Himbeer Heinie

I know I promised you more about Berlin, which I still plan on posting shortly; but first, I must tell you about our night at the Augustiner Bräustuben with Himbeer Heinie.

As you have probably gathered from our previous postings, Augustiner is mine and Steve's favorite beer company here in Munich. Paulaner joined forces with Star Brand Imports and the yucky tasting Hacker-Pschorr and Franziskaner became partners with the evil empire of the Spaten-Löwenbrau-Gruppe. But, Augustiner is no sell out. The brand is still authentic and pure. It remains by and for the people. (And as we found out, you can buy a half liter of Augustiner beer at the Bräustuben for 2.55 Euros, which is a really great deal):

Half Liters of Hell und Dunkel
(Hell is light beer - in flavor, not calories. Dunkel is dark beer.)

So naturally, when a new friend from my language school invited us to check out Augustiner's official Bräustuben last night, we could not refuse.

At first the loud and crazy, traditional Bavarian beer hall was a bit overwhelming. It was difficult to find seats amongst the crowd. (At traditional Bavarian beer halls, there are long tables with big wooden benches. You are expected to sit with strangers and make new friends over shared beers and brezen.) However, once we found a table, the friendly and fun atmosphere warmed us immediately:

Augustiner Bräustuben
(This is one of many rooms, including a roof deck!)

Hanging Out at the Beer Hall
(Wanda, Cris, Me, and Steve)

We were squished on a bench with a soccer club from a tiny village somewhere outside of a tiny town (both of which I had never heard). The players had thick Bavarian accents that only Steve could really understand. And they were also slurring miserably due to being five hours and about 10 beers deep.

Yet, despite all of this, we managed to communicate and the men were very excited to find out that we were from America and Brazil. They wanted to know everything!

After talking for awhile, we finally got to introductions. Roland, who was sitting next to Steve and liked to be called "Roll," wanted us to meet his friend at the other end of the table. He told us to yell his friend's nickname in order to get his attention. (Apparently, all club members took their nicknames VERY seriously.)

But, his friend's nickname was Himbeer Heinie.

Well at that point, I almost fell out of my chair laughing and I could not manage yelling "Himbeer Heinie" across the restaurant. Himbeer auf Deutsch is raspberry. And, we all know what Americans use "Heinie" to reference:

Himbeer Heinie and Soccer Club Friends
(Himbeer Heinie is the guy on the left. You can see Roll's arm and nose on the leftside of the picture, but unfortunately, he is not completely in the frame.)

Apparently, Heinie does not have the same (or a) meaning in German; it is just a name. But to the four of us, Roll's friend is now and forever "Raspberry Bottom".