I’ve spoken to Sunny Gilbert at Melbourne’s Hofbrauhaus before and it was such a delight to catch up with him again, especially at this time of year. He’d just flown back from Munich, where Oktoberfest really is as big, loud and joyful as everyone says: ten beer tents, each crammed with 10,000 people, steins thudding on tables, bands lifting whole crowds onto benches. Back in Melbourne, at Hofbrauhaus, Sunny and his team are keeping that spirit alive all October: bigger bands, stronger beer, stein-holding contests, and plenty of schnitzel and knuckle to go around. Get your Dirndls and Lederhosen on and let’s go!
Hi, Sunny. It’s nice to be back in the Hofbrauhaus. You’ve just arrived back, literally yesterday from Munich How was it?
It was so awesome to see what everyone talks about. It’s that and more, which is really cool. And the culture part of it is so strong, and that’s the bit that I really enjoyed. It was so busy.
They kick Oktoberfest off earlier than Oktober in Germany, don’t they?
It started last weekend on Saturday. We were invited by the Hofbrauhaus in Munich to join in with them. We were invited a couple of times now, but we’ve been too busy to do it, but this year we made an effort to do it. It was eye opening, just so many people. They get seven million visitors in a two week period. We arrived two days before, you could see the city growing: boom, boom, boom until it was literally the streets were full everywhere. Everyone was buying their dirndls and lederhosen and their hats and literally just preparing themselves for one big day. They have a morning session, a day session, and then they have a night session. It starts from about 11 a.m till 11 p.m. There’s arcade games. There’s shooting and basketball and lots and lots of food and rides, big Ferris wheels and so there’s a lot of kids there as well, which I was a little bit taken aback by. But families were all going there. Each tent holds 10,000 people.
That’s huge. And how many tents are there?
I think there’s 10.
It’s a lot of people. I heard once, and this might be a myth, that the Australians and New Zealanders had to have their own tent because they were so rowdy. Maybe they’ve behaving again.
It wouldn’t surprise me, but, no. Not that I’m aware of.
Maybe that was in the 90s.
I don’t think we had the best reputation there for a while. But everyone’s really well behaved, considering everyone’s very drunk.
Is there a particular beer that they drink?
Hofbrau is the biggest named restaurant there. It’s basically a festival of the breweries now. Everyone brews their own Oktoberfest beer, which is a very strong, 6.5 – 6.6% and that’s all they serve. And in the mus, in the steins. Augustina is a big one there. Augustina Hofbrauhaus is the biggest as far as everyone’s visiting Hofbrauhaus. And there’s a whole bunch of other ones as well, but we got to go to the Hofbrauhaus three times. Philip and I really worked hard for the team on that.
How long were you there? Were those three times spaced over a period of time?
No, three in a row, which was which was cool. But there’s only so much you can drink in a day, right? You forget whose beer is what or whether you have one, it’s so hustle and bustle. The waiters and the waitresses, there is a team of four that looks after one row, and then they do all the food and all the drinks. So one person will take your order and then they’ll come back holding 15 steins that they smash on the table, and then give you yours and you pay, and then they move on to the next one. Bang, bang. And then they have these huge trays and I’d say they’d be about 1.5 metres by one metre full of food, and they’re carrying it like this. It’s incredible. They literally push you out of the way.
What’s the food on those trays?
All very traditional stuff. Mainly it’s the duck with beer jus, and they do the potato dumpling. And it’s like one piece and half a duck. And they also have the knuckle as well. You can get a half knuckle or a full knuckle. They do because a späzler as well. The setups, the food, the kitchen setups, it’s just unbelievable. And they do a Wieser hendl, which is the roast chicken, and that’s the most traditional Oktoberfest food. Everyone gets like half a chicken with the massive potato dumpling, heaps of sauce. It’s all very, very tasty.
Delicious. What was the weather doing? Was it still warm?
We had a fantastic run. We arrived, and it was 22 degrees, sunshine. We got to visit the markets in the square there. Philip had a huge Leberkäse roll and he said there’s a saying that if it’s not thicker than the bun, then you’re not really Bavarian. He ordered one and it was literally about two and a half, three inches thick, and this tiny little bun on the outside. There were massive Bretzeln in the tents. Ginormous. They served are warm and they were really good. They soak up all the beer. Yu have to do something.
Do they have dancing?
They have a massive band, and they just roll up the crowd. After maybe an hour to two hours, everyone starts getting right into it. And all of a sudden everyone’s standing on their benches with one foot on the table and everyone’s just dancing, going bananas. Then they get shipped out at six o’clock and then the next lot come in. And then it goes again until 11 o’clock.
And that goes on for two weeks?
Yeah. It’s so much fun.
t the end of the day, it’s a celebration for the whole period of Oktoberfest and it’s to celebrate the beer, the culture, the food, and the staff. We’ve got a lot of German staff, so they’ve experienced Oktoberfest themselves, it’s authentic. Our food’s authentic, the beer is authentic. The space is authentic. That’s what we’re trying to do day in, day out and keep it as consistent as we possibly can.
Sunny Gilbert, Hofbrauhaus
Is that what we can expect here at the Hofbrauhaus in Melbourne?
That’s the thing. We’re doing this every weekend anyway. Every Friday and Saturday, we are definitely doing this and everyone has the same fun. Sure it’s not 10,000 people in here, but it’s full and it’s always the best fun. Everyone leaves with the same feeling that they’ve just had an awesome time.
I know a big word when you like to describe the Hofbrauhaus is Gemütlichkeit and it’s a hard one to translate. It’s one of those German words that perfectly explains something that we need lots of words for in English.
Yes, I think maybe it means the vibe and the feeling that you have and it’s true. It’s a real thing. Once you’re in that space, even if you’re in your darkest days, you would be having the best time of your life by the time you’re leaving.
What’s different about Oktoberfest here then if every weekend is a fest here?
We’ve got more happening during the week as well. We’re starting on the Thursday and our band is a little bit bigger than usual. So normally our house band, there’s about three, four people, but then during this period, we have up to six to eight members in the band. We’ve got some brass and all that sort of stuff. They’re right into coming into the crowds. They come out. We always have a big prost. We do the chicken dance. We are always doing things to entertain. The band’s been fantastic this year, really engaging. I think that’s the bit that everyone loves. It’s the engagement.
Do you have a particular Oktoberfest beer that you put on?
Yes, so it’s the Hofbrauhaus, the HB original but it’s Oktoberfest bier. It’s slightly stronger, because that’s their special brewed beer of that time of year. We get all of that.
Do you serve in Steins as well?
Steins or Mus, they call it. If you want a half a one, you have to call it a Schnitt. But the funny thing is, they sort of ignore you when you want just a Schnitt.
A lot of your beers are German beers.
They’re all German beers.
And they’ve got that special control thing? There’s certain things that have to happen in their production?
It’s a purity law. It’s about the water, the hops, the barley. Especially in Munich, you can’t have a bar in Munich selling any beer or in Oktoberfest, you can’t have a tent that isn’t from the Bavaria, Munich area. People would love to get in there because the amount of money these people are making is just insane. But yeah, they just can’t join.
Right. And are your beers all southern beers as well?
Most of them. We’ve got 16 in total on tap. But we’ve got more that we run through as well because we can’t get everything in kegs, the Augustina, we can’t get in kegs, so we get them in bottles. It’s good beer as well. Very good beer. But we’re on the other side of the world, so it’s not an easy feat to get it all here. We don’t import it ourselves directly, we go through the importers. It’s a costly exercise, but totally worth it.
Can people do tasters?
We have a flight. You can taste all the different varieties from the Weiss bier, the pils, the lagers and then the darker beer that we have, which is the Dunkel, which is awesome.
So if people want to come out and experience Oktoberfest but on the other side of the world, they come here, what’s the plan?
Well, put on your dancing shoes. It’s always a good start. And don’t eat lunch, whatever you do. Joining in the festivities is very easy. At the moment we’re super, super busy. Thursday nights are a bit easier to get into at the moment and the Saturday days. We have the band in on Saturday during the day. We do the Steinholding competitions.
What is that? How many you can hold?
No, you hold one for as long as you can. A full stein. You get to keep it as well.
What’s the record?
No idea. It’s until the last person drops. All the ladies and then all the men, they stand there with their arm out and either Phil or someone in the band is taking care of proceedings and judging. You get to drink the beer, that’s free on the house. Just by participating, you get to have a free beer, which is pretty cool. And the winner gets free beer for entire year.
What? That’s so worth it. Do you recommend a few triceps exercises in preparation.
No, I think it’s the shoulder. I’ve given it a go before. I’m not very good at it, to be honest.
How long did you last?
I reckon about two and a half minutes. Maybe not even. It’s much harder than it looks.
A straight arm is hard, I think.
It’s basically two and a half kilos. And after a few beers, you see them trying to hold them. But we have some people have some great battles. You can see the grimace on their faces because after a while, they just want to win.
Of course they do.
We’ve had some epic battles.
So that’s every night? Is the main action here or also in the Bier hall?
Both. The band does tandem stuff. When the band is upstairs, we’ll do a Stein holding competition down here. We’re trying to make sure that everyone’s engaged all the time. We do a couple of sittings. We have the early sitting and then the late sitting. If you want to really party hard, I’d try and get the late sitting. The early sitting is the same. You can party just as hard.
What’s your favourite thing to eat at this time of year?
The knuckle is the one. They sell the wiener schnitzel as well, the veal schnitzel, that is big there. I had one there and I was very impressed with the quality, considering the amount of people that they’re serving. The duck is also a big thing. We don’t do a roast chicken. We’ve tried that before, but people are not as keen as they are over there. They have the big rotisseries going with the knuckles and the chickens. We’ve done that before, but it wasn’t very well received. People still love coming here in for the platters because they’re famous. There’s a bit of everything and all the sausages, you get the knuckle and the pork belly, red cabbage, sauerkraut.
Do people dress up to come here?
Yes. I think that’s part of the lure as well, is that getting dressed up and having a blast.
Where can people get hold of dirndls and lederhosen these days?
Well, you can buy them online, which is pretty easy, but the real McCoy stuff is very expensive. But there is stuff out there, which isn’t as expensive and they’re pretty easy to find. There’s a few people now doing Oktoberfest in Australia, some festivals as well. So they’re pretty readily available. And once you have them, you can put them in the cupboard for next year.
It sounds like such a great time. Is that all the way through October, from now on?
Yes. We started two weeks ago and now we’re halfway through. The last day is the 25th of October, which is a Saturday. That’s our closing party. It’s a celebration. At the end of the day, it’s a celebration for the whole period of Oktoberfest and it’s to celebrate the beer, the culture, the food, and the staff. We’ve got a lot of German staff, so they’ve experienced Oktoberfest themselves, it’s authentic. Our food’s authentic, the beer is authentic. The space is authentic. That’s what we’re trying to do day in, day out and keep it as consistent as we possibly can.
Hofbrauhaus, 18-28 Market Lane, Melbourne