Every year during Lent a so-called strong beer is served at the Nockherberg. The day the first barrel of strong beer is tapped, marks the beginning of a short beer festival. The highlight of the first day, however, is the subsequent program of political cabaret which all major Bavarian politicians attend, e.g. the First Minister and his cabinet, the mayor of Munich, etc. The program is broadcast live nationwide and has become so popular that national politicians now also often come. Attending is not without risk since the politicians are there to be roasted and expected to take it well. A sure butt of many jokes is the Bavarian First Minister as well as the more prominent of his cabinet colleagues.
In 2021 the beer festival itself couldn’t take place, because of Corona restrictions – but the cabaret did. This indicates how important a political event it has become. For the current main speaker, Maxi Schafroth, this was only the second time. Schafroth only had a handful people – colleagues -- as a live audience. The invited politicians all attended the event online. Schafroth managed to use the rather unusual circumstances to his advantage. The size of the screen showing a particular politician, for example, gave an indication of his or her overall importance, or lack of it. Schafroth’s program also nicely combined modern technology with old traditions like using Bavarian folk songs for biting political commentary. At the start of the program Schafroth and the other singers were disguised as monks, a reference to the origin of Munich’s name (Mönch > München). I found his use of traditional music moving and effective.
While the political cabaret at the Nockherberg is well-known in Germany, there’s another very similar event 4-8 weeks later, the Maibockanstich, that is hardly known outside Bavaria. Set in the famous Hofbräuhaus, it follows bascically the same format, if less lavish: The first tapping of a barrel filled with so-called strong beer is followed by a speech mocking Bavarian politicians in their presence. The event is also broadcast, but only on regional tv. Django Asül, a German with Turkish roots, has been doing the roasting since 2008 and he is more scathing than his counterparts at the Nockherberg. He was invited as the main speaker to the Nockherberg in 2007, but managed to ruffle too many feathers and wasn’t invited there again. As far as the political commentary goes, the Maibockanstich is more interesting, because the speaker talks exclusively about Bavarian politics. Bavarian politics are known for their cronyism occasionally bordering on the corrupt. Asül is a knowledgeable commentator and can’t be accused of pussyfooting. He is an insider (he always delivers his speech in dialect) with an outsider’s view. True to Bavarian tradition, he raises his glass after a particular biting critique and invites his audience to do the same.
The tradition of exposing rulers to ridicule is hardly unique to Bavaria. Nonetheless it is remarkable how much it is part of the current political life here. Whereas the event at the Nockherberg is in no small part a celebration of all things Bavarian plus some political criticism, the hardest hitting critique is voiced at the Maibockanstich, a far more local affair.