Bayerischen Anstich

We arrived in Bamberg to catch the last few days of the religious festival Sandkerwa which was celebrating its 60th anniversary. Bamberg is transformed from being a mere world class drinking town, into a world class drinking town with a bonus few dozen more drinking venues added, stretching along the river bank and taking up every square inch possible in the town itself. Stalls sell tacky souvenirs, bratwurst, candy floss, sweets, bratwurst, chocolates, bratwurst and beer. Lots of beer - almost as many beers stands as bratwurst ones. It is packed with people and has a wonderfully relaxed atmosphere, with families mixing easily with the more dedicated beer drinkers, of which there are quite a few.

We were met off the train by our friend Nick who lives in the area. He'd done the necessary homework and had sussed out the top drinking stands - those that dispensed " vom Bayerischen anstich" or straight from the cask. (It is a style I'm very familiar with, not just from drinking in Franconia, but that's how we serve most of our German country beers at GBBF.) We threaded our way through the crowds to the riverside and made a start. Keller bier in stone krugs from Brauerei Zehendner from Mönchsambach provided a good start. Soft and easy drinking, it was hard to tear ourselves away, so we had a few. We tried several others too though, including, Brauerei Huebner, St Georgen Brau and probably more. The softer carbonation in this style of serving is perfect for keller beer and it slides down all too easily. Do look out for it if you go there.

One word of warning for visitors to this bucolic scene. Apart from the dangers of tasty keller bier, German mosquitoes are bitey little buggers.

Nick and Eileen on their first beer.

Hitting Rock Bottom

While Rock Bottom is a brewpub chain, they do allow their brewers considerable autonomy. The one in Chicago has changed since my last visit a few years ago and is now more of a sports bar, which while annoying in some ways, with various televisions tuned to different sports channels and all blaring out at full toss, it isn't peaceful,but it is busy. And this is unmistakeably a business and if it works for them, who am I to argue? It's an American Sports Bar Brewpub. Got a problem with that?

We all met there on Saturday afternoon, variously tired, excited and content and spent a few hours putting the world to rights and drinking beer. I more or less went through the list, while concentrating on a fine German style pilsner, but mindful of Pete Brown's admonishment about boring blogs full of "what beer I drank", I'll not mention it further, except to say it was all super fresh and well made. What I will mention is the pub itself and how it works. Firstly you get served at your table (unless you get a seat at the bar) and you have to understand that the servers are paid little and rely on tips. While alien to our culture in lots of ways, it does result in extremely attentive and pleasant staff, who seem genuinely happy to have you there as a customer and to actually make you feel wanted and welcome. Your server will make sure you never run out of drinks, check on you frequently, bring glasses of water (Yankees drink a lot of water with their beer) and remove empties. That in itself is an extremely welcome thing and seems to me to be a direct result of the relationship that has to be established between customer and server.

The Rock Bottom crowd was predominantly in their 20's and 30's (we bumped up the average a bit) and a lot were watching the sport. All were drinking craft beer and of course some were getting merry too. Pretty good food is also available and it was there I had my only burger of the trip. It was bloody good too, with the home made coleslaw being absolutely superb. One nice touch for me was the generous imperial pint at the same price other pubs charged for 16oz or less. For those interested, you can see the very hi tech brewery from the stairs on the way to the toilet, sorry, restroom.

So is it like a British pub? Well it was reasonably pubby - at the trendier end of the spectrum - and very friendly - so yes, it is. The only real difference was the table service and the tab at the end, rather than pay as you go. It is a place well worth a visit, with a good atmosphere and excellent beers. If in Chicago try it.

Our server got a $50 tip afterwards. She earned it.