Dusseldorf/Koln Trip Report

Ayup all


Just back from a little trip over to Koln and Dusseldorf so I thought i’d do a very short trip report in case anyone can get any useful info from it. I think it’s the fourth time I’ve been round that way and it was a great beer filled trip as usual. I will say, i know there are a good amount of “craft bier” bars in both cities now, in Koln in particular and some of them are supposed to be quite good, however, we weren’t really looking for that kind of thing on this trip so didn’t seek them out, maybe next time.


Day One


We arrived on the Friday and had tickets for the Fortuna Dusseldorf game later that evening so started off with a leisurely stroll to the Altstadt calling at Schumacher’s brauhaus on the way, I’m a big fan of their alt and also tried their 1838er which is an altbier but hopped with some newer hops (chinook and centenial maybe??) it reminded me of an english pale ale and was pretty nice.




Next up in the Altstadt was Uerige, i like how in the summer the street next to the pub is totally taken over with tables and outdoor bars, lovely alt in here as usual, i think theirs comes a close second to Schumacher for my favourite.




After that it was on to the newest of the altstadt alt breweries, Kurzer, i’d never actually visited this one before so was looking forward to it, its a nice place, modern and minimalist inside, seems to attract a younger crowd than the other breweries, they even have music on! I couldnt fault their alt at all, very decent, and served by a lady! Whatever next!




After a quick Schweinebrotchen in Schwarzer Peters it was into the heaving masses on Bolkerstrasse, even more busy than usual due to the impending football match, i love watching the kobes working the big crowds here, they really do put a shift in, we had a few in Schlussel, decent beer but probably the blandest alt of the trip for me, then across the road to Im Goldenen Kessel for more Schumacher.






We headed to the football after that so nothing more of beery note really except for, they had Schumacher alt on tap at the stadium, a couple of different fans told us this was the first match it had been served (they used to have Schlosser i think) and that theirs was the only Bundesliga stadium to serve beer from a “Private Brauerei”

 

Day Two


So, day two was spent in Koln, out of the two styles of beer i prefer alt, but, i’m always happy to neck a few koelsch, especially if its a nice sunny day, which it was helpfully. I’ve been to most of the big name breweries in the altstadt on previous trips so thought we’d venture a bit further afield this time, i also had some brutalist architecture to check out so fit some pubs around that. First off, just outside the altstadt i think was Schreckenskammer, lovely old school neighbourhood boozer with their own koelsch, not sure if its brewed on site or not to be honest, but, a decent drop. It was pretty quiet (it was only 11.30) until a group of about 25 old fellas from schwabia or somewhere on some kind of tour all piled in and started shouting at one another.




We jumped on a tram and got off right next to Paeffgens brauhaus, lovely shady little garden out the back here and top notch koelsch, possibly a favourite for me.




Next, after an architectural detour and a browse in a flohmarkt we headed to the Volksgarten park to visit the Hellers pub and garden there. Hellers seem to make a really wide range of beers for a koelsch brewery, including a pils and shock horror, an alt! They had all these in bottles so we went with the Wiess, an unfiltered koelsch which they had on tap and served in 500ml glasses, what a treat!




We wanted to cath a bit of the Koln football game on the TV after that so we caught another tram to the Reissdorf brauhaus, funny little place this, its on the ground floor of a relatively new build (to my eye anyway) block of flats but inside looks like any of the other old, traditional brauhauses, the koelsch in here was really good and was probably my joint favourite along with paeffgen and muhlen, speaking of which




Thats where we headed next, as always you have to dice with death crossing about 4 roads and some tram tracks to get to Zur Malzmuhle, but its worth it, I even sat in Bill Clintons seat on this visit!





A short tram ride over the bridge to Deutz took us to the famed Lommerzheims, it looks great from the outside, like its not been touched for at least 40 years, it was packed inside with everyone eating massive pork chops, the biggest i’ve ever seen so we perched outside on the window sill and a had a few paeffgens in the sun.




Back over the bridge we headed into the altsdadt proper and stopped for a couple of swift ones at Gilden im Zims on Heumarkt, the best i can say about this place is that its bloody massive, the beer comes from keg taps disguised as wooden barrels and was very mediocre, they were doing a roaring trade though.


In search of better beer we walked over to Pfaffen, i believe theres a story behind this place, something to do with brothers involved in Paeffgen falling out or something, anyway, the koelsch is decent and the tables are always very amusing.




We had a train to catch back to dusseldorf so slowly started making our way back towards the hauptbahnhof with the obligatory beer stops at Sion and Fruh, Wegbier was purchased for the journey in the form of cans of Reissdorf.


Although things were getting hazy at this point we managed a tram to the altstadt once back in Dusseldorf and a few night caps in Im Goldenen Kessel and Uerige with a shot of delicious Killepitsch from the hatch at Et Kabbuffke to finish things off in style.

 

Day Three


Our last day was a more relaxed pace and involved re visiting quite a few places, we had another football match to go to near the volksgarten in Dusseldorf so popped in and visited the Bootshaus next to the little lake, as well as uerige alt they had Hosen Hell, a helles that according to my research is a collaboration between Uerige and Dusseldorf rock band Die Toten Hosen, so, I tried that, it was ok, nothing amazing, very malty. According to the label on the bottle its actually brewed in Au in the Hallertau, all very strange.




After a few Schlosser’s at the football we headed back past the altstadt and over the bridge to Oberkassel to visit the Alter Bahnhof, this is one of the newer alt breweries in Duss but i think its been going for 20 years or something, the brew kit was in the middle of the pub and i’m dubious as to whether its actually used or not to be honest. Their beer is called Gulasch Alt (no idea why) and is ok, but a bit sweet for me, i wouldn’t want to drink more than 4.




Back into town next and into Fuchschen for the first time this trip, i think this is probably my least favourite of the altstadt alts (still a nice drop though) its a bit dry or something like that, but anyway, good boozer and good street drinking opportunities.





We were all starving by this point so headed down to Ham Ham Bei Joseph for a fantastic Schweinebrotchen washed down with a bang average Schlosser alt before doing the last rounds of the altstadt and revisiting Schlussel, Im Goldenen Kessel and Uerige before finishing the weekend with a Killepitsch.





All in all another successful trip, I still love the way alt and koelsch are served in their natural environment, they are beers that very much need to be had at source to get them at their best. It’s a trip i’d recommend to any beer lover. Until next time y’all x

 

thanks for the info bud! much appreciated.

I quite like peters but we had a train to catch so had to choose between there and sion and one of my mates has a sentimental soft spot for sion so thats where we went, i almost forgot, we had kabanes in there too!

 

hey thanks for the info, that's really good stuff, any idea why they call it gulasch alt? is gatzweillers alt still around? sure i've seen signs for it.

I've always been inspired by your dusseldorf trips, hopefully ill make it for some sticke one year!

 

sounds great, we'll definitely make it one year im sure, never been to antwerp so i need to rectify that!