The opening of the tavern exhibition in the House of Bavarian History in Regensburg was spectacular at the weekend. Prime Minister Markus Söder called the tavern “an emotional thing” in his speech, whereupon some guests immediately unabashedly behaved as if they were in a beer cellar. Feeling unobserved, one person behaved particularly casually and passionately picked his nose with his finger in order to then use the nasal rasp (booger) orally without any fuss.
Of course, the tavern culture thrives on spicy scents, which is also acknowledged across the board in the exhibition. Naturally, the beer characterizes the smells and flair of an inn. Of course, the foam should not be forgotten either, which refines all the shine of the beer. Even the Munich revolutionaries of 1919 stretched their beer with lemonade in the Mathäserbräu so that the froth bubbled even longer.
The Bavarian has its own word for the foam, the foam. The childhood of the satirist Gerhard Polt, who will be 80 years old in a few days with great vigor, which is not least due to the beer foam, shows the contribution he makes to a fulfilling life. The boy Polt, who grew up in a butcher’s shop, was given tasks of the highest responsibility at an early age, as he himself explains. “For example, after the purchase of a sow was sealed with a handshake, I had to celebrate the acquisition and got the foam and the butcher the beer.”
The foam undoubtedly has a calming effect. It used to be customary to use it to calm screaming children. To do this, you filled the Ludl Flaschenrl, as the milk bottles for the small children were called, with a little beer. On top was the stuffed dietzel, which was also dipped separately into the beer and the froth to let the children cuddle with it. Most of the time the little ones slept well afterwards. Anyone who uses this method today must expect to be denounced as a child killer.
Already on the first day of the Regensburg exhibition, that old drawing by Bruno Paul, which was published in the magazine Simplicissimus was printed. A family with two children can be seen in the beer cellar, everyone’s eyes are glassy. One of the children says: “You Muatta, I’m intoxicated!” – “What!”, she replies, “are you not ashamed? Because of that measure of beer?”