Good or Evil

I have followed King Dave's lead and purchased some German Pils from Marks and Sparks, and he was bang on the button, it is a fine beer brewed by the good folk at the Hofbrauhaus in Munich. I relayed this news onto the boy Sprocket. He told me about a programme he caught on the tube about an HB, as it shall henceforth be known, that had opened in Las Vegas. To quote the blurb on their website;

"In a city built on fantasy, Hofbräuhaus Las Vegas is different. It’s the only faithful reproduction of the original Hofbräuhaus München in the world. And, much like the original Hofbräuhaus which has remained Munich’s most famous attraction since 1589, Hofbräuhaus Las Vegas is fast becoming the place to celebrate good times and holidays."

Jonesy was a bit put off, as was I, a well known crusader against the evils of corporate globalisation. Was it a one off rip off? Were the good folk at HB involved. I decided to investigate. I checked out Wikipedia, and what I found was surprising to say the least. The Las Vegas franchise is not the first. That honour belongs to Melbourne, Australia, which began trading in 1968!! There is one in Newport, Kentucky, which me and the boy dazzler have actually been too (photo too right, link here). I thought it was just a local facsimile, but it transpires it was the first one HB opened in the States. There are other ones in Pittsburgh, Miami and Milwaukee. In Europe there is one in Genoa and Stockholm. Of course there had to be one in Dubai as well as Bangkok.

The question is "Does it matter?" To be honest the original one in Munich is by far the biggest tourist trap in town. I liked the Augestiner near the Hauptbanhof, and the Lowenbraukeller much more. This doesn't mean the HB in Munchen isn't cool. It is. The beer is good, the food less so, but it has a decent atmosphere. The one in Newprot, Kentucky was less good. It had the proper HB beer, and there was an Oompah Band playing. But they were playing "Jump" by Van Halen, and the staff were over zealous, telling us to get down of the benches, and got stroppy about serving drunks. Something the faux Irish bar we decamped too had no problem with. I suppose the question is "Does it detract from the original?" I would say yes, as I have pointed out above, there are numerous other beer halls that are far more bona fida than the HB, but to find out you had to go to Munich. You couldn't just pitch up at some prefab and declare that you had sampled an authentic Bavarian experience. The dollar wins again. The beer is damn fine though...