Back left, just before the staircase to the gallery of the Bräurosl marquee, that’s her workplace. Melanie Dirnberger, 28, has a really unique job: she is the only bar waitress at the Oktoberfest. Because working at the tap is actually a male domain, and has always been. This comes from the times when beer was delivered everywhere in heavy wooden barrels and then served. Today this is only the case at the Oktoberfest in the Augustiner tent and in the small tents Zur Bratwurst and Schützenlisl on the Oidn Wiesn. In the other tents, the beer has long since flowed out of the container, and the heavy 200-liter barrels, known as “Hirschen”, no longer have to be tossed around.
And of course the tapping, which is a big hoopla in Munich every (normal) year. At least on the first Saturday of the Wiesn, as every mayor of Munich knows. Melanie Dirnberger still has respect: “We don’t have anything like that, we almost always pour from the tank.” And tapping the wooden barrel, “I haven’t tried that that often. Mayor Reiter could probably give me more tips than I could for him.”
“Pouring is an art in itself,” enthuses someone who should know
Nevertheless, serving in beer mugs, even if you have a tank in front of you, is anything but child’s play. The former spokesman and host of the Hackerzelt, Toni Roiderer, raves about it in the highest tones: “It’s an art in itself! A good bar waiter plays his tap like a star violinist plays his Stradivarius.” A very appropriate comparison, after all, in the end something nice comes out of both cases. Whereby a fresh Wiesnmass is even better received by broader sections of society than a perfectly played Kreutzer sonata. And it’s important, say those who have a clue from their job, that filling one jug after another is a quick way to find the right rhythm. It’s important that you get into a certain “flow” – an English term that fits the topic quite well anyway.
You can see that when you see Melanie Dirnberger at the tap: With a sweeping movement she fetches the empty jug, fills it up in two, three, four seconds while she is already taking the next one in her other hand. When she puts the full mug down on the bar, the beer runs back into the new one and it all starts all over again. If you don’t look closely, it almost has something of a swaying effect.
When comparing it to the Stradivari, Dirnberger has to laugh at first. It’s not that difficult after all, the pouring out. “Sure, you have to learn it first,” she says, “but that all comes with practice.” Three to four seconds is their standard per measure: “Depending on the pressure at which the beer flows.” It has already taken her about a year to reach the optimum speed.
In any case, it doesn’t do any harm if you have a certain family predisposition. Melanie’s father has been a bartender in the Hackerzelt, directly opposite the Bräurosl, for 26 years. He has been traveling throughout Lower Bavaria for many years. “I went with my dad relatively early, when I was 14 or 15,” says Melanie Dirnberger, “he then showed me the best way to do it.” Then she always helped out, because: “You need a few folk festivals before you really get in.” And ten years ago, when her father was supposed to be a bartender at the Straubinger Gäubodenfest, she took over the folk festival in Viechtach for him, and later other smaller engagements in the area, at flag ceremonies, rifle festivals and other small folk festivals.
In between there was of course a break. She studied electrical engineering in Amberg. And of course – “Bar waiter (m/f/d)” doesn’t exist as an apprenticeship – she has a normal job, is a programmer in a mechanical engineering company. Serving is more of a hobby with which you earn something extra.
This year she also had her first big appearance at the Gäubodenfest, the endurance test for the Wiesn, so to speak. “Before Corona, I was there before,” she says, “but not at the right tap, just at the Goaßnmassn.” They each consist of half a liter of dark beer and cola as well as a shot of cherry liqueur. A real mass of beer is obviously a step up.
Stupid jokes, says Melanie Dirnberger, she hasn’t had to put up with as a bar waitress, rather astonished: “Actually, I keep hearing the sentence: ‘A woman raised’ I yes no nia back there!’ It’s very unusual.” In the tavern of the Bräurosl, she attracts even more attention when she serves beer with her colleague Florian Haid. Because he is a very robust man of 2.04 meters in height, she is rather petite and only 1.62 meters tall.
She enjoys her work a lot even four days before the end, she is by no means looking forward to the end. “It’s still as nice as the first day!”, she says and laughs, “no, seriously: It’s really a very nice party.”