The new Bräurosl will be so new, it couldn’t be any newer. Nothing at all will be reused from the old tent, which stood at the Oktoberfest until 2019 – not the decoration, not the beer tanks, not even the host family. Because they – Georg, Renate and Daniela Heide – already announced their withdrawal from the Wiesn in spring 2020 because of the imponderables surrounding the corona pandemic. An 83-year family tradition came to an end. It was already known back then that there would be a completely new Bräurosl tent, and in fact the Pletschacher tent construction company laid the first concrete foundations for it on the Theresienwiese in the summer of 2020.
On Wednesday morning, Hacker-Pschorr boss Andreas Steinfatt, landlord Peter Reichert, Uli Pletschacher from the tent construction company and Wiesn boss Clemens Baumgärtner (CSU) presented the new tent for the first time. The Bräurosl, which has been at the Wiesn since 1901, was once the largest tent there, with more than 12,000 seats at the time. After all, it is now the tallest: It measures 15 meters from the ground to the ridge, and has room for 8,250 guests, 1,200 of them in the beer garden.
Landlord Peter Reichert (left) and Hacker-Pschorr boss Andreas Steinfatt present the plans in the Donisl.
(Photo: Stephan Rumpf)
The skeleton of the tent is already in place – thanks to a special permit.
(Photo: Peter Kneffel/dpa)
“Because every day counts with a new tent,” says brewery manager Steinfatt, one is very happy that the city has granted a special permit and that the basic structure of the tent can already be erected. In any case, tent builder Uli Pletschacher is satisfied, everything seems to fit.
The first computer simulations of the new tent seem lighter, airier and more spacious. It looks modern and at the same time traditional, because its basic color green is based on the first tent from 1901. There is a wraparound gallery on the first floor and an outdoor loggia seating 560. Because the same number of guests can be distributed over more space, the distances between the tables have also increased. The entire tent has also been moved “by one to two meters” (Steinfatt) to the south. The beer pipeline is also new, which no longer runs underground but along the side walls and thus supplies the individual taverns.
On the outside, the basic color green is reminiscent of the first tent from 1901.
(Photo: Hacker-Pschorr)
The new landlord Peter Reichert, who previously had the small Volkssänger tent at the Oiden Wiesn with his ex-wife, could still influence the decoration: “The hop tendrils on the tarpaulins on the ceiling are mine!” The Musikantenwirt (he plays the trumpet furiously himself, among other things) has taken over the tent together with the traditional restaurant Donisl and can hardly wait for it to finally start after two years of standstill.
He also expects a lot from the music, he has engaged the well-known Regensburg brass band Josef Menzl, which he aptly describes himself as follows: “Menzl is known to tear apart a beer tent like this!” And because the previous actress of the Bräurosl, Karolin Weidner, left in 2019, Reichert now wants to let the audience choose the new Bräurosl in the tent. Even if maybe not on the first Sunday. Because – and this is nothing new – the traditional “Gay Sunday” takes place in the Bräurosl as always.
Economics officer Clemens Baumgärtner was pleased “that the Wiesn is developing while maintaining the tradition” and was also active as a hobby virologist. He launched a tirade at Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD), who the day before was critical of the mass Oktoberfest event in times of the pandemic. Baumgärtner grumbled: “Arousing panic at the expense of the Wiesn,” said Baumgärtner, “the Wiesn is not a superspreading event!”
After all, the federal government has reduced all restrictions, now they have to be consistent. “All Northern European countries,” Baumgärtner continued, “that didn’t close, also got through well.” Real virologists might see things differently, but after all, Baumgärtner is just a simple Wiesn boss.