After the second world war, the Oktoberfest did not take place again until 1949. 1950 was a historical milestone, being the first time that Munich's mayor – in this case Thomas Wimmer – personally tapped the first barrel of beer at the opening of the event.
And strangely enough, although the ceremony took place at the Schottenhammel marquee, which normally serves Spaten brews, the keg the mayor tapped contained Hofbräu beer. Unable to agree with Spaten on the price of its beers, the Schottenhammel family decided to serve Hofbräu München – both in 1950 and the following year.

1950: Although the Hofbräuhaus am Platzl in the heart of Munich was practically destroyed in a second-world-war air raid (see the photo from 1944), several hundred beer mugs stored away in a cellar managed to survive the bombs. It goes without saying that the mugs were rescued soon after and taken away to a safe place.