I'm in the process of planning for a short trip back to Bamberg in August and have pretty much nailed down a decent schedule for which breweries are open which days. As of now it looks like showing up early on a Sunday would allow me to hit all of the breweries on Sunday and Monday if I stagger them correctly. However I can't seem to find much about Kaiserdom. Anyone have any idea what their hours and days of operation are? I missed out on them last time and really want to hit every brewery in town if I can! Beyond Kaiserdom, I remember Greifenklau and Ambrausianum also having oddball hours. Greifenklau's website claims they're now open Sunday 10AM-2PM but closed on Monday. Ambrausianum's site claims 11AM-9PM on Sunday and closed on Monday. Anybody know if those are still accurate?
I, too, thought I needed to "tick" Kaiserdom back in the day...turned out to be a mistake. The trip to Gaustadt isn't necessarily pleasant, and neither is the beer. If I headed that way, I'd go the extra km or 2 and go to Sonne in Bischberg; their Biergarten is extremely cool and completely off the tourist path (matter of fact, they apparently didn't/don't want it listed on bierkeller.de to keep it a Geheimtip -- so don't tell anyone I sent you ) EDIT: looks like it's on there now and under new management: http://www.bamberg-guide.de/bamberg/bierundbierkultur/location.php?loc=138 Greifenklau definitely holds those Sunday hours, and their new Rauchbier is quite nice, an easy drinker. The Sunday Fruehschoppen crowd when I was there was a nice mix of families, old-timers, and the odd local poet/intellectual (I actually remember him from my student days). I have never been to Ambrausianum, so I can't say there. Never was a fan of the "brewpub" style beers they serve -- plus it's too close to Schlenkerla to exert sufficient gravitational pull...especially with Schlenkerla's new Biergarten. You planning to make it out to Weyermann or to Cafe Abseits? Any trips planned for outside of town?
I know Kaiserdom is usually regarded as the best brewery in Bamberg to skip, but I really do want to hit 'em all if I can. It annoyed me that we missed them and Greifenklau last time. We went back to Greifenklau 3 times, but they seemed to ignore their hours posted on the door. Either that or they were full-on closed and making renovations or something. Going to try to do both Abseits and Weyermann if we have time, but it comes down to timing, too. While beer's definitely one of the main reasons we're over there, we do a lot of sightseeing/museums/etc. in Munich, so Bamberg's likely going to be a very busy 2-day adventure. I enjoyed Ambrausianum as it was a fun change of pace. It reminded me a little of the better US breweries doing a slight spin on German styles. The food was pretty decent, too. Not my first pick of stops, but one I'll happily make again.
Greifenklau closes sunday at 14:00 and all day monday, Fässla closes sunday at 13:00, Keesmann is closed all day sunday. Kaiserdom in Gaustadt is open on sunday FROM 17:00 and closed on monday. Ambr. is closed on monday.
My friend and I just hit Bamberg on Monday and Tuesday. Skip Weyermann - you can really only get access to the Fan Shop and beers are 5 eu for a 500ml - the couple we had (the IPA and the Weizenbock) were just okay, but if you want to tick a bunch of their beers, by all means stop in. I believe they are open every day now (used to be just Friday), but they close for a few hours during the middle of the day. Cafe Abseit is a must - we went there twice and both times sat at the bar with the owner (Herr Schoolmann) who was very kind and knowledgeable. Food is not traditional Franconian, but was good and the service was friendly and quite helpful (and spoke English) and they had 5 or 6 local taps, all were quite good and they had an experimental beer on from Weyermann which was excellent called Adam's Imperial Pilsener (which is why we went to the fan shop, but they didn't bottle it, apparently). Enjoy Bamberg again! It was a beautiful city.
I'm pretty excited already! I'm not really the ticking sort, BUT I've run into awesome places like Forschungs and killer biergartens like Menterschwaige just because I went on a whim with a buddy that wanted to try 'em. Now they're "must visit" places for me. Hell, at first I wasn't even sure if I wanted to hit up Keesmann after seeing their Becks-like ads around town. It turned out that Herren Pils was potentially my favorite beer in all of Bamberg! Even if I can't make it to Weyermann or Kaiserdom, I'll hopefully be able to get some of their bottled items in town or at Cafe Abseits. There's a mention of a place called "Stilbruch" in the Beer Drinker's Guide to Bamberg that supposedly gets a keg of Otto Hubner's landbier every Sunday. Anybody know if that's still true?
I used to go to Stilbruch on occasion. It's a student-y type place (used to have a stream of water running around the perimeter of the bar with rubber frogs floating in it...). Dunno about Hubner's Landbier. You ever go to Pizzini on Sandstrasse (just up from Stilbruch)? It often has some interesting beers on its list...and is a VERY "urige" Kneipe/Restaurant (http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/15369/?view=beerfly&ba=UncleJimbo)
Off topic, but in part because of your enthusiastic reviews of Forschungs I will try to search them out when I go to Munich this weekend. Unfortunately for all involved, the beer stores close early on Saturdays and don't open at all on Sundays. Otherwise there are quite a few beers I'd be bringing back.
I'm unsure if everything is exactly the same since they closed and re-opened, but their St. Jacobus Blonder Bock was one of the best beers I've had anywhere. All 3 of us agreed that it was a place we'd definitely be going back to just for that beer alone. My wife ordered the Pisissimus, and while it wasn't the juggernaut of the Blonder Bock, it was still top notch and boldly hoppy when compared to the usually malt-centric Munich area beers. Not sure how their bottle distribution works, but getting to them from the Perlach S-bahn station is easy enough.
OK, so first of all you misspelled "Pilsissimus" in a most unappetizing way. Perhaps I'll stick to the bock. They appear to have added a Dunkel, or at least they seem to be offering one now if I'm reading their webpage correctly. I'm excited to get there, I hope I have time. I "Liked" them on FB and sent them a message regarding their bottle availability. They answered me the following day with a list of places where I could find them. Unfortunately I'm not sure I can get to any of the Getränkemärkte before they close (I'm going down to meet a friend on Saturday, so my schedule could be full). I will give a full report when I can, Sunday or Monday!
If you can't get out to the villages and 'dorfs' a visit to Cafe Abseits will solve a bit of that. Sadly 'being there' at the tiny brewery's is an experince that shouldn't be missed. Find an Edeka or a Rewe with a Getrankenmarkt. I implore you to take a cab or something as you'll find an incredbile array of local beer well beyond the Bamberg breweries. (This is my favorite spot on earth been 9 times going back in August). Unless you are fond of orange and red there isn't any big reason to go to Weyermann. 2011 Bavarian Party had their beers on tap and they were vile diacetyl bombs...fermented with dry yeast...
Stihlbruch has stopped the Ottobier on Sundays -- I guess not enough demand. If you are in town on a Monday, the pub Mondschein, Untere Sandstrasse 16 (around the dogleg, just before the Markusbrücke) has a keg of Hölzlein beer from Lohndorf -- €1.70 a seidla. It is a strange place for this beer as their other specials are things like cheap bottles of Becks on Sunday and their regular taps are Bittburg and Veldensteiner. Some historical significance to the place as they were part of the 1907 Bamberg "Beer War" that saw Mondschein (and Weirich) resist a general price increase (from 10 to 11 pfennig) Next door is Blaue Glocke -- a restaurant but they usually have one of three beers on draft (kegs, not holzfass): Griess Geisfeld, Sonne Bischberg or Först Drügendrof -- all three good beers.
This Rewe (http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/24043/?view=beerfly&ba=Bierman9 ) has a great selection of local stuff... and was just a short bus-ride outside of Bamberg.... Prosit!
I've bought beer at the REWE in the Mainfrankenzentrum a few times, can't complain about price or selection.
