Beer Travels

Good stuff. Looks like a fun trip (despite the tongue-lashing your gf got from the Schlenkerla waitress -- which I have no doubt was every bit as extreme as she claims!).

Like the pics as well. The largest one in the collage #5 (looking down the hill) was taken at the base of my old apartment. My brewing buddy and I lived in the top floor and had that view over Bamberg (and, perhaps more importantly, over to the Spezialkeller!). The building used to be a brewery itself, Loewenbrau Bamberg. Found an old pic recently:

Before:



After (our windows were the gabled ones under the roof):

 

Yea, I burned off a lot of beer calories walking up and down that hill every day. But when I'd catch a whiff of the decoction bubbling away at the Schlenkerla Brewery (which is just down the road) I always found the extra boost of energy I needed.

Sorry you missed Spezialkeller, too. But you hit some great spots -- Greifenklau is a sentimental favorite of mine, and their Biergarten is very much a local place...with a pretty great view itself of the Altenburg castle. Klosterbrau is always excellent, as are Mahr's and Keesmann (good food at both, too).

All in all, you seem to have done very well in your limited time. It is indeed a beautiful place. Hope to be back next year. Cheers to you and the wife!

 

I love the fact you went to Ohne Bedenken in Leipzig. I went a few years ago in search of the all mightly Gose. I remember the look of panic and confusion on the waitress' face when i wanted to try the Gose without syrup.

That reminds me of how poorly lit German leafy suburb streets are! Took ages to find the place. Was worth it though, definitely not a tourist spot. Felt like nothing had changed since the 50's, a proper boozer

 

A wee quote from your blog

"Fuchshen had a bit of a medieval feel to it, very tasty Alt and poorly marked unisex toilets (that may have actually been female toilets). "

Were they really unisex?? I must have been really drunk lol

 

...and just as I had read that the Australians' reputation at Oktoberfest was improving!

One question: how many liters led to that (very impressive) mayhem (you must never, ever blame the Leberkaes!)?

 

Seriously.

 

Warm, or cold..?

 

It has to be warm! Ideally with a fried egg on top

 

Suppose this is a good place to post this...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...ils-beer-festival-for-the-locals-8849272.html

 

Warm. On a Fuchs Kaiserbroetchen. No egg.

 

Well you seemed to have started a thing here, so I'll add my two cents:

Dinner - Warm, with a fried egg on top and bratkartoffeln (roasted potatoes)
Lunch or on-the-go? - Warm with mustard on a Kaiser.

Delicious either way. Would not want to eat either one cold.

 

Always had it cold at lunch, never had it a la Holstein -- I was in Bavaria, for crying out loud.

 

From your blog:
"My rap sheet after one day at Oktoberfest:
- being told by our new German friends that I should ease up on the beers
- prosting so hard that I smashed my maß
- being told that I should stop drinking
- dancing on the table (a big no no)
- kicking Nix's maß onto the floor
- being told that we should probably leave
- walking us home in the opposite direction for an hour despite Nix trying to explain that I was wrong
- attempting to get us on the wrong tram just to save face
- the threat of divorce

...and after the second day:
- vomiting* in a Munich tram station
- vomiting* in front of a fitness centre filled with people wearing electrode covered space suits
- breaking the bunk bed I was in (it literally fell to pieces - at least Nix wasn't in the one below) as I tried to swing onto the top one
- projectile vomiting* on the bloke's foot in the bed next to mine
- vomiting* on the floor as I ran outside"

And people ask me why don't want to visit the Münchner Oktoberfest. I think you and all your cohorts gave me all the reasons I need to avoid it like the plague. None of what you wrote has anything remotely to do with "enjoying beer." It sounds to me more or less like folks like you can have the Mü O-fest, I'll go to all the other non-juvenile-infested, only-there-to-get-blind-drunk festivals that dot Germany.

Thanks for sharing. Now I've got exhibit A why to avoid the Mü O-fest at all costs.

 

To be fair to the OP, it's VERY easy to underestimate your consumption when drinking Masskruege -- especially if you're not used to it. For example, what looks like the last sip or two of beer (about 2-3 cm left in the Krug) is actually around 11-12 oz. It's very easy to think that you're just quickly finishing off one beer before being handed another when actually you're consuming the equivalent of an entire U.S. beer serving.