“Ozapft is”: When the mayor of Munich opens the Oktoberfest with this call, Helmut Huber is very close to him – for over 40 years. The pictures of the brewer go around the world every year, even if hardly anyone knows who the man at the mayor’s side is.
This year, the 83-year-old brewer also practiced with Mayor Dieter Reiter before the traditional tapping ritual – who, however, only needed two professional taps until the beer was bubbling and he could open the Oktoberfest.
Reiter is a record holder in a way. Only at his first Oktoberfest in 2014 and in 2022 after a two-year Corona-enforced break did he need three strokes.
On a secret mission in the tap box
Before Reiter, Huber had already trained Georg Kronawitter and Christian Ude (both SPD) – initially his involvement was secret. In 1984, Kronawitter then said: “You radiate such calm, you stand next to me on Saturdays,” reports the brewer. “I’ve been here ever since.”
At first, however, Huber was there incognito on a secret mission: Ude was the first to reveal the closely guarded secret about the tapping training.
Number of blows shapes reputation of city leader
The tapping of the keg at the Munich Oktoberfest is a fixed ritual. The ceremony is broadcast live on BR television – and the mayor has to cut a good figure. How many tappings he needs is the talk of the town for days and can certainly shape his reputation.
The tapping tradition was started by Mayor Thomas Wimmer after the Second World War. He drove to the festival grounds in the Schottenhamel family’s car – and the landlord allegedly let him tap the beer spontaneously. Wimmer, although a trained carpenter, once needed 19 hits.
Even Ude, who was the first mayor to get by with just two strokes in 2005, needed several years to do this and paid the price. In his first year in office in 1993, there were calls of “Stop, stop!” – he needed seven strokes. To avoid such embarrassments, Ude trained with Huber before the festival – and then made it public.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:240921-930-239174/1
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