Winzerer Fähndl (Paulaner Festzelt)
Paulaner's brewery tent is very quiet in the afternoon but mutates into Munich's largest Schlager club in the evening with unusual stage fog and lights.
Although it still bore the name of the crossbowmen association "Winzerer Fähndl" until 2018, it has been a long time, since the last crossbow shooting took place at the Winzerer Fähndl. The shootings moved to the Armbrustschützenzelt in 1926. The Winzerer Fähndl itself was the first large beer castle at Oktoberfest in 1895 and started the evolution of small beer stands becoming the large beer tents we know today. After the acquisition of Thomasbräu by Paulaner, the Winzerer Fähndl became Paulaner’s brewery tent.
Instead of cultivating this exceptional position in the history of Oktoberfest beer tents, the Paulaner brewery chose to ignore the tent's rich history in 2019 by changing its name to "Paulaner Festzelt".
Music and atmosphere
It significantly influenced not only beer tent architecture, but also the music played at Oktoberfest. Its band was the first to create a so-called Wiesnhit, a popular song which dominates the bands’ playlists. Since 1984, when Fürstenfeld became the first song of this kind, there has been an annual discussion about this year’s Wiesnhit.
Since 2015 the brewery has been trying to target a younger crowd by introducing new lighting and a show band playing each day between 7 and 9 p.m. Apparently, the brewery has struggled with finding the right people to transport this new identity but has now settled with the band Nachtstark to fill the evening break. The tent's evening experience is far from a conventional beer tent experience and closer to a schlager club. In 2024, Quetschnblech will replace the Nockherberger as the main band. We're curious to see if that will actually change the vibe.
If you like to have a table on your own, early afternoons at Winzerer Fähndl may be a good idea for you, as they tend to be very calm there.
The new building of 2010 is very light and open, illustrating the extraordinary width of this beer tent. It was the first beer tent to get a beer pipeline, which provides all taps in the tent with beer from a central container. The tent is often said to be the largest at Oktoberfest, which isn’t true, though. In 2018, it was redesigned again.
Reservations 2024
Reservations can be requested as of April 9 on the tent's website. At the begnning only including some Sunday lunchtime reservations, a number of evenings followed in May. Fortunately, they don't ask for menus during the process anymore.