Bavaria Legalizes Public Beer Gardens

On January 4, 1812, King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria issued a rescript allowing local brewers to sell their beer from their own Märzen cellars during the months of June, July, August, and September. The rule permitted them to serve beer and bread, but it prohibited the sale of other food and drinks. The rescript is widely treated as the birth certificate of the Bavarian beer garden. It emerged from the lager-beer economy of Munich, where brewers stored beer in cool cellars and served it near those storage sites. Because the decree restricted the brewers’ food service, guests could bring their own food, a practice that became one of the defining customs of traditional Bavarian beer gardens.