Recommendations please?

You would certainly find Drei Kronen in Memmelsdorf of interest. in addition to their own beer, they contract brew for several outfits and oringinated the Guidebook for Brauerei Gasthäuser.

Another idea might be Buttenheim. The small Levi Strauss Museum is there, plus two breweries and two large beer gardens...

 

Brauerei Kraus in Hirschaid has a really nice beer garden, good cheap food and of course very good beer. It's one stop further than Buttenheim on the train.

Will you be driving? A lot of the country pubs aren't that easy to reach on public transport.

 

Forchheim. Go the Kellerwald there. Enjoy.

 

Given that you'll be travelling by train, Forchheim seems like an absolute no-brainer to me:
The train ride from Erlangen takes like 10 minutes or so. The city itself has several nice breweries to visit and have a beer or two or three. To the amazing Kellerwald, you can walk in like 20 minutes...

 

Forchheim, Buttenheim and Hirschaid are all on the same line, but it might be a bit much to do all three places on the same day!

 

Also consider that the train stop for Buttenheim is actually in Altendorf and its about a mile walk to the breweries and a bit farther to the kellers.

Forchheim station to the Kellerwald is of similar walking distance, maybe a bit farther (1.25 mi?). The town center and the Kellerwald are in different directions so if you want to do both on a day trip, a taxi might be in order.

 

Please tell us more about this place. Are all of these places open?

 

We went in late fall, cold and windy. The bigger ones that have buildings were open, well maybe 5 or so we're open. We stopped at Schützenkeller.

Summertime is when it is packed. Annafest is really popular, pictures of that make my wife say no, too crowded!

Edit. We got into Forchheim in the afternoon. Checked into the Hotel in the town. Walked back to the train station, then went up the hill to the kellerwald. Had a couple of beers. Went back into town had some beers at the breweries, then ate, went back to the hotel. All on foot, but we had been walking a bunch around Bamberg the week before.

 

As mentioned before: During Annafest, it's crazy, all open, all packed, rides, Buden, live music, everything. Can be too much for some, though I kinda like that there is a Fest with really good beer where they don't charge you too much for a Maß and you still get a full experience.

In the rest of the summer, it still full, though I don't think I have ever seen all open, and you will find several places to have some beers and simple food.

What it basically comes down to is: It's a nice,shady forest with several Biergärten, the "Keller" part refers to the cellars below the actual Biergärten where the beer is stored nice and cool. So you can have a nice walk and enjoy several good beers in several nice enviroments

 

If you'd asked me, I'd have said 8-10 of the kellers are Annefest only, a half dozen or so year round (with permanent structures) but often only open on weekends during cooler weather. According to this 9 are Annefest only. I can't vouch for the information on that page but it generally tracks with what I remember.

 

When I was there last week, I would guess that about 10-12 were open. My first visit along with some friends, had a blast.

 

Of course, my only experience was in November. I have watched videos of Annafest. So my exposure is limited.

We might go again in 2018, as some friends want to go to Germany.

 

And it's a pretty steep hike up that hill. At least the way we went. But you sure are ready for a beer when you get there.

 

We went on a Friday night in early June 2015. The place was pretty much dead and it was a beautiful evening. Maybe 6 kellers were open and only one was crowded, the Glocken Keller, IIRC.

 

Any guesses on the distance/time to hike to the Kellerwald from the Bahnhof in Forchheim? I might try to hit it if open when I'm there...

Prosit!