Food & Beer Culture

The Trinkhalle, known in the region as a Bude or Büdchen, is its own piece of beer culture. It emerged with industrialization, with the first kiosks appearing in the mid-19th century. The 1869 trade regulations exempted coffee, tea and mineral water from the cumbersome licensing process, which is why they spread quickly.

At first they sold water, not beer. Colliery and factory owners had kiosks built at the works gates, often run by disabled miners, so that workers would drink less beer and schnapps. Today the Büdchen stands in the same spot, selling bottled beer along with newspapers, sweets and small treats for the evening.

With Pils, people eat whatever fills them up: Currywurst, Frikadelle, Mettbrötchen with onions, and Pommes Schranke, as red-and-white fries are known in the region. The beer cuts through the fat, and the bitterness clears the palate. Alongside it, people drink the Herrengedeck, a beer with a shot of Korn, where the schnapps serves only as an accompaniment.

Pub culture centers on the small glass. You order a Pilsken, served in a Pils tulip of 0.2 or 0.3 liters, and the round empties quickly. Anyone standing at the bar in a corner pub becomes a regular before he even knows the name, with no need to be asked to drink.

Bigger festivals combine beer and industrial culture. The Extraschicht, the Night of Industrial Culture, opens up collieries, halls and slag heaps every year, including the Zeche Zollverein in Essen. Bochum Total is a city festival with music. The last colliery of the region, Prosper-Haniel in Bottrop, closed at the end of 2018.