Documents dating back to 776 refer to a farmstead belonging to Duke Tassilo as the “Schweiger Hesselohe”. The establishment was granted a licence to serve beer in the fifteenth century. Initially it was devout pilgrims seeking intercession from hermits living on the slopes of the Isar who sought fortification here. By the end of the eighteenth century, however, the previously tranquil Schweige was becoming increasingly overrun by trippers from Munich.

From 1779 onwards the inn, now granted Electoral privilege, became the focus for a cattle market and annual fair – similar to the one in Keferloh. Some time around 1800, the “Waldwirtschaft Hesselohe”, as it was now known, erected a dance hall which became a meeting place for the local young people.

In 1852 Großhesselohe became connected to the railway network. Business at the Waldwirtshaus boomed. On good days it served up to 10,000 guests. On Whitsunday 1900, a beer-serving record of 123 hectolitres was set – and it remains unbroken to this day. 

In 1930 the inn was purchased by the Spaten brewery (est. 1397). The Sedlmayr family of brewers from Munich thus realised an ambition expressed by their founding father, Gabriel Sedlmayr I., one hundred years earlier: to one day make this historic inn with its ancient trees and wonderful location a Spaten concern.

Even now little has changed in the outward appearance of this romantic beer oasis in South Munich and it has lost none of its popularity. In 1982 innkeeper Sepp Krätz took over the leasehold of the Waldwirtschaft. With much love and great dedication he has since restored the Waldwirtschaft to its former glory.

In 1995 the WaWi hit the national headlines with its “beer garden revolution”: residents wanted to push through an earlier curfew, which led to Bavaria’s prime minister Edmund Stoiber, among others, staging a counterdemonstration – the outcome was a legislative amendment in the State Parliament.