Famous overnight – a phrase that is often used but usually not true. However, this applies to Verena Angermeier from Lower Bavaria like few others.
Almost a week ago, the Oktoberfest waitress uploaded a video of herself to the video platform TikTok. In a very short time, the video was clicked millions of times – it now has almost 60 million views (as of Tuesday afternoon). “I didn’t expect this video to get so much attention,” reports Angermeier.
She lifts the 13 mugs with surprising ease
Seen in the video: Verena Angermeier hastily preparing mugs of beer in front of her that she is about to drag into the tent. At some point it’s nine, you think that’s enough for now, but her colleague then plays the next bar and pushes it towards her. In the end, the slender woman forms two garlands with six mugs each and skillfully places them one on top of the other. Then the final measurement is added like a tower on top.
With surprising ease, Angermeier lifts the 13 mugs and starts running. His head disappears behind the pyramid of beer mugs, but nothing wavers. You can see: this isn’t the first time she’s done this. “I went to Oktoberfest when I was 18,” says the 30-year-old. Since then, she has served there every year and can be found in Schützenzelt.
She trains in the arena instead of in the gym
But Angermeier doesn’t just serve at Oktoberfest, which is the Champions League for waitresses: “I work almost every weekend, from April to October, at folk festivals in our region,” says Lower Bavaria.
An empty beer mug weighs about 1.3 kg. A full one should therefore weigh around 2.3 kilos – if served well. Verena Angermeier carries a pyramid of jugs weighing almost 30 kilograms countless times every day, which she balances while Oktoberfest guests tumble and dance on the tables.
As she reported to BR24, that’s not why she goes to the gym to lift weights: regular strength training is enough. “I also have a son that I carry around with me and a horse that I actively compete with. Assembling it also requires a lot of strength.”
The world record for carrying beer mugs was set in 2017 by Oliver Strrumpfel, who lifted 29 beer mugs at Gillamoos in Abendsberg.
Guests ask for “more” because they want to take photos
Certain gender stereotypes that many people have in mind have certainly contributed to Verena Angermeier’s fame: It is surprising and impressive when a small woman – Angermeier says she weighs almost 50 kilos – can lift so much weight.
With the fame on TikTok, media interest also grew: even foreign media such as “The Telegraph” reported on the service from Lower Bavaria. She is now an attraction at Oktoberfest. Sometimes it happens that “people ask for more because they want to take photos”. People also took photos of her in front of the tent. And celebrities like professional football players would recognize them too.
The relationship with colleagues did not worsen because of this, on the contrary: “Many girls asked me how it works technically and now one or two of them are doing it too”.
No respite after Oktoberfest
Working at Oktoberfest is a stress test for waitresses. At night, Verena Angermeier is always “quite exhausted” and usually falls asleep immediately. Sometimes she can no longer write to her husband.
Even after Oktoberfest, she doesn’t have much time to recharge: after that she only has two days off, then everyday life starts again: the 30-year-old doesn’t lift beer mugs full time, but, like her reports, works as a project manager at a software development company.