An unusual beer party in the coffee temple

Article by Michele Sergio

We are all impatient to seal the Italo-German twinning on October 31st which will be held at Caffè Gambrinus. There will be authorities, press and guests from Germany including the small “Black Forest Tigers” orchestra composed of 25 members.

At first glance Gambrinus could not seem like an ideal place to celebrate beer being famous all over the world for coffee. Yet just looking at our name is clear that this is not true: Gambrinus was the legendary king of Flanders and tradition has it that he invented beer.

As for the connection with the German people and always remaining in theme, was the entrepreneur Mariano Vacca who in 1890, taken over by Vincenzo Apuzzo, to win the sympathy of German and Austrian tourists and diplomats who were staying in Naples and asking insistently a place where you can enjoy a beer, decided to give the local the name of the “King of beer” (before it was called “Coffee of the seven doors”).

A simple historical reason, however, was not enough to move men and means. In reality there is also a more personal reason that binds me to beer. My most formative work experience was to manage a pub in Santa Lucia. For more than five years I have tapped and offered to customers thousands and thousands of beers: from Irish stouts to Scottish lagers, from English ales to German weiss, from Belgian trappists to Italian-made beers.

We could conclude by stating that there is no better place than the Gambrinus to host a Neapolitan Oktoberfest and who knows if over time this event can become a regular event for the city.