Bottoms up, Bavaria!
A primer to Munich's beer gardens
Story and photos by Donna Freydkin(CNN) -- "Ein Bier, bitte" (German for "One beer, please") is an essential phrase for tourists visiting Bavaria, and one that they quickly memorize. Little wonder, since Bavaria is home to more than half of Germany's roughly 1,200 breweries.
Think of Munich, Bavaria's capital and biggest city, and surely Oktoberfest pops to mind. One of the biggest beer bashes in the world, the drinking fest attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists each year.
Tell us about your favorite pubs and beer gardens.But you needn't wait for Oktoberfest -- It is estimated that the city has enough beer gardens ("biergarten" in German) to seat about 130,000 people, roughly 10 percent of Munich's population. According to the Munich Statistical Office, the city has seven major beer breweries that produce approximately 550
million liters (more than 145 million gallons) of beer annually.
There's no better place to kick back with a beer, a fresh-baked fragrant pretzel, and some infamous German sausage -- and soak up the "Gemütlichkeit," or Bavarian coziness.
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