Don't Make This Rookie Mistake When Toasting At An Authentic German Beer Garden

An afternoon at a traditional beer garden in Germany (or somewhere that passes for Germany) can be as memorable as a trip to a castle or a stroll through an old medieval town. At long wooden tables beneath a canopy of chestnut trees, locals gather over freshly poured steins and the smell of pretzels and grilled sausages. Everyone raises their glass, and you hear the clink before taking that first sip. But then, someone issues a ridiculous-sounding warning to you: You'll have seven years of bad sex for not making eye contact.

Among the beer garden rules tourists are quick to break, making eye contact while you toast is one of the most essential. The Local Germany says not doing so is the "biggest faux-pas" you can make when drinking in Germany. And, yes, it comes with the superstition that if the toasting person avoids eye contact, they're condemned to seven years of bad sex. The custom applies whether you're sharing a table with close friends or joining strangers at a communal beer garden bench alike.

The precise origins of the eye-contact rule are fuzzy, though many of its theories reach back to the medieval era, per The Local Germany. One stems from a theory about where toasting comes from in the first place: Glasses may have been bumped to deter poisoning (as they clink, the two drinks spill into one another, so the poisoner would risk poisoning themselves, too). Eye contact would then be made to signal trust, since it implies that there's no need to look at the glasses and worry about poisoning. Still, the theory doesn't explain the rule's risqué connotations, which, according to USC Digital Folklore Archives, are even well known among German children.

When your companions lift their beer glasses, raise yours and say "Prost!" or "Zum Wohl," both standard German equivalents of "cheers." As the glasses clink, look each person you toast in the eye. At a large table, that means you make brief eye contact with every person. Then, you take a sip and get back to enjoying the afternoon.

How strict is the rule? Strict enough that people may notice if you skip it. One Reddit user noted, "It's considered rude not to make eye contact while [toasting]. Toasting in Germany is kind of like wishing your opposite good health/fortune etc." Aside from making eye contact, there's a suite of rules for tourists to know specifically for Oktoberfest you can review if you'll be visiting Germany during the beer-filled festivities.

Although the beer garden (i.e., Biergarten) is a tradition most strongly associated with Bavaria, it's common all around Germany — and the eye-contact custom applies all over, though it's more important the further east you go, per Etiquette Scholar. You might encounter it at a family dinner in Hamburg just as readily as over a Masskrug in Munich (check out some of the German beer gardens only locals know about for a truly authentic experience). A traditional German-style Biergarten in the United States or elsewhere may encourage the same ritual, or, if not, you can initiate your tablemates into the custom, passing on the seven-years warning.