Bamberg's Bier Kellers - Spezial

Much is written about Bamberg and its beery attractions and I did most of them again this time. One thing though I hadn't done much of before was to go to three of Bamberg's loveliest kellers, high above the town. It is a fairly steep hill which takes you up to the earliest opening keller, that of Spezial. Good job this was open, otherwise, we'd have had none - not a problem in E's view - as the Spezial pub was closed for "urlaub" or holidays. Yes my friends, the pub shuts for a couple of weeks at one of the busiest times of year, while they go on holiday. What you must remember though, is that a lot of German establishments are family run and that's just how they do things.

Once you get to the gate of the keller, promptly at 15.00, you walk up another steep gradient to the keller, where to your surprise, the place is already quite busy. How is this? Well there is another gate higher up on the road where the wise can go directly into the keller, thus stealing five minutes on those of us choosing the hill. This keller commands lovely views of the town and has two areas, one with waiter service and one without. We chose the latter and enjoyed - well I did - the slightly smoky kellerbier and the slightly smoky hefe weizen. Now I am not the biggest fan of smoked beer, but compared to my girl, I love it. Our visit was therefore relatively short, as E found the beer undrinkable. Nonetheless for its setting its well worth a look and if you like smoky beer, a must.

The top photo shows the self service area of the keller.