Heading to Dusseldorf/Neuss on Sunday for a few days and will be spending an afternoon in Cologne. If I wanted to drink and/or bring home some Alts and/or Kolsch while there, what should I seek out? I don't typically drink these, so would have no idea what is available in the US. Thanks in advance! ETA: this may be an unbelievable dumb question, but will there be any "sticke" varieties available this time of year?
Sticke is pretty much released during cold weather months. Visit all the Altbier breweries, Schumacher, Uerige, Füchshen, Schlüssel and the newest, Kürzer. They're all pretty close together. Then buy the beer from the one you like best. I've brought Füchshen and Schlüssel home. From what I've heard, Kürzer can be hit or miss. Can't say a lot about Köln. I've only been there for a few hours the two times I visited. The Kölsch at Malzmuehle was pretty good. Be sure to take the time to visit the Dom. It's truly awesome.
One of my favorite beer trips was spent in Dusseldorf and Cologne walking from place to place trying Alts and Kolsch. I loved every Alt I had, but probably the favorite for me for Schumacher. Loved Pfaffen and Peters kolsch the best.
Alts are hard to find around Germany, let alone in the US. Uerige was my favorite, and their pub is a great spot to drink as well. In fact, Düsseldorf might be my favorite city in Deutschland to enjoy a drink. Maybe. The four main local brewers are Uerige, Schumacher, Füchschen, and Schussel (not to be confused with Schlosser). I'd avoid Diebels, and I never really cared for Frankenheim, or Schlosser I guess, now that I'm thinking about it. Most everything else is personal preference. They are all good, but if it were me on that trip, I'd probably load my suitcase full of Uerige smile all the way home (NB, Schumacher bottles are 1 liter only if memory serves). But you really can't go wrong with any of those four. Make sure to walk around the downtown pedestrian zone and find a pub to sit down in at some point and have some fresh. Unfortunately I never really have "done" Köln properly. I had such plans... And now for the Photograph section of the post:
For the locals, Uerige Sticke is released the 3rd Tuesday of January and October. They often sell out bottles that day so not much hope of finding one now. They do brew it year round now for the export market. The Stickum "Pub" next door (where you can see the bottling line in the back) would occasionally have bottles of Doppel Sticke. The hours used to be pretty random and I have no idea if they still are open. The Schumacher Latzenbier is served the third Thursday of March, September and November. The Schüssel Stike is also in late October (usually a Wednesday), around the Uerige Sticke but to be honest I don't know if it has a fixed schedule (The past couple of years it was the day after Uerige but before that it was often a week later) The Füchschen Weihnachtsbier is released in bottles the first of December and is (I'm told) only served on draft on Christmas Eve. No idea if Kürzer does a strong beer -- given the state of their regular alt the past few years I wouldn't expect much from it
Report back, even if you do nothing! Just to clarify a few things from my earlier post: Misspelled - it's Schlüssel, not Schussel. Leider läuft mein Deutsch immer weiter weg. The above building is not a pub, it's just an odd-looking Frank Gehry building (redundant?). Follow the river south from the downtown pedestrian zone to find this and two others.
