Alt-Oberurseler Brauhaus

Probably the best brewery-restaurant that I know of in Hessen. Certainly the best within the vicinity of Frankfurt. Cozy biergarten outside, cozy traditional interior, and fantastic beer. The selection of styles is quite limited, but their Helles is so good that I never feel like I'm missing out on anything else. Their food menu is solid as well, never had a bad meal here. They have a good mix of Hessisch regional specialties thrown in to differentiate themselves from your everyday generic German tavern food.

I visited Alt-Oberurseler Brauhaus in July 2006. It was an easy ride on the S-bahn (S5) from Frankfurt am Main Hbf (about 15 minutes on the S-bahn), and then a 15 minute walk from the S-bahn station in Oberursel. (It is also possible to get there on the U-bahn, U3, from Frankfurt to Portstrasse station, but this probably takes more time, though it is apparently a slightly shorter walk to the pub.)

Located in the Deutches Haus in the altstadt of Oberursel, this pub has been open since 1994. There is a nice pub and bar indoors, but on this nice summer day everyone was sitting outside in the biergarten, and this seemed like a fine place to be. The biergarten is paved with stone tiles with many tables with chairs and benches throughout. There is a spreading chestnut tree, its trunk covered in ivy, in the garden.

The staff was very friendly, and my waitress spoke English quite well.

They had 2 of their beers on-tap during my visit: a Pils and a Dunkles Hefeweizen. In addition they had Vetter 33 available in bottle. All the beers were good, but I especially enjoyed the Vetter 33, a very strong beer. It takes its name from its 33° by weight Stammwürze (Original Gravity) strength. Apparently a rough conversion of Stammwürze (degrees Plato) to %ABV is to divide by 2.5, thus estimating this beer as ~13% ABV. Their website (erroneously?) proclaims this to be the "strongest beer in the world". (Apparently this beer originated at their sister brewpub Vetter Brauhaus in Heidelberg, and it was not clear to me whether the bottle served in Oberursel was brewed on premises or brewed in Heidelberg.) In any event, this was a tasty beer.

The beer prices were: 0.3 L € 2.20, 0.5 L € 3.10, 1.0 L € 5.60, and 0.5 L bottle of Vetter 33 for € 5.00. Not too bad for the Frankfurt area.

A full menu of food is offered, including many regional specialities of Hessen. Warm and cold food is served late, until 23:00 hours.

They also have a schnapps distillery and bar in a small building at the back of the biergarten, detached from the main brewhouse and pub.

Overall a very nice brewpub with a comfortable biergarten located in a small town in the suburbs of Frankfurt. Definitely worth the short trip if you are in Frankfurt and looking for a brewpub.