Nockherberg
The family had settled in Munich in the 18th century and built a summer house on the eastern Isar heights in 1789, the so-called ‘Nockher palace’.
Across the street ‘Am Nockherberg’ from the new brewery area there is an urban park named 'Kronepark', which is situated on the south-western part of the hill and includes a playground.
The festival is associated with the traditional ‘Holy Father Feast’ on April 2, commemorating Francis of Paola, founder of the Paulaner religious order.
With its ale-benches, light music and huge crowd of visitors, today's Salvator-Ausschank resembles the pole marquees at the Munich Oktoberfest.
[4] Serving strong beer at Lent can be traced back to a regulation from the religious order of the Paulaner (Minims] monastery in Neudeck ob der Au.
[3] The monks later sold Salvator beer also to the public – mainly to supply the poor rural population with a nourishing drink during Lent, but also to supplement the monastery's income.
[1] Zacherl continued the tradition of annual strong-beer tapping on 2 April and the festive sale of beer (Ausschank) in the following Octave (eight days).
[3] Starting in 1858, the brewery arranged for performances by Gstanzl singers and popular folk actors (Volksschauspieler [de]) to increase business.
After an interruption from 1939 to 1950 due to World War II, the strong beer festival reappeared in its present form, during which individual politicians were made fun of in clever speeches; the German term for being subjected to this kind of friendly insult is derbleckt.
The only violent event in the history of the town festival occurred on 23 May 1888, when a trivial quarrel turned into a mass brawl between soldiers and civilians.
When an artillerist drew his sabre, a fight broke out in which walking-sticks and beer mugs were also put to good use, causing a relatively large number of injuries.
Neither the gendarmes nor the jail guard from Neudeck could control the mob, so a 50-man unit of Heavy Cavalry was called, who rode into the hall swinging their sabres.
In 1858, banker Georg Nockher sold his summer residence on the Nockherberg to the Paulaner brewery (called "Zacherlbräu" at that time), and it was turned into a beer garden.
[1][7] During World War II the brewery gallery with its massive arches was used as the command post of Munich's air-raid defence headquarters.
In March 2004, 39-year-old Karl R., known as the "step-brother" of Nockherberg publican Peter Pongratz and relative of the Fischer-Vroni family, was remanded in custody as a suspect in the crime.
Due to Bavarian Television broadcasts since 1982, the tapping of the strong beer keg on the Nockherberg and the subsequent program can be viewed by a wide audience.
The highlight of the event is the Derblecken [bar; de] of politicians, a political cabaret in front of invited guests, consisting of a speech followed by a Singspiel.
In both contributions current Munich issues as well as sharp commentaries on regional and federal politics are presented in cleverly worded ironic statements and more or less heavy sideswipes aimed at politicians of all parties.
For a Bavarian politician, not being "derbleckt", meaning not being taken for a ride in the festive contributions, can almost be interpreted as a sign of one's irrelevance or lack of a distinctive personality.
He resigned as Derblecker, as did speaker Michael Lechrenberg, after some public figures, including Guido Westerwelle, Christine Haderthauer, and Charlotte Knobloch were offended by the content of their sermons.
[24] Particularly well known actors were also Walter Fitz as Franz Josef Strauß, Michael Lerchenberg as Edmund Stoiber, co-author Ulli Bauer as Munich's mayor Christian Ude, Corinna Duhr as Angela Merkel, as well as Veronika Fitz, Georg Blädel, André Hartmann, Max Grießer, and Klaus Havenstein.
Poems and drawings with the strong beer and the serving of this on the Nockherberg as a motif abounded, many of which can be found in the brewery's guestbook, or were published in Munich magazines, including input from well-known authors such as Karl Valentin and Paul Heyse.
The operetta Salvator (music by Theo Rupprecht, text by Max Ferner, Philipp Wichand and Michail Alexandrowitsch Weikone [de]) premiered in Munich in 1911 featuring Father Barnabas as a central character, and served as the model for the 1952 film Monks, Girls and Hungarian Soldiers.
[27][28] When in March nigh Passion Sunday / springtime once again was near, rode – to honour an old custom – / he himself, our Lord Elector up to Neudeck ob der Au, / Paulaner brewery was his goal.
The high terrain at the Nockherberg, which was formed almost 10,000 years ago, provided not only a safe location and storage place for the population of Au but also a supply of water and energy which they used in creative ways, not only for breweries.
[30] During the ice ages of the Quaternary, glaciers and meltwater covered the Flinz with rough erosion- and weathering material from the Alps, which formed the Munich gravel plain.
Towards the end of the last ice age, approximately 10,000 years ago, the Isar dug its present valley, known as the Au, out of these terraces.
[33] From the early 19th century onwards, nearly all of the city's 60 breweries had built summer beer cellars on the Isar hillside in the Au, as well as in Haidhausen.
The transition from being only a storage and sales operation to a summertime beer-serving inn is generally perceived as the beginning of the Bavarian beer garden tradition.
Today, water for brewing is provided by wells which have a depth of 210–240 m. The Auer Mühlbach, a tributary of the Isar, runs between Nockherberg and Neudeuck and has appeared above ground at this location only since 2002.
