Bayernbiere Bought and Drunk

Rudolf Päffgen of the brewery bought the pub and renovated the neglected parts of the building, but as far as I can see they have taken care to keep the main room, the beer and the food exactly as they were.

 

Do you suppose you are put off by Kölsch and all its aspects because you live in Köln? Just a little too much expectation to be that "homeboy?"

I was like that with Chicago for a while -- didn't want to admit that the town has some great aspects to it because I was a "country boy." Sometime in college, making a lot of friends from Chicago, I learned that those great draws really were great and worth discovering, thus enjoying.

But nothing's gonna make me a Cubs or Bears fan.

*Wait a minute... Köln isn't in Bayern...

 

Fascinating to see how different tastes are. Everytime I have the chance to have Päffgen, which is sadly now only 1-2 times a year, I have never less then 10 Kölsch. I think if I lived that close to Lommerzheim, I would be a regular

 

Almost spit my Weihenstephan Helles at the computer screen!

 

Lol, Don't forgett, in franconian units, it is just 4Seidla, so not much at all.

 

Or 2 Maß.

(it's just that the image of 10 Stange is pretty intimidating -- that's the whole Kranz! )

But yeah, I could see myself sitting all night with friends at a place like Lommerzheim.

 

I spent two days on my stag trip in here. What a fantastic boozer. One I and my mates who were there keep say we’ll be back. I absolutely loved the place and the food too!

 

They lock you in at night and find you the next morning?

 

Never been to Cologne, but I loved the way altbiers were delivered in Dusseldorf. They walk out with a try of something like 15-20 stanges and just dish them out as needed. It ends up being some of the best service you'll ever get in Germany because it's so hands off and so quick. I asked for a weizen instead of an alt at Uerige and you'd think I ordered a cinnamon stout. The guy brought it, but you could tell that was a really, really weird request to him.

 

So you have to wonder why they even offer it?

 

That's good question. It's probably the "worst" well-made beer I've had in Germany. There might be more to it, but it's like an underhopped (compared to the normal alt) wheat altbier. We were there an hour and mine was the only one I saw.

 

My wife tried the Hefeweizen at Fuchschen when we were there in June and it wasn't any problem at all to get it, although they weren't that busy at the time.

 

I don't know if it was trouble so much as he said "Are you sure that's what you want? Are you sure?" Or at least something like that. He seemed baffled that I'd want it, especially after a normal altbier.
Plus, that required him to make a separate trip to the back after delivering a big round of altbiers to everyone else.

 

It's exactly the same in cologne.... maybe one of the reasons why special beers in traditional enviroments tend to have a hard time there

 

Speaking of Bayern... {}

Was discussing Salvator offline with member grantcty and we were noticing (what seemed to us) how light in color that beer seems to have become. I know Ron Pattinson has long lamented the paling of Salvator, but the new bottles in the Paulaner Best of Munich mixed 12-pack just seem crazy lighter than I recall.

Of course, there's the caveat -- being a big fan of Optimator and Celebrator back when, maybe I just lumped Salvator into the same appearance category as those 2? Dunno, but I found some rather fresh Optimator today (bottled July of 2017) and sampling it now I see that luscious, dark chestnut color and tan head I always equate to a good (dark) Doppel.

OTOH -- the flavor seems a little lacking in good melanoidin character with some mildly hot, harsh alcohol astringency. My old favorites just don't seem to be what they used to be. I hope that's wrong with the bottle of Aventinus I also picked up.

 

Also noticing how hazy the beer is -- with yeast residue on the bottle's bottom. Anyone heard of Paulaner bottle-conditioning Salvator these days?

 

The last ones i had were clear.

 

Last bottles?

Also interesting to note that you're in-country -- Bavaria or elsewhere (sorry that I can't recall)?

Do you recall the color too?

 

Haven't had Salvator this year. Last year it was kinda pale and..not so good. Overall, at least in normal bigger supermarkets outside of bavaria, i see less and less traditional bocks each year, but more stuff like barrel-aged bocks, eisbock variety packs etc. Kinda sad, because in my mind, there a few things that are better than a good, dark bock in winter.