of record inflation. So Baumgärtner’s stomach ache should continue.
Now it is generally not wrong not to give the Oktoberfest landlords a license to raise prices. But the suspicion creeps up on you that someone is pretending to be more stupid than they are. Is it more about positioning yourself as a fearless fighter for a low beer price?
Baumgärtner already showed a certain penchant for populism when he organized a gigantic New Year’s Eve concert on the Theresienwiese for the extremely popular rock group Rammstein into the conversation – but without asking the band. And his predecessor as Wiesn boss, Josef Schmid, had already called for a beer price brake in 2017, quite transparently intent on applause. The Mass was still more expensive. And we already dare to prophesy: it won’t be cheaper in 2023 either.