It is an unusual picture that is neatly framed and emblazoned above the bar. Diagonally to the right above the oversized Asbach-Uralt bottle, which hangs upside down on the wall as if it were a water dispenser and not a brandy dispenser. The picture shows the landlady, Irmgard Jörg, who everyone here in her “beer shed” just calls “Irmi”. And it shows them in the cockpit of a small plane, laughing and with radio receivers on their ears, while the plane is speeding over southeast Bavaria.
The flight was given to her for her birthday three years ago, once around Lake Chiemsee and – probably even more important – once to see the beer barn from above. The beer shed is Jörgs Stüberl in the Dreimühlenviertel. A single small wood-panelled room – a bar, a corner bench with a small table, half a dozen bar stools – that you wouldn’t even expect to be behind the heavy frosted glass door. For many in the district, the Stüberl is something like their second living room. Or rather: her mother’s or even grandmother’s living room. Unpretentious, warm, welcoming. The landlady herself would probably say: “Everything here is as it always was.”
“Irmi” Jörg has been running the beer bar for almost 40 years, a veritable eternity in bar years. Schweiger-Bräu, which leases the Stüberl, issued her a 25-year-old certificate in 2012, which is displayed in the beer shed. That was a while ago too. The beer barn, which is now a myth, was included in the Boazn Quartet, stylized by this newspaper as a bastion against gentrification and its landlady celebrated.
“Irmi” Jörg is a small, determined woman who, even at an advanced age, still knows exactly how to deal with drunk people. She will soon celebrate her 82nd birthday. A regular guest who has been visiting the beer shed for around 20 years has been organizing a flower wreath for her to celebrate the day for years. His birthday is also listed on the calendar behind the bar – just like those of the many other regulars.
Both FC Bayern and Sechzger fans are welcome in the beer shed, and in the Stüberl there are fan articles from both clubs on the walls.
(Photo: Alessandra Schellnegger)
That might sound a bit intimidating, a close-knit community that has known each other for a long time and has been drinking light drinks together for even longer – the half for a probably unbeatable 2.80 euros, the white wine spritzer, half a liter, for 4.50 euros. Someone who has been coming here for a long time says it took him years to really arrive. And of course, the magnets and postcards that regular guests send to the landlady from all over the world, from Paris, Dublin and the North Sea, represent one thing above all: that people know each other in the beer bar, that they think of each other, that they like each other.
But even if you won’t find your own birthday on the calendar behind the bar in the foreseeable future, the regular guests and especially the landlady do a lot to make you feel comfortable. A friend from overseas who really struggles with the grumbling of her older fellow Munich residents says: “This is the cool Munich grandma that I never had.” Caring, entertaining, but consistent when in doubt – namely when you don’t know your own limits.
There is a clock hanging above the door to the kitchen and pantry, right next to the picture that shows “Irmi” Jörg flying. It’s easy, and has been for a long time. So that no one misses their bus here and everyone gets home safely.
Bierschuppen, Reifenstuelstraße 9 41, 80469 Munich, telephone: 089/7256718, opening hours: Monday to Saturday from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m.