Need advice: Long Stay in Germany

Paging @Stahlsturm !

Cheers!

 

My unabashed opinion: if you have that amount of time, outside of beer-mecca Bamberg do some travelling via Deutsche Bahn to Berlin, Dresden, Hamburg and Köln/Düsseldorf and the beer will follow. During the summer you'll have plenty of time to hit the Munich Biergärten and other hot spots locally, but your best experience will simply be seeing a lot of Germany in all of it's detail.

Of course if you have the time visits to Prague and Brussels are highly recommended, it's all just a few hours away.

Lots of jealous guys just cursed you to hell BTW.

 

1.Bamberg
2.Köln (Kölsch) vs. Düsseldorf (Altbier) weekend

 

Ask around about Brauerei Gasthaus locations. They're small, usually out-of-the-way, breweries that run small hotels as a sideline. Even if you aren't staying at the Gasthaus you can sample the beer and food at the restaurant or Bierhall. I've had good experiences and great beer at these spots.

 

There are several you can visit on the out skirts of Munich, such as Ayinger's tap in Ayinger's, the Hofbräuhaus Tegernsee, Kloster Andechs.

This is by Ron Pattinson, I have used it many times.
http://www.europeanbeerguide.net/#germany

 

http://www.braugasthoefe.de/

Hope this helps!!

Prosit!!

 

Finding good/fresh beer near Munich will be no problem. As far as larger cities go, it's probably one of the best in the world. Even their big brands are good, with Augustiner and HB being highlights.
Like @hopfenunmaltz mentioned - there are plenty of wonderful breweries that are part of the greater Munich metro area, too. The Beer Drinker's Guide to Munich can give you a very detailed rundown of nearly every beer-centric spot near there. You can grab a copy on Amazon for less than $15. The S-Bahn map in the book is a little dated, so be sure to grab an updated map when you get into town.
Bamberg is also a must-visit. You can take the DB from Munich to Bamberg in just a few hours. There are several trains that make the trek each day, too. Depending on how you keep count, there are 8-10 breweries in Bamberg and the overall level of quality (and variety) is through the roof.

 

Things I did and can recommend: The beer monsters in Munich are friendly monsters, enjoy the Augustiner Bierkeller or the Chinesischer Turm biergarten. Insider tip: There's a place in Munich called Holy Burger. Holy Burger has two locations. Find the one closest to the Augustiner Bierkeller and have an Augustiner Klosterbräu Mull'n Märzen. This is not the Munich Augustiner, it's the Salzburg Augustiner, and the Märzen is flat out delicious.

Things I never did but will recommend anyway: 1) get yourself to Regensburg and visit Kneitinger. I'm sure there are other places as well. Regensburg appears to be an easy train from Munich. 2) get to the towns around Bamberg. I'm sad I never got to Buttenheim, for example, or the Schmausenkeller. (do you speak German?)

Weekend trips: Düsseldorf is one of my favorite cities in German to drink. Faust in Miltenberg, if it's not too far away. Otherwise, what @einhorn said, travel around and enjoy the cities for what they are, worry about the beer later. Dresden is a beautiful city, hopefully there will be no PEGIDA nonsense.

Guilty.

 

Them's the ones!

 

Or why not just take the ~2.5 hr trip right to Salzburg and visit the Augustiner Kloster itself? Beautiful city! Also about 2.5-3hrs away is Berchtesgaden. Gorgeous scenery there, plus the Kehlsteinhaus (Hitlers Eagles Nest), Königssee, the salt mines, and the Berchtesgaden Hofbrauhaus. Other A-1 scenic trips are to Oberammergau, Mittenwald and Garmisch...

Prosit!!

 

I'll second this. Regensburg is beautiful and Kneitinger is fantastic! Two of the best biers I've had in the Dunkel and the Bock. Unfortunately, the Bock probably won't be available while you are there. There are also many small breweries around Regensburg to visit. The only one I've been to is Weltenburger Kloster and I can recommend that. A beautiful old Abbey on a bend of the Donau. We're going back to Regensburg June 12-15.

As Matt said, get out of Bamberg and visit the country breweries. Many can be reached by bicycle from Bamberg. Merkendorf and Memmelsdorf have 4 breweries and can be done with about a 12 mile bike ride.

Miltenberg is a nice town to spend a weekend in. Only one brewery (Faust) but it's a great one.

My 2013 trip is documented here, starting with post 100. http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/heading-to-germany.113333/page-3

 

@Bierman9 would you believe that in my four years in Germany I never made it to Austria?! I've heard wonderful things, but I don't know enough personally about the country (or the beer) to speak on it. (Although normally I don't let a thing like embarrassing lack of knowledge stop me from posting...)

 

Their Plsner is one of my favorites as well.

 

Love this:

 

Great video @steveh It reminds me of my time in a Munich Biergarten and seeing a toilet brush attached to a chain to "scrub" the inside of your Maßkrug. Praktisch? Ja. Lecker? Nein.

 

Ugh -- which Biergarten was that?

You know they're rinsing the Krug as well as warming it up for the beer -- that water is nice and toasty.

 

I think it was Hirschgarten.

 

I only ever drank beer inside at the Hirschgarten so I must have missed the dishwashing implements.

 

Hirschgarten still has the washing thing in front of the Augustiner (or was it Tegernsee?) line. I don't think they have it for the other beer vendor stands. On my last trip, 2 years ago, it was just a big sink for rinsing instead of the full-on brush.
It seemed like even some locals didn't know what to make of the system, so they also has some normal glasses ready to go, too.