The German Hop Museum has been the starting and finishing point for the traditional hop tour organized by the Hop Growers’ Association many times. This year in 2024 it will be again. At the end of August, everyone who is anyone in the hop and brewing industry meets in Wolnzach. And also welcomes high-ranking political celebrities. The Bavarian Minister of Agriculture is always there, in some years the Bavarian Minister President also comes along (or at least his deputy), and occasionally even national political figures. Speeches are given, information is gathered about the market situation, hop farmers are visited, hop gardens are toured and the symbolic starting signal for the hop harvest is given. And of course there is good food and drink at the end. Even into the night if necessary.

72 years earlier, there had already been a tour of this kind. Back then, however, it was hosted by the Bavarian Brewers’ Association, which is based in Munich. We discovered a photo album in our archives that the brewers’ association had compiled after the trip. The photos were taken by a certain Hans Gugg, whose trail presumably leads to the region around Berchtesgaden. This is where the then president of the Bavarian Brewers’ Association, Dr. Ernst Röhm, came from. He was the owner of the Bürgerbräu Bad Reichenhall, which still exists today.

He was assisted by a man named Franz Triendl. Unfortunately, we no longer know anything about his function. In any case, Mr. Triendl had a certain lyrical talent. He underlaid the pictures glued into the album with very witty poems. Just as people liked to do back then. His short texts are not only nice to read, even (or especially) when he has bent some of the rhymes to shape with a pair of tweezers. They radiate a cheerfulness that tempts you to assign them to the specific circumstances of the time. You can literally feel the good humor of the incipient economic miracle at the beginning of the 1950s bubbling out of them. How one breathes a sigh of relief at having finally left the thousand-year Reich behind. How you look forward to your cool beer, for which the hops provide the basis. Incidentally, they were fresh from Hopfengut Höfter, the largest hop grower in the Hallertau at the time and still the owner of a brewery.

In 1952, there were no hop-picking machines to be seen. The first astonishing news of these had already reached the German hop regions from England and the USA. But nothing more. In the Hallertau, people still watched the hop pickers at work in the traditional way. Exclusively female hop pickers, which is noticeable and probably has something to do with the fact that the men had already found good work in Germany’s economic miracle and were no longer interested in picking hops. Or perhaps they still had to hold out as prisoners of war. Who knows? There were also children among the harvest workers, as we know. As usual, the hops were measured in a Metzen, a calibrated 60-liter bucket, for each filling of which a Metzen token was paid, which could be exchanged for cash at the end. The tour departed from Autobus Oberbayern in Munich, still in the middle of the city at Lenbachplatz, not far from the Bavarian Brewers’ Association. One destination was the Hüll hop farm, at that time still part of the local hop research institute. Another was the district town of Pfaffenhofen a.d. Ilm, whose main square looked remarkably different from today.

Neither photographer Gugg nor copywriter Triendl were likely to have been professionals in their profession. And many other bon mots of the time would probably run into difficulties with today’s content control. All the more typical of the time from today’s perspective. Worth presenting here in excerpts.

“Hier in München ist der Start für die heut´ge Hopfenfahrt. Ohne jeden Zwischenfall geht es über Berg und Tal. Kaum verlassen Münchens Wände, steht man mitten im Gelände. Hier, man sieht´s den Männer an, spielt man etwas “Lageplan” (“Here in Munich is the start of today’s hop ride. Without any incident, it goes over hill and dale. As soon as you leave Munich’s walls, you’re in the middle of the countryside. Here, you can tell by looking at the men, they’re playing a bit of “site plan”.)

“Gäste lassen auf sich warten, bis man endlich dann kann starten.” (“Guests have to wait until you can finally take off.”)

“Hier besieht mit Kennerblick jeder Fachmann Stück für Stück.” (“Here, every expert inspects piece by piece with a connoisseur’s eye.”)

“Hier im Hopfengarten drin sieht man manche Dolde blühn.” (“Here in the hop garden you can see many an umbel blooming.”)

“Hopfenpflücken kostet Schweiß ! Drum wohl auch der Hohe Preis!” (“Picking hops costs sweat! Hence the high price!”)

“Kreszenz, ja einst warst du schön! Wie die Jahre doch vergehn! Sinnend schweift ihr Blick zurück nach der Jugend, nach dem Glück.” (“Kreszenz, yes, once you were beautiful! How the years go by! Her gaze wanders back to her youth, to happiness.”)

“Sammelpunkt für jedermann ist das Brauereigespann. Wer die Arbeit gut gemacht, dem sei frischer Trunk gebracht.” (“The meeting point for everyone is the brewery team. Fresh drink is brought to those who have done their work well.”)

“Dieser Kleine will den Herren fachgemässes Pflücken lehren.” (“This little one wants to teach the master the proper way to pick.”)

“Nein, nicht nur bei Hopfendolden, sondern auch bei manchen Holden bleibt gern stehn der Fotomann. Was man wohl begreifen kann. Wo ist`s her die “Zupferin” ? – Sie ist “Datschiburgerin”! (Augsburgerin) (“No, it’s not just hop cones that the photographer likes to stop at, but also some ladies. Which you can probably understand. Where did the “plucker” come from? – She is “Datschiburgerin”! (from Augsburg)

“Strenge Herren geben acht das kein Schwindel wird gemacht.” (“Strict gentlemen take care that no fraud is made.”)

“Wo der Rundfunk ist dabei, gibt es Interviewerei. Firnholzer sagt: “Bitte schön, sprechens jetzt, Herr Doktor Röhm!” (“Where the radio is, there are interviews. Firnholzer says: “Please speak now, Doctor Röhm!”)