A beaming winner: Mona Sommer at the coronation of the Bavarian Beer Queen with a bouquet of flowers and a beer mug in her hand. The sparkling tiara is put on her by Sarah Jäger, who was the beer queen last season. © Dpa
A crown and good looks alone are not enough. She must also be able to tap and have a lot of knowledge about beer. This is exactly where Mona Sommer was ahead of her competition - and is now the new Bavarian Beer Queen.
Munich – Her first sip of beer was a horror: "As a teenager, I didn't like it at all," Mona Sommer says today and laughs. But then it came, the love of beer: "I've been playing drums in a band since I was 16 – and since then, good company has also included good beer for me." The now 24-year-old doesn't have a favourite variety, but she has a lot of fun trying her way through different varieties and brands.
The young woman from Weitnau in the Oberallgäu region will now have numerous opportunities to do so – after all, she is the newly crowned Bavarian Beer Queen. After the annual call of the Brewers' Association, Sommer prevailed against a total of 60 applicants. On Thursday evening, the six finalists competed for the last time in the Löwenbräukeller in Munich – in the end, Mona Sommer's head adorned the crown.
"This is completely crazy! I think I need a little more time to realize that," says Sommer and laughs. "But I'm really proud to be the first beer queen to come from the Allgäu." Sommer has 106 WhatsApp messages and 154 messages on Instagram on her mobile phone the day after the coronation night. She doesn't have time to answer. In the evening, the first performance at the Lohhofer Volksfest in Unterschleißheim is scheduled – and before that, it's off to the training camp.
Tapping training for the Bavarian Beer Queen
Tapping a keg of beer without breakdowns has to be learned. "That's why I get tapping training beforehand," says Sommer. "But the lard in your arm is already there!" Practice is done in steps. First on an empty barrel, then on one with water – and only then on a real, filled wooden barrel. None of the liquid gold should be wasted. After all, brewing beer is art and hard work at the same time. No one knows this better than the beer queen herself – she is a brewer and maltster by profession at the Härle brewery in Leutkirch in the Allgäu region.
"That's one of my goals as a beer queen – to represent not only beer as a product, but also the craftsmanship behind it," explains Sommer. Nothing works with Hauruck in the brewhouse – a lot of knowledge, eight weeks of time and, last but not least, a lot of love takes a beer like this before it is bottled.
The first official act in Unterschleißheim is only one of up to 200 appearances that Sommer makes from then on as beer queen at folk festivals, parades and trade fairs. A highlight will be the Oktoberfest, but also the appearances as an ambassador of Bavarian beer abroad, for example in Brussels. "I really want to brush up on my English and French," says Sommer. "Other than that, I'm looking forward to meeting a lot of new people."
One thing is important to summer: to be in a good mood despite a full schedule and always remain authentic - including the beloved Allgäu dialect. Only the wardrobe still needs to be expanded a little. "I only have five dirndls in my closet and they won't be enough," says Sommer and laughs. "But on the very first day I was seated in front of a gift table: I was allowed to choose jewelry and dirndl for the performances and got a company cell phone and an Audi A4 as a company car."
A real girl's dream for someone who works as a brewer in a male domain. However, Mona Sommer still has to get used to make-up and hairstyles. "Of course, I'm not usually so styled when I'm working in the brewhouse." (sco)