How a beer connects two cities

Created: 05/18/2022, 15:32

By: Marc Kniepkamp

This year, the City of Munich is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its twinning with the Japanese city of Sapporo.

On the occasion of this anniversary, the Munich Brewery Association is contributing a partnership beer.

© Hannes Magerstaedt

What better reason to toast than a milestone anniversary?

Hardly likely.

And so the cities of Munich and Sapporo decided to celebrate their 50-year twinning with an anniversary beer.

We say where it is served.

The history of this town twinning is a very special one.

Munich and Sapporo, Japan, have been connected since 1972.

The reason for this: Munich hosted the Summer Olympics in 1972, and Sapporo hosted the Winter Games in the same year.

But the cities have more in common than just sport.

Sapporo and Munich are known for their beer tradition.

For Munich, this status does not have to be explained in more detail, the keywords beer garden and Oktoberfest should suffice.

But Sapporo?

"Beer is also very popular in Japan," explains Japanese Consul General Nobutaka Maekawa.

He continues: “The history of beer in Japan began with the development of Hokkaido in the 19th century when Japan's first brewery was established in Sapporo.

Since then, the city of Sapporo has been considered one of the birthplaces and important representatives of Japanese beer.”

The conclusion: beer is the connecting element between the two cities. So the suggestion came from the city of Munich to produce a partnership beer together for the anniversary.

And that should be done quickly: Today, Wednesday, May 18th, the brewing process at Nockherberg was officially started.

The six master brewers from the members of the Munich Brewery Association are now teaming up to prepare the brew for the beer in a timely manner.

Mayor Katrin Haben Schaden is looking forward to the moment when she holds the partnership beer in her hand: ""50 years of town twinning Munich-Sapporo are a reason to celebrate - and to toast." In view of the common beer tradition, it is " no wonder that sparks quickly ignited between our cities.”

For Olympiapark spokesman Tobias Kohler, the light is just right.

“We always wanted an anniversary beer.

We think it's great that there is now a partnership beer between the Olympic cities of Sapporo and Munich.” Of course, it's even better that the beer will be served exclusively in the Olympic Park during the anniversary week from July 1st to 9th.

"The partnership beer will therefore be the only beer in the park during this period and you can only get it here," says Kohler.