A Biergarten is not simply hospitality out of doors. In Bavaria the term is drawn surprisingly tightly, and being allowed to bring your own Brotzeit is not a concession but the very mark that defines the place.
A Bavarian beer garden needs two things: garden character, and the traditional form of operation, part of which is that guests may eat the Brotzeit they brought with them at no charge. The Bavarian Beer Garden Ordinance of 1999 does not regulate food but noise: for beer gardens, daytime counts from 7 to 23, music ends at 22, service at 22.30.
In everyday speech every table under the open sky is a beer garden. In law it is not. For the privileged Bavarian beer garden the courts hold two features decisive: the garden character, and the traditional form of operation, in particular the possibility of eating your own Brotzeit there at no charge.
Two things follow. The term expressly does not cover outdoor hospitality in general. And the garden character is missing, for instance, in a yard enclosed by buildings, even if trees stand in it. A terrace in front of an inn is outdoor seating, and that alone does not make it a beer garden.
Both points appear in a ruling on the beer garden definition of the Bavarian Beer Garden Ordinance, published at BAYERN.RECHT.
Almost everyone knows you may bring your own food into a Bavarian beer garden. Almost everyone takes it for a right granted by a law. That is not quite how it works.
The ordinance says nothing about it. It regulates noise. The Brotzeit appears elsewhere: as one of the two features that decide whether a place is a beer garden in the sense of the ordinance at all. An owner who forbids it breaks no rule of the ordinance, but the place then stops being a beer garden in its sense.
Drinks are not part of it: you buy those on site. That is the customary form rather than a rule of the ordinance, which says nothing about bringing your own.
The Bavarian Beer Garden Ordinance of 20 April 1999 is a noise-protection rule. It stands between the wish for a beer under trees and the neighbours' claim to a quiet night. Its core points:
| Rule | What applies |
|---|---|
| Daytime | For beer gardens, daytime is defined as the hours from 7.00 to 23.00. |
| Music | Musical performances must end by 22.00 at the latest. |
| Service | Serving drinks and food ends by 22.30 at the latest. |
| Leaving | Opening hours must end so that attributable road traffic is done by 23.00. |
| Loudness | By day 65 dB(A) in mixed, core and village areas, 60 dB(A) in general residential and small-settlement areas, 55 dB(A) in purely residential areas. |
That is why many beer gardens pour the last beer at half past ten and close at eleven. It is not the landlord being difficult.
Before refrigeration, beer was brewed in winter and stored through the summer in deep, cool cellars. It was poured where it lay: above the cellar, in the open air.
Breweries had been serving beer on their summer storage cellars for some time before the practice was legalised in 1812, the date treated as the official birth of the beer garden. It was not invented as a garden restaurant but as a by-product of storing beer.
Historisches Lexikon Bayerns, breweries in the 19th century.
In Franconia the same history kept a name of its own. Where Upper Bavaria produced the Biergarten, here people say Keller, and they usually mean not the room underground but the serving area above it.
In practice: a Franconian Keller almost always looks like a beer garden, but it is one in the sense of the ordinance only if guests may eat their own Brotzeit there. A beer garden, in turn, is by no means always a Keller. The Keller is tied to a historic storage cellar and to the season; a beer garden can be anywhere and often opens for longer.
| Feature | Bierkeller | Biergarten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Historic lagering cellar whose outdoor area opens in summer | Food and drink venue with outdoor seating, often no historic cellar below |
| Beer | Usually only the brewery's own beer, directly from the barrel | Can offer various beers |
| Food | Often just Brotzeit, sometimes nothing; whether you may bring your own is up to the cellar | Usually a full menu |
| Atmosphere | Wooden benches, old trees, no table service: you order at the counter | Variable: from casual to upscale |
| Typical for | Fränkische Schweiz, Forchheimer Kellerwald, Erlanger Burgberg | Urban beer gardens, brewery pubs with outdoor areas |
In practice, the terms are not always cleanly separated. Some inns call their outdoor area a Keller even if the historic storage cellar is no longer central. For visitors, the better question is: is there brewery beer, simple seating, local food and a living cellar atmosphere?
A typical Franconian cellar is uncomplicated. You get beer at the counter, sit at long tables, share space with strangers and stay longer than planned.
Beer garden and Bierkeller compared →Every beer garden in the directory, with place and map point: see the beer gardens on the map.
Every legal statement on this page comes from one of these sources. We cite them so you can read them yourself.
Once you know what a beer garden has to be, you can tell quickly which place in Franconia really is one.
