Quick answer
The Josefitag party at the Herzogliches Bräustüberl Tegernsee runs the afternoon of Friday, March 19, 2027, marking St. Joseph's Day, Bavaria's patron-saint name day. It's free to enter, with live Bavarian brass music (the Pepi Kugler band played in both 2025 and 2026) and the Bräustüberl's own Tegernseer beer and tavern food available to order as usual. Unlike Kloster Andechs's well-known Josefitag tradition, there's no free beer given to guests named Josef, Sepp or Josefine here — and it's a separate event from the Bräustüberl's own ticketed evening Starkbierfest later in March.
- Best for
- Travelers already staying in or visiting the Tegernsee valley in mid-March who want a free, authentically local afternoon of Bavarian brass-band culture at a genuinely historic brewery tavern — beer travelers curious about a centuries-old former monastery brewery, and anyone interested in Bavarian name-day (Namenstag) customs. Not a strong fit for visitors making a special trip purely to chase a free-beer giveaway (that's Kloster Andechs, not Tegernsee) or for anyone wanting Munich's larger-scale Starkbierzeit tent scene.
- Booking urgency
- No booking needed — it's a free, drop-in party with no ticket or reservation mechanism. The Bräustüberl's 2027 program (exact start time and band) is typically confirmed closer to the date, based on an unbroken noon-start pattern in 2025 and 2026; check in the weeks before you travel, and arrive early for a seat given the free, walk-up format.
Free brass-band party for Bavaria's patron-saint name day at the former monastery brewery.
Every March 19 — Josefitag, Bavaria's patron-saint name day — the Herzogliches Bräustüberl Tegernsee throws a free, open-door afternoon party in the tavern of its former Benedictine monastery brewery. Live Bavarian brass music, freshly tapped Tegernseer beer and hearty tavern food fill the halls from around midday, with signage welcoming 'every Sepp, Josef and Josefine' as a nod to the day's name-day tradition — admission is free for everyone, though beer and food are ordered and paid for as usual, not given away. It's a cozy, low-key counterpoint to Munich's bigger Starkbierzeit scene, and a different event entirely from the Bräustüberl's own separate, ticketed evening Starkbierfest later in the month.
The full story
Every March 19, the Herzogliches Bräustüberl Tegernsee marks Josefitag — the name day of Bavaria's patron saint, St. Joseph — with a free, open-door afternoon party inside one of Bavaria's oldest working brewery taverns. The Bräustüberl occupies the former Benedictine monastery of Tegernsee, where Abbot Bernhard Wenzl secured the electoral right to brew and sell beer back in 1675; today it's owned by the Wittelsbach ducal family and seats up to 1,400 people across its halls and lakeside beer garden. On Josefitag, live Bavarian brass music fills the tavern from around midday, alongside the house's own freshly tapped Tegernseer beer and hearty tavern food, with signage welcoming "every Sepp, Josef and Josefine" as a nod to how common those names once were across Bavaria.
That welcome is thematic, not a giveaway: admission to the party is free, but beer and food are ordered and paid for as usual — this isn't the ID-verified free-beer tradition some travelers may know from Kloster Andechs's own Josefitag, roughly 60km away. It's also a different event from the Bräustüberl's own ticketed evening Starkbierfest, held separately later in March with a comedic Fastenpredigt sermon and its own band. Josefitag itself has deep roots in Bavaria: Elector Ferdinand Maria declared St. Joseph the state's patron saint in the 1660s, and the day was a full public holiday until it was abolished in 1968 — it survives today mainly as a name-day custom, celebrated with music, hearty Lenten-season food, and strong beer in towns across Altbayern.
For visitors, this is a low-key half-day add-on rather than a destination in itself — best combined with a walk along the Tegernsee lakeside promenade, a look at the neighboring St. Quirinus church and Schloss Tegernsee, or a stop at the Olaf Gulbransson cartoon museum nearby. The Bräustüberl doesn't take reservations for the free party, and its beer garden may not be usable if mid-March weather turns cold, so expect a lively, standing-room-possible crowd inside the main halls. Exact 2027 start times and band details are typically confirmed by the venue closer to the date — check the current listing before building a trip around it, and treat March 19 itself, a fixed date unaffected by Easter, as the one detail you can plan around with confidence. See more Bavarian folk-custom events or browse all Upper Bavaria.
History
Kloster Tegernsee, a Benedictine monastery founded in 746 AD, secured the electoral concession to brew and sell beer on February 22, 1675, under Abbot Bernhard Wenzl — the date the Bräustüberl marks as its own founding, celebrated as its 350th anniversary in 2025. Secularization ended monastic ownership in 1803; the brewery passed to the Bavarian crown in 1817 and later to the Wittelsbach ducal line, whose descendants still own it today. Separately, Elector Ferdinand Maria named St. Joseph patron saint of Bavaria in the 1660s, and Josefitag was a full Bavarian public holiday until its abolition in 1968 — a tradition that survives today mainly as a name-day custom for Bavaria's many Josefs, Sepps and Josefines. No source documents when the Bräustüberl itself began marking the day with this specific brass-band party.
On Tap
- Local focus
- Every March 19, the Herzogliches Bräustüberl Tegernsee — housed in a former Benedictine monastery brewery — throws a free, open-door afternoon party marking Josefitag, Bavaria's patron-saint name day. Admission is free for all visitors; beer and food are ordered as usual, not given away to guests named Josef, Sepp or Josefine.
- What to try
- Order the freshly tapped Tegernseer beer straight from the historic brewhouse and settle in for the live Bavarian brass music.
- Food pairing
- Hearty food from the Bräustüberl kitchen rounds out the beer and brass-band atmosphere.
- Best for
- Visitors who want cozy, low-key Bavarian beer-hall culture rather than Munich's bigger, more touristy Starkbierzeit scene.
- Bavaria On Tap take
- It's a small, name-day tradition in a genuine former monastery brewery — free, unpretentious, and very local.
Frequently asked questions
- Is there free beer at the Tegernsee Josefitag party?
- No. Admission to the party is free, and the "every Sepp, Josef and Josefine" welcome is name-day framing, not a beer giveaway — beer and food are ordered and paid for as usual. The well-known Josefitag free-beer tradition, where anyone with a Josef-related name on ID gets a free Maß, belongs to Kloster Andechs, not the Tegernsee Bräustüberl.
- When is the 2027 Josefitag party at the Bräustüberl?
- Friday, March 19, 2027 — Josefitag falls on a fixed date each year and isn't affected by Easter's shifting calendar. In 2025 and 2026 the party started around noon; the exact 2027 start time and band are usually confirmed by the venue closer to the date.
- Is this the same as the Bräustüberl's Starkbierfest?
- No. The free Josefitag brass-band party is a separate event from the Bräustüberl's own ticketed evening Starkbierfest-und-Fastenpredigt (with a comedic Lenten sermon), which runs later in March with its own admission and band.
- What band plays?
- The Pepi Kugler brass band played in both 2025 and 2026. Check the venue's event listing closer to March 2027 to confirm that year's booking.
- How old is the Bräustüberl itself?
- The brewery traces to February 22, 1675, when Abbot Bernhard Wenzl secured the electoral concession to brew and sell beer for the Tegernsee monastery — a milestone the Bräustüberl marked as its 350th anniversary in 2025. It's housed in the former Benedictine monastery of Tegernsee, founded in 746 AD, and has been owned by the Wittelsbach ducal family since passing out of monastic hands after 1803's secularization.
- What else can I do near the Bräustüberl that day?
- The former monastery church of St. Quirinus and Schloss Tegernsee are a few minutes' walk away, the lakeside promenade runs along Lake Tegernsee, and the Olaf Gulbransson cartoon museum is a short stroll from the Kurpark — all easy pairings with a free afternoon at the Bräustüberl.
- Is the beer garden open in March?
- It depends on the weather — the Bräustüberl's beer garden seats up to 750, but mid-March in the Bavarian pre-Alps can be cold, so the party may end up entirely indoors in the Großes Bräustüberl and Sudhaus halls.
- Free entry