Nothing about Boerne would be complete without mentioning Max’s Bar, run by Udo.
Cold draft beer and delicious wine. Udo’s was located in a narrow portion of the building in the middle of the 100 block of South Main, on the east side of the street.
Udo had a beer cooler that was rather unique. It looked like a regular Coke box with a lid that opened from either side, but instead of having to ice the drinks down, they were immersed in water. There were cooling coils that chilled the water and then circulated it around the bottles. It seemed like it made the drinks cooler than just the dry cooling of a refrigerator type box. It was more like an iced drink without the bother of having to get ice each day.
The front half of the south wall was filled by the massive bar and beautifully carved and mirrored back-bar. The whole north wall of the room was covered with deer horns and included a Mexican eagle and a mounted moose head.
One evening two older couples from the New Braunfels area followed me in. The men and one of the ladies bellied up to the bar for a cold draft while the other lady looked around. They all had very pronounced German accents and in this accent the one lady turned to Udo and said, “My got (God), mister. Did you chute all dos deer?” Without breaking a smile Udo replied that indeed he had, except for a few of the real small ones that friends of his had asked him to hang up on the wall. About the same instant the lady looked up and saw the moose head and, looking at Udo, said, “Got, not dat vun too?” Udo casually looked around as if to determine what she was pointing at and remarked that yes, he had also killed that one on his hunting lease out on the Balcones. Of course, to add credit to his honesty, he had spoken to the gentlemen several times in German. I’ll swear that those people left the bar after a few beers and believed every word that Udo had told them.
I believe that the old bar and back-bar are now owned by Frost Bank and are upstairs in their meeting room. If you go to look at it sometime, you might want to get down close to the floor and look at the brass bar rail. If it appears that one spot is worn a little more than anywhere else, it’s probably where I put my left foot each evening while visiting with Udo.
Udo was a good friend to many people and ran Max’s Bar for years and years. He was on the Volunteer Fire Department and was City Tax Collector for a long time.