Heading to Germany

Day 8 - Bamberg

The plan for this day was "The World's Best Leberkaes and The World's Best Bier."

http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/worlds-best.106381/

So we headed over to Schenkerla about 9:30 AM and the Metzgerei was closed! On Mondays and Tuesdays. When we were here in 2010 we had found another one nearby so we went to find it. Since I was operating from a vague recollection, I was surprised that we found it so easily.



So, we picked up a couple of Leberkaes and headed back over to Schenkerla.



I had another Ur-Bock and my wife had the Ur-Weizen. A great way to start the day! It was also the emptiest I've ever seen Schenkerla.

The rest of the morning and afternoon was spent sightseeing.




Finally, it was time for more bier so we we walked over to Wunderburg, the home of the Brauereis Mahrs and Keesmann. Getting there was a nice walk along the Regnitz. First we headed to Mahrs.



We started out with the famous "U." I really liked it, but my wife thought it had diacetyl. I don't seem to be able to taste diacetyl so it didn't bother me. All the beers are poured by gravity.



I like the atmosphere of the old tap room at Mahrs. We finished up with a Bock and a Hell.



Then we headed over to Keesmann.



We had dinner here and started out with the Herrin Pils.



Both the food and the beer was very good. The Pils was second only to Faust. We finished dinner with a Sternla and a Weizen.



We finished our visit to Bamberg at our favorite place, Spezial.

We didn't have any pictures of us together, so we had to resort to a selfie.



It was fitting that we ended the night with the Lagerbier.

 

Day 9 - Koln and Düsseldorf

We got up and headed over to the Hauptbahnhof to go to Köln. We had been there in 2010 for an evening . That time we arrived at dusk. We walked out of the Hauptbahnhof and were literally awed by the Dom, but we were with a group and had no time to linger. This was a side trip to correct that.

We got off the train, stashed our bags and spent a few minutes staring in amazement at the Dom.



Then we headed over to Malzmuehle for lunch.



Then it was back to the Dom for a tour of this beautiful Cathedral.



It's hard to get a picture of the whole thing. The tour was shorter than I would have liked, but it was still worth the time. We ended our brief visit to Köln with a visit to Fruh.



Then it was on to Düsseldorf. After checking into the hotel, we walked over to Schumacher for dinner. The place was packed. Initially we were told 45 minutes for a table. Then we were told we should come back at nine. But we hung around and when the host figured out we weren't leaving, he managed to find us a place!



I must have forgot the camera because I found these on my phone.

One of the reasons we made a point of returning to Düsseldorf was that I've brewed several Alts since the last time I was there and I wanted to taste the real thing. So I actually took some notes, comparing the beers to what I remembered mine tasting like. As I tasted others, I started comparing them to each other. The Schumacher seemed to have a similar malt profile to mine while being more bitter and crisper.

So we finished dinner and it being relatively late, we decided to return to the hotel. Not a real exciting bier day, but we did get to mark the Kölner Dom off our list and made it Düsseldorf. Not too bad.

One more day....

 

Koelsch isn't my favorite style, but I enjoyed the Malzmuehle, maybe a bit sweet. I also really liked their tap room. Both were better than Früh. Also better than the Sion and Peters I had last time.

 

You are correct. I blame herrburgess for starting that and myself for blindly following along!

 

Day 10 - Der Endtag - Düsseldorf

Despite my comments in the @EvanRail thread, I do realize there are other things to do in Düsseldorf, although not as much as he did. We walked over to the Altstadt from our hotel and located the brewpubs. We saw the Rathaus and a few other sights and headed over to the Rheinufer.



It looks like a great place to spend a summer day/evening. But we were here pretty early and it was a bit cool so we decided to walk down to the Rheinturm.



Finally, it was time for a beer. Where else would one start than Uerige?



Our friends from 2010 were still there!



On to the Bier.



Uerige Alt is much roastier and bitter than the Schumacher Alt or my homebrewed version. Although I am thinking that the roast flavor may have been accentuated by the bitterness.

We wanted to try the Kürzer next, but they weren't open.



So it was on the Füchshen for lunch.

It was the day before Halloween so Füchshen was done up.



Less bitter than both Schumacher and Uerige. Also less malty and crisp.

I wanted to try one of the more commercial Alts for comparison. The Schlösser Alt bar was across the street from Füchshen.



Pretty bier and glass but the bier is nowhere as good as the brewpubs. It's sweet and had diacetyl. Even less crisp than the Füchshen. One glass was enough.

Then we headed over the the Schlüssel Schwemme.



Schlüssel Alt is softer than Uerige or Schumacher but not as bitter. It is more bitter than Füchschen. It also was had a bit more chocolate and caramel notes.

Finally it was time to try the newest brewpub in Düsseldorf, Brauerei Kürzer.




The Kürzer Alt is nutty with a bitterness to Füchschen. Some chocolate/coffee notes. Clean but soft.Creamy. Darker than most. A nice addition to the Altstadt.

The taproom is also is great contrast to the others in the Altstadt. It has a more contemporary vibe to it with a young staff. The menu is pretty much what you'd expect in an American brewpub. But since it was our last evening in Germany, we wanted German food. So we had several of their Alts and headed back over to Schlüssel.

At Schlüssel, our waiter wouldn't allow me to order until I pronounced Speckpfannkuchen correctly. It took me three tries before I realized my error. We all had a good laugh over it. It seemed that almost every time I tried to speak German, it brought laughter. But it was good-natured laughter and all I could do was smile.

We decided to wrap up the night at back at Uerige.



We had a great time in Germany. Saw lots of sights, got of the big cities on a few occasions and drank a lot of good bier. Everybody was friendly towards us. I also want to thank everyone in this forum for their help before we left.

I'm already thinking about the next trip.