Win Some - Lose Some

I'm going to tell you a little story. It could in theory be my entry into next year's British Guild of Beer Writers Awards in the Beer and Travel Section. Somehow though I suspect it is not exactly the sort of thing they have in mind - even if it does exactly what it says on the tin - it is all about beer and travel. Anyway here we go.

The lovely thing about Munich is that unlike a lot of German cities, there is an abundance of pubs and other drinking establishments. That - and you can trust me on this one - is kind of rare for many German cities. If you don't believe me, try walking about Augsburg for a few hours, dragging your thirst behind you. You will be disappointed and footsore. But I digress.

On a recent Munich visit, after the usual Christmas market stuff two or three weeks ago the lovely E and I decided that  a quick visit to Tegernsee am Tal was in order. Now a couple of points are worth mentioning here. The first is that I have been in this pub a few times before despite the fact that it hasn't been in its current location for too many years. The second that I've been to the brewery itself and the third is that for years I have sold Tegernsee Spezial - one of my favourite beers - on the German Bar at the Great British Beer Festival.  I know the beer. This is a relevant fact.

So in a quiet spell around 4 p.m. the pub is pretty empty. In the front a couple of locals have pole position for people watching and inside there is another pair near us. In the restaurant area, three Americans eat salad, drink dark beer and chat. Not quite the Mary Celeste, but fairly close. I order a Spezial and a Helles. We sit in the semi circular booth seat overlooking the bar. I can see, despite the brass or copper frontage, the beer being poured. It is fine. Poured straight from the tap it is golden, clean tasting and clear as a child's eye. Nothing much happens as we observe languidly and chat. My beer, the first of the day, disappears without a protest. It is good. Very good. I order a second. Again I can see what is going on under the beer taps. This time there is a bit of juggling with beer glasses. My beer when presented has a more tired looking head and isn't so sparking. Not cloudy, but a tad hazy. Certainly no longer zingingly clear. Hmm. It is flatter too. Seems I've had some older beer poured into my half litre and topped up with fresh. Damn.

Now I have a customary rule of avoiding arguing with Germans. One hates to generalise, but I find the German capacity for admitting being wrong, is, shall we say, limited. (Just try asking for a top up of short measure to see what I mean). But I felt a bit pissed off, so I enquired of my waiter in the most gentle of terms, about the clarity of my beer. He looked at it and went back to the pourer, who came to talk to me.  "Ah" he said. "It's Spezial. That's always a bit like that." "Umm, no" I demurred in the softest of tones. "It never is.". He smiled knowingly. "OK" I said thinking foolishly I was playing a trump card. "Pour a little fresh beer into a glass and show me." He did and the beer was as clear as the clearest of bells. I could have took his photo through it. The beers were totally different. He smiled again. "There you are" he purred. "It's just the same."  I couldn't help grinning back. He had me. I knew in that instant he would have climbed a snowy Zugspitze dressed only in his underpants rather than admit he was wrong. He wasn't the owner. He didn't really have any skin in the game, but he was taking the view, for whatever reason of; "Look Mate, I'd rather tear my own heart out of my chest with my bare hands and dance on it, than change your beer for you. So just give up".

So smilingly, I left him and my unfinished beer to it. Somehow and somewhat oddly though I had enjoyed the encounter. Maybe it played to a feeling that I had just had an unexpected insight into the German physche. Or that a stereotype had been confirmed. I fought the urge to extrapolate that too far and simply went for a beer elsewhere.

I should mention that as soon as I called the waiter over, E buggered off and left me to it. Window shopping beats arguing in E's view.

Bonus. In the next pub, we arrived just in time for Ayinger Brau Helles vom Bayerische Anstich being freshly tapped - as happens at five every day. It was rather lovely.

Augustiner Bräustuben and the Hofbräuhaus

Funnily enough in the many times I've been to Munich, I've never visited the Augustiner Bräustuben. I'd heard it was good of course and knew people who'd been there, but not me.  Last week our hotel was just a few minutes walk away and we thought we'd take a look.  We went on Tuesday night, though on the same morning we'd had a quick recce. Just a normal street corner local I thought, though probably bigger inside. We returned later, after many miles of walking and two or three half litres of helles in a very small kneipe nearby, where we drank cheap Hofbrau beer and sat nonchalantly as a couple of German lads threw darts at an electronic dartboard, just centimetres from our heads. Fortunately they were good and no darts rebounded, but we weren't as comfortable as we acted.  Stiff upper lip and all that.

Man does not though live by beer alone, though I've been known to give it a jolly good try.  The sky had greyed up and rain was spitting intermittently, when about eight o'clock we entered the Bräustuben. Bloody Hell.  It was not only massive, but filled to the rafters with jolly Germans scooping it down and scoffing enormous plates of pork. There must have been several hundred of them. And us.  A friendly waiter wedged us on the edge of a bench, delivered us of Augustiner Edelstoff and left us to it.  I looked around at a scene that has become familiar over the years. Germans eating out in droves on a midweek night.  We ate and drank well that night in a great atmosphere despite having to have many incorrect items (cheerfully) removed from the bill.

The day before when we arrived, we walked through the streets; me to re familiarise myself and Mike to see for the first time.  Our first pint was in Augustiner am Platzl, opposite the Hofbräuhaus.  It is a fair size, but boy was it busy. We perched at the end of a table, but just had one. It really wasn't that comfortable, though it didn't seem to bother the locals who ate uncomfortably balanced on high stools, while all sorts brushed past.  Mike doesn't eat meat, which makes life tricky in Germany. He looked up the Hofbräuhaus on the internet and there was two or three veggie dishes on the menu and we were hungry. "Could we go there?" Of course. It isn't everyone's cup of tea, but it is mine.  Normally. Now this is one huge place and it was rammed, though we did eventually find a seat after ten minutes or so.  Our waiter wasn't at all jolly and was mostly absent and smelling strongly of smoke when he did return. We talked to a couple of Swiss folks on our table and we (and they) waited interminably for our beer and interminably for our food, though Mike was doomed to cheese and bread, as all cooked veggie options were off.  It was a better visit last year, but I get the feeling that complacency has set in, waiter wise, though to be fair, my roast pork in paprika cream sauce and spaezle was delicious.

There's a lot of money in Munich.. Everywhere was the same. In midweek nights, it was packed and not just with tourists either, though it seemed to me, a keen observer of the German pub scene, that in some areas at least that hospitality and service was sorely lacking, even if customers certainly were not.

And my old favourite Hofbräu Dunkel seemed thin and unappealing, though maybe that was the poor experience. It was a good night though on Tuesday at the Bräustuben even if we did get pissed wet through on leaving. 

Big Brother is Watching Everyone

We often see the Health Lobby (whoever they may be) producing blood curdling statistics about alcohol and how it is killing us all.  The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development have been at it too. This time the target is Germany who as we know have had an economy blighted by alcohol from time immemorial and are an economic basket case. Oh. Wait a minute. They aren't. 

Seems though that while Germans have cut down in the last few years  to a figure of 11 litres of alcohol per head – 1980's figure was 16.5 litres of pure alcohol – they're still exposing themselves to a lot of health risks by overindulging.  So a pattern emerges that we are all familiar with.  The trend is down but there is still a call to do something about it. In this case the recommendation is to put the price up as there is "a lot of slack in Germany's tax and regulatory framework". The report goes on to talk about mythical potential lives saved (45,000 in Germany), but we all know these kind of stats have to be taken with a very large pinch of salt. There is an admission that to increase prices and restrict availability would affect the innocent as well as the guilty (and this is a worldwide recommendation) and that "This is not a question that economics can answer, each country will have to weigh the evidence in their own circumstances.” 

Well forgive me, but this is an economic question as well as a social one.  It seems though that there is a problem in Germany. Intervention by doctors at an early stage would cost $228 million dollars more than continuing with existing policies which have seen the large reductions in consumption.

Pick the bones out of that.

If you really feel depressed you can read the full report here.  It is only 240 pages long.

Cheeky German Waiters

The gruffness of German waiters is legendary.  It is a matter of professional pride to many never to crack a smile, though maybe that is changing as more and more of them hail from East Europe.  Until you come across one of the old school that is.

In Munich last month, our little party of four decided to eat at the Loewenbrau Keller as it has a lovely big screen outdoors on the terrace where we could watch the semi final of the World Cup involving Germany and Brazil.  Alas it wasn't to be, as torrential rain forced us inside.  Still, we got a nice table just a dozen steps down from a room with loads of tables and a telly.  There was lots of room at the back to stand if need be and nobody minded us doing so.  The Germans, all flags and painted faces, were seated in neat benched rows.  Even football watching seemed organised and, well, neat.

We ordered drinks.  Now we'd been before for a nightcap and the girls really liked Loewenbrau Pils.  I do too. It is delicate, but with a firm body and a bitter, perfumey finish. It is actually rather an elegant drink. Two were ordered.  Our waiter, an elderly type, said that they'd be better with Helles as the Pils was too bitter for women.  Now Janet is a bit of a hop fiend and can take as much hops as the next person, even if that next person is a 100 IBU one.  Eileen is not the kind of person you tell what she can or can't drink.  Trust me on that one.  Pils were insisted on and provided. I spent quite a lot of time running up and down the stairs in response the the roars of the lads and lasses in the tv room.  We enjoyed our beer and the hearty food and it was a great night, despite the wet walk home and the Pils Denier.

I won't say whether or not I had a German flag painted on each arm, but will say that I didn't have one on my face. Unlike some other Brits present.

The Loewenbrau Keller is huge and only a fraction of the size it used to be.  Maybe not the best beer in the world, but that pils is good.

Note for Tegernsee Lovers

I wrote here about my liking for the beers of Tegernsee, a smallish brewery near Munich.  While it is perfectly possible and indeed a very good idea to hop on the train to the lake and drink them at source, you no longer have to do so. To my delight on my recent trip to Munich, I discovered that Tegernsee has opened a pub on Tal, right in the centre of the best drinking area.  Very easy to find it is too, being directly opposite the Weisses Brauhaus and next door but one to Paulaner.

Among other visits, we watched the Netherlands being (unfairly) beaten by Argentina.  We were there until the last kick of the match at around 12.45. Beers were served throughout.  This is a fairly pubby place, with a long bar you can sit at in the front to one side and a number of tables and booths inside.  Off course there is the usual tempting German food.  Prices are reasonable and the staff were smilingly obliging on every visit. Oh. And they sell Spezial, a sort of strongish export style beer which is kind of unique to these parts.  Like Augustiner Edelstoff or Andechs Spezial, it isn't for everyone with a slight sweetness from the full malty body and the alcohol, leading to a bitter finish.  A boys beer at 5.6%, so still (just) in the swoopable range.  Well, I certainly swooped a few.

All we needed to complete our joy was the sadly lacking sunshine, when I believe they put tables outside. Go there if in Munich whatever the weather.

Tegernsee Im Tal:  Im Tal 8, 80331 Munich. Photo: Praying at the Tegernsee Altar.

Ice Cold in Munich

Tickers weep.  I'm about to tell you about a beer I've had and you'll never have. This is an exclusive and I just stumbled across it.  More or less.

Before going to Munich recently, I had hurriedly printed off some stuff about craft beers in Munich. Mostly just where to buy it, or drink it, but among the restaurants and pubs, there were two new breweries listed - both just with addresses and little else.  They were served by the same S Bahn station, so, with my companions, we thought, "Why not?" and set off. The one we were really aiming for was Brauerei Im Eiswerk which was supposedly a small offshoot run by Paulaner, one of the Munich giants.  We found it easily enough, in a quiet yard behind the huge Paulaner-Hacker Pschorr Brewery, but it all looked a bit closed.  As we nosed around, a door opened and my friend John explained the purpose of our mission to the charming young lady (one of the brewers as it turned out) that opened it. She fetched another gentleman who turned out to be the Head Brewer.  He explained that the brewery produced a number of exclusive beers which are sold to the public by pre-arranged collection once or twice a month.  It wasn't open to the public other than that.  Ah well.

Brewers though are princes among men.  The brewer thought for a moment and said "Would you like to come in and I'll tell you a bit about what we do here?"  "Yes please" we chorused.  The brewery is in an old building which was where they produced ice to allow round the year brewing many years ago. Herr Martin Zuber is the Brauemeister and his aim is to extend the range of beers brewed by Paulaner by re-interpreting or extending existing styles and by using different techniques or hops. The main thrust seems to be promote more passion about the beers they produce and to generally stimulate interest in beer and brewing.  Herr Zuber who spoke excellent English of course, then talked us through what they brew and showed us the remarkable and expensive looking stainless steel kit on which he brews his range of beers.  As he warmed to his theme, he seemed to make his mind up.  "We could maybe taste some of the products?" he suggested.  We were very happy to go along with this and were treated to snifters of all the beers.  Starting with Josef's Special, a brown ale of 5.2%, named after Joseph Pschorr, a renowned member of the famous Pschorr brewing family, which was creamy and smoky, then a Maerzen 1881 named after the year the Ice Factory in which we stood, was built, thus allowing brewing to take place at Paulaner throughout the year.  Previously brewing couldn't happen in the summer months as beer would spoil.  This Maerzen, weighing in at 5.7%, is styled on the forerunner of all Oktoberfest beers.  It had sweet malt, caramel notes and a smooth, elegant finish with some hops. 

In a different mode altogether was Weizen Bock Mandarin (6.9%) . This is a wheat beer made with top fermenting yeast and hopped with Hersbrucker, Hallertauer and Mandarina Bavaria, which imparts apricot/peach, mango and mandarin notes.  The beer is also dry hopped with Mandarina. It was slightly alcoholic with peachy fruit, tropical mango notes and a touch of orangey mandarin.  Quite delicious.  Then the alcohol was upped with Bourbon Bock (9.2%), described by the brewer as a a Triple Ale Bock. The beer undergoes a  triple fermentation and is then stored for 3 months in oak bourbon barrels giving it a hint of sherry, dried fruit and vanilla.  It was very warming and silky. Last up was a real treat.  An Eisbock of around 20% abv (I can't quite remember) which was liqueur smooth, thick and lasting in the mouth.  It kind of reminded me of 7 star Metaxa Brandy. It would be a great nightcap.

We asked Herr Zuber about himself and the Paulaner-Hacker Pschorr set up.  He trained as a brewer at Weihenstephan and used to be Head of Production and Quality Assurance in the main brewery.  In addition to his duties in the Ice Factory, he has the responsibility nowadays of overseeing all of Paulaner's 30 odd breweries abroad and has to visit them to ensure quality. A tough job, but someone has to do it I suppose. He is a big hop fan and of course we asked him, among many other things, about whether he'd like to brew an IPA.  "Well" he said, "I have in fact done so, here in this brewery, just to show others we can do it".  But he added you won't likely ever see a Paulaner IPA released on general sale from Paulaner- HackerPschorr, as the aim of the Ice Factory is quite different.  He again paused and thought for a second.  "Would you like to try my IPA?"  Er. "Yes please" we chorused.  So we did.  100% Cascades and perhaps at the less hoppy end of that particular spectrum, it was nonetheless a unique tasting experience.  It won't ever be released and when the keg is emptied or goes stale, that will be that.

As I have said before, brewers are generally lovely people who like to talk about beer, but this was above and beyond that.  Herr Zuber was kindness itself, giving an hour and a half of his time to four complete strangers.  It never ceases to amaze me that beery folks are the best.  But it shouldn't really, should it? 

Paulaner and Hcker Pschorr don't compete against each other any more, but rather, complement beer ranges which are separate brews and mostly different. That was an interesting part of our visit to me at least.  The top photo is Martin Zuber and the other one a not very good photo of the lovely little stainless steel Eiswerk Brauerei kit.

We did go to the other brewery mentioned in my first paragraph.  It took me back to my younger beer hunting days. More on that another time.

It's a Bit Different In Munich

The Augustiner Keller is a classic of its kind and best of all, it is very handy for the centre of town when in Munich and an easy walk from the main railway station. In Munich the word "keller" generally denotes a beer garden and this is a classic of its type. Huge, sprawling, but nonetheless cosy enough, with its dozens - or is it hundreds - of benches set under chestnut trees, while an oompah band plays folksy German tunes in the background. On a lovely Monday evening in July it was seductively attractive.

It helps to know the form here. The place is split into two areas. One is self service in that you go in via a turnstile, choose your food from a number of counters and then separately your beer (Edelstoff from a wooden cask in my case), which is handed to you and hence, cafeteria style, to a till where you settle up. Otherwise you go to the other half of the keller, where a waiter will eventually wander over and take your order. In the posher bit, like many German restaurants, the tables will all have either people sitting at them or reserved signs on them. If you make it clear that you wish to eat, then, usually,  a table will be found for you. If you just want a drink, well its more hit and miss and you may have to find a table to share, which is normal there. It's all very jolly and civilised.  No children running wild, no shirts off tattooed drunks and just the buzz of conversion (and the band who are not amplified) to accompany good beer. Oh and another thing. In the self service area, unless you choose wheat beer, the smallest (indeed only) measure is a litre. Just get on with it. In the "waited on" area you can have half litres. Go figure.

We started off in the self service part and as we intended to dine, moved to the waiter service area where a reserved sign was removed for us.  We looked and I tried to estimate how many people were there.  It was hard to say, but I'd guess quite a few over 800.  We discussed this and couldn't think of any location at all in the UK, where, on a Monday night, without it being a special event or location, that so many people were eating and drinking out in such a relaxed and casual manner.

The German beer garden is a thing of wonder, as is how it all works and the incredible wealth and social cohesion that sits behind it.  It was a smashing night of a kind you can only really get in Germany and more specifically, in Bavaria.

Unfortunately the weather then turned and more or less ended our outdoor drinking.  If you want good weather in Munich, find out when I'm going and don't go then. I've a bad record in that respect.

You Can't Sit There

On my recent trip to Munich, I had half an hour to myself, so decided to ensure my time was usefully spent. Thus I nipped into the Augustiner Großgaststätte, a massive pub, restaurant and Beer Hall on Neuhauserstrasse and a favourite of mine. It was rather busy, so I ambled around looking for a likely spot. Finding a decent looking perch at the end of an under occupied table, I plonked myself down. Promptly a waitress appeared and told me auf Deutsch "You can't sit there". Having encountered this kind of situation before, I know better than to argue the toss in such circumstances and while having no precise idea why I couldn't sit there, I shuffled off in the general direction of her vague wave. I found a seat on a table not at all dissimilar, with just one guy sitting there and a pleasant male waiter brought me a half litre of Edlestoff and all was well.

Almost certainly the waitress was going off shift and didn't want any more customers before she settled up her receipts.  Or maybe was just being awkward.  That's a possibility too. Funny old place is Germany.

There are those that see little merit in Edelstoff.  They are quite wrong. It is a super export beer of considerable poise and elegance and far better than the somewhat watery Helles .

I also had the distasteful experience of having to crunch a cockroach underfoot in there.  I thought at first it was a child's toy.  Big bugger but better off dead. I don't think I could have reasoned with it. 

One That Got Away

Have I mentioned that Berlin is a big bugger? I think I have, but to emphasise, it is big, wide and very spread out. They don't seem to have been worried about space there when throwing up the odd building, street or avenue. The centre itself is big enough - not surprising really as it is two centres knocked into one - but pretty walkable. When it comes to moving out a little though, maps can be a bit misleading. What looks like an easy walk turns into a long trek down never ending streets. That's tip number one for you.

We decided that we'd go to Friedrichshain, to a brewpub that is gaining a reputation for moving off the mainstream a bit. In theory Friedrichshain is one area up from our hotel in Mitte and the pub, Hops and Barley, looked an easy walk from the Ostbanhof. Outside, on impulse, I flagged down a cab. It was a lovely evening and I was thirsty. Boy am I glad I did. I wouldn't have fancied the walk at all, dragging my thirst behind me. Thus we found ourselves deposited right outside the pub on Wühlischstrasse by our very friendly taxi driver. Now this is an area I like. Big tenement buildings, both new and renovated, lots of jumping studenty bars and restaurants and loads going on. It was one of the most damaged parts of Berlin during WW2, depressed during the DDR days, but now has  recovered its vitality and is a pulsing part of Berlin social life.

We sat outside and ordered our beers. A dunkel for me and a pils for E. Served in non cheaty half litre glasses.  The dunkel was dark - always a good sign - and its dark, chewy malt and light hopping were an excellent thirst quencher. E's pils was a cut above the usual brewpub stuff, though still a bit dull.  I asked what the special was.  "A Cascade Pale Ale."  Alas though it was competently enough made, it showed little trace of cascades, except in the aroma.  A disappointment, though probably better overall than I'd anticipated.  I've a long record of visiting German brewpubs and almost every one is an outright disappointment.


I'll come to our next beery port of call in a moment, but leaving the pub and heading towards Karl Marx Allee, on the same street, on a corner we noticed a pizza place.  Large open windows, graffitti decoration, candled tables and waitresses and waiters bawling at each other in Italian - what's not to like?  We hadn't eaten, so in we went and were squeezed into a table in the middle of the throng.  The pizzas were thin, crispy and superb.  The place was rightly going like a fair.   Second top tip.  And now, hot on its heels, the third.  If you are going to look for the new Tilsiter Brauerei as first revealed by Knut Albert, the easiest way is to walk along KMA to the Kosmos Kino (direction Frankfurter Tor), go behind it and follow the path onto Richard Sorge Strasse. Walk five minutes and it is on your right. This is much better than the roundabout way we went.  I'll now hand you over to Knut for the history and to tell you about the beer. I can't, as it wasn't on!  We settled for the full bodied, bitter and moreish Wernesgruner Pils instead and a chat with the barman about the cinema, which was showing West is West when we called.  The pub, converted out of the former cinema foyer, is stunning and charmingly old fashioned.  One little anecdote.  We were given a tour of the projection room.  No real electronics here, but old fashioned reel to reel from two giant metal projectors. Our host told us he bought them for a song.  They used to show films in the old Stasi HQ! Films of what, he didn't know.  The other titbit is they are maintained by the guy that does the brewing, which is off the premises in Mitte.  He was between brews and is apparently a kind of mad professor type. Needless to say, he built the brewery himself and produces 1000l at a time.  Two beers are produced; an unfiltered pils and helles and the odd special. When and if he gets round to it.

We returned along KMA to Frankfurter Tor U Bahn station. The beer festival was packing up, with vans and drays being loaded, while the odd reluctant drunk was still spinning out his last beer.  A good and different night out.

Sorry about the chopped off photo. It was dark in there and without the flash, which bounces back off the photo, I couldn't see a thing.

Now One of These Would be Handy

I was sent this today and as it involves some nice background scenes of one of my favourite watering holes, I thought I'd share it with you all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=6a8Eimr-fm0

Clever or what?

German Pubs Closing Too

It seems that Germany too is seeing pub closures on a grand scale, which tends to make one think this is not just a British problem and not one, in Germany's case at least, that can be blamed on a smoking ban. (Germany allows its states to decide and due to that has only limited smoking bans and even those are fairly recent.)

According to The Local, the total number of places to sit and drink a beer in Germany sank from nearly 48,000 in 2001 to 36,000 in 2010. That's a loss of nearly a quarter. The state of Hamburg lost an amazing 48% of its drinking establishments in that time and as anyone who has been to Hamburg recently can attest, getting a drink in the City Centre is not that easy. There just isn't many pubs any more. Booming Berlin spectacularly bucked the trend though, with a 95.8% increase though over that period, I'd guess most of that increase will be in former East Berlin, which is now awash with little bars to satisfy both locals and the soaring tourist trade. (Berlin ironically, is still one of the cheapest European capitals to visit.)

The effects on communities is being recognised too: “With the closure of the public house, an establishment with a high social and cultural worth is lost from the community,” said Florian Kohnle, cultural geographer at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt.

Don't look here for any solutions is all I'd say!  German beer tax is already way lower than here.


The Local has the full story here. I've drawn on it extensively.

Tailor Made

I used to regard the Weisses Bräuhaus in Munich mostly as a place to sit outside of on a lovely summer's day, while watching the traffic go past. You can't really watch the people on the pavement, as most seats face the wrong way. It isn't  in the most picturesque of locations in fact, though the building itself is quite grand. Why not sit inside then? Well, until the smoking ban, it was really rather a hell hole, with a leather curtain always drawn over the door and a fug that required an iron lung to negotiate. Then there was the beer, a kind of muddy wheat beer, which was neither dunkles nor helles.
The Weisses Bräuhaus was the brewing home of Schneider und Sohn until one gloomy night in 1944, when the brewery in Tal and the Weisses Beer Hall were destroyed in an RAF air raid.  It had somehow managed to survive around 10 major raids before its luck finally ran out. The company then, as now, owned a brewery in Kelheim in the countryside and all operations were moved there. The pub was rebuilt after the war, but the brewery never was.  Now Schneider is a major player in the wheat beer game and the Kelheim brewery is extensive and modern.  The beer range has been modernised too and now that the smoking ban is firmly in place, the doors have been flung open and a bright but traditional interior revealed.

We went mob handed on a very wet Saturday, though I had sneaked a couple of  beers outside earlier in the week in warm sunshine and I was astonished at the improvement in both beer and pub. I reckon they must have a new brewer along with the new range. Original is firmly auburn in colour with orange highlights. Full bodied, slightly bitter, not too heavily carbonated, with heady banana and clove esters and is very moreish.  It may well be brewed to the original 1872 recipe, but I reckon someone has tidied up the processes.  There is a pale version too and a green one, as in organic.  Aventinus, a weizenbock, still sets the mark for beers of this style. 8.2%, complex and dangerously drinkable, this is one not to miss.  Nor should you miss Hopfenweisse with its distinct American hop nose and IPA like drinking, but with obvious wheat undertones. It is a stunning beer and markedly different to anything you'll encounter in Bavaria, but again at 8.2%, not for the unwary.  It is temptingly only 30c or so more than the Original, which may or may not encourage recklessness.

Food here is superb, the dirndled waitresses a mix of matronly and young, the customers the same and the place is jumping at all times with a great atmosphere.  Don't miss it if you go.

The photo shows various stammtisch or locals table "markers". When the group come on, say, a Tuesday night, out comes their particular sign to reserve it.

Oans, zwoa g'suffa

I've got a nice five days away coming up in a month or so. Once again to my favourite city,  Munich, this time accompanied by twenty odd CAMRA chums, as this is an official "do" and of course, the lovely E. This trip wasn't planned by me, but by our  Social Secretary, Stopwatch Sid. I met him last night to discuss the gig as I know the place quite well. That is I know the boozers quite well and we wanted the gang to get the benefit of a quick tour round, so as not to waste valuable drinking time.

Over excellent pints of Ossett Yorkshire Gold - a perfect crossover beer if ever there was one - we knocked up a rough itinerary for the first full day and agreed a Sunday trip to Kloster Andechs, out in the countryside, but with superb beer and a balconied beer keller overlooking lovely countryside. I have been before and may therefore go instead to Bräustüberl Tegernsee, whose beer I have been selling for years at the BSF Bar at the Great British Beer Festival. It's on a lake and it will be nice to see where it comes from and it will please E.

One thing we both agreed on as a must, is a visit to the famous Hofbräuhaus. This huge, rambling, raucous, beer hall is seen as typical by many foreign visitors, but is actually a very rare beast these days. Often looked down on as a tourist trap, it does in fact offer one of the best drinking experiences of your life if you just go with the flow.  I can't wait to grab a Maßkrug of dunkel and just have a good time.

How many readers of this blog have been to the Hofbräuhaus or would like to go? Is it on your "must do" list?  If it isn't, it should be.

German News

According to the Federal Statistical Office, Germany sold 20.8 million hectolitres of beer in the first quarter of 2011. That was a decrease of 0.1 million hectolitres (–0.4%) from the corresponding period of the previous year. So gloom there too.

It seems too that the Germans are getting round their somewhat loophole filled smoking ban with comparative ease. Despite widespread smoking bans across Germany, more than four out of five corner pubs and bars still have patrons smoking inside, a study released on Tuesday has found. A survey of nearly 3,000 eating and drinking venues in 10 major cities found that complex and numerous exemptions are being widely exploited to allow smoking to continue.

Since August 2007, laws have been gradually introduced in all German states to protect people against passive smoke. However many exemptions exist. Düsseldorf had the most smoking bars and also the most breaches of the law with 41% of all hospitality venues still allowing smoking, but failing to warn their patrons that they do. Munich came out on top. A general smoking ban has been in force there since August 2010. Yet even here, 17 percent of bars make use of the single exception that is still possible in Bavaria – that smoking is permitted in private clubs or associations.

Meanwhile the German Brewers Association revealed that Germany has 1,325 breweries currently though warning at the same time that this number is likely to fall due to takeovers.

Finally, I'll leave you with this quote from a contributor to a discussion on the beer purity laws. "lots of countries in Europe allow brewers to use chemicals ,the lager in the U.K. has no natural things in it at all."

Oh well. But if you look at the photo, perhaps their beer is just too natural?

My thanks to The Local

Bottoms Up!

How do you like to ingest your vodka? Presumably the usual way, in a glass, topped up with the mixer of your choice. Not so for German teenagers. The Local has the story.  

http://www.thelocal.de/society/20110330-34051.html
 
You may feel queasy after reading it though!

Oktoberfest 2010

Today I received some photos of the Oktoberfest from my friend Moyra who has lived in Munich for many years. She took them today (yes I know they say 3rd October, but that's what she said), though as far as I know she doesn't drink beer. Can't exactly guarantee that mind you, since I haven't seen her since 1972!

I have already complained to her that she hasn't included enough young women in dirndls, but you can't have everything I suppose. Nonetheless I was struck by the first photo. It isn't often you see an Oktoberfest tent this quiet. This contrasts with yesterday when the area was closed to visitors with beer tents and beer gardens in the area having to be closed for several hours due to overcrowding. The historic Wiesn area was packed within 45 minutes of opening and the entrance was closed by noon. On Saturday though the 800,000 crowd got ugly according to police with the "folksy" mood being lost and incidents with beer mugs rising as the jam-packed atmosphere (and copious drinking) frayed tempers. Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that the number of assaults with the festival’s famous one-litre glass beer mug rose from 38 last year to 60 this. Somehow, the thought that I might be brained by a maßkrug at Oktoberfest hadn't occurred to me. I'll bear it in mind now.

It all ends tonight in perfect weather and hopefully perfect tempers!

Additional material from The Local

Wuerzburg

I'll write about my Franconian beer adventures when I get back as internet access here is rather limited. Suffice to say if I was worried about the state of German brewing before, I'm even more worried about it now. That'll be the theme of a later post.

Wuerzburg is pleasant, but it has taken it 60 odd years to recover from the devastating air raid by the RAF at the end of the war, when 90% of the city was destroyed, including it seems, every pub. Well we've had trouble finding any. But there is wine and surrounded as it is by vineyards, perhaps that's what has happened. Wine has won here. Despite Wuerzburg Hofbrau, there is little to be had other than the juice of the grape.

Ah well. When in Rome.

World Cup Fever

It is building up to a crescendo as the first match approaches, both here in Middleton and in Germany, where I was at the weekend. Here all the pubs are being done up in the national colours, with the emphasis on quantity rather than quality, though they don't seem to do that in Germany. Not that Germany eschews tackiness altogether. While visiting a brew pub in the sticks on Saturday we came across a shop selling tat (in German colours of red, yellow and black of course) that might have made even a Langley lad think twice. Leprechaun hats in German national colours, Hawaiian garlands, ditto (I rather liked them), a set of three clappy hands (which I now wish I'd bought), flags for cars and a lanyard in red, yellow and black, with a whistle for getting on people's tits. (That was a euro and is now proudly in Tandleman Towers.) I rather think though that I would be unwise to wear much German gear around here, as I'd likely get my head kicked in. To add to the festivities, as we left Frankfurt the airport was besieged by fans, garlanded, Ballack shirted and face painted, waiting to watch the national team fly off in Lufthansa's new A380.

Nonetheless Middleton is not to be outdone. I noticed this rather fine bronze fellow (pictured) outside the Middleton Archer, a Lees Pub. It pays tribute to the err..... Middleton Archers (the chaps with longbows, not pints of bitter) success in mowing innocent Scots down at Flodden, a fact also commemorated in our Parish Church, by the world's first ever war memorial.

I'm getting excited too and must get some beer in. Even this pub drinker may require the odd home libation.

Unexpected Pleasure

Sachsenhausen (not to be confused with the WW2 concentration camp of the same name, north of Berlin) is a suburb of Frankfurt. Unlike its neighbour just across the River Main, it mainly escaped the devastating air raids that saw Frankfurt's mediaeval, centre, the biggest in Germany, almost completely destroyed. This small piece of background perhaps explains why it is here, in this unspoiled, atmospheric, bohemian nook, that Frankfurt's night life and social quarter is based. Where we stayed, the twisted cobbled streets, with bars and restaurants galore, gave way to handsome, towering, Victorian tenements and tranquil streets enhanced every few yards by stately plane trees. Combined with the flower bedecked balconies, where residents were taking the air on a beautiful summer night, the call of birdsong and the sweet evening air, the whole area was to this author, simply enchanting.

Nestled in and around this area are Germany's cider houses. The best of them are around the grand, bustling, Schweizer Strasse and they too are quite stunning. Old, traditional and very reminiscent of Düsseldorf's Alt pubs, their narrow brick and red sandstone frontages invariably give way to a maze of rooms, corridors and courtyards. The best of them all is perhaps Apfelhaus Wagner, though its neighbour the Gemalten Haus pushes it close. In fairness, they are all damn good. Wagner has a large front room with dark wooded walls, long benches and more intimate tables, leads to a number of smaller rooms and courtyards where diners eat typically hearty food and drink the local cider. No beer is sold. On the left is the bar where all the action happens. There is a small stand up area parallel to it where you can watch the heavy stoneware cider jugs or bembels being filled. You buy cider by the glass or jug, but sharing is the way to go. At the end of the bar is a small schwemme or locals standing area, where ruddy cheeked habitués exchange noisy banter and commentary with the no nonsense waiters, who snap back gruff ripostes, but clearly love it. In a timeless scene, the multi faceted traditional glasses are filled from a height. The cider itself comes up by a sort of hosepipe from the cellar. One waiter fills the jugs, splashing the precious liquid into the waiting bembels with nonchalant ease and sliding them to white jacketed waiters who handle the heavy bembels with a casual confidence.

This is a place for the pub man as much as any I have been in. Though beer is not the drink, these are pubs. People come here to socialise with their friends and families. People watching, social discourse and laughter mix with the delicious aromas from the hearty meals. Every age is represented, from the soaks in the schwemme, to old ladies and gossipy young girls and lads who seem, on a Friday night, happy just to be there and part of it all, as was I.

I have said before in this blog that the most striking thing in Germany is the apparent social cohesion. This was it at its best - so much so that we returned again on Saturday to eat and enjoy the atmosphere again.

Oh and what of the cider? Very similar to a cider like Westons Farmhouse, with a slight cloudiness, a clean, unchallenging apple taste and a reasonable drinking strength of around 5.5%.

Apfelwein

Cider making isn't that big in Germany, but nonetheless it exists in places. A little known fact is that Frankfurt is a bastion of not only financial dealings, but a centre of cider drinking, with a number of dedicated cider houses or Apfelweinlokal (there are other names for them too), mainly located in Sachsenhausen, where a lot of Frankfurt's night life is based. That's where we'll be staying.

Now I'm not the biggest cider fan in the world, though the odd pint of Old Rosie or Black Rat doesn't go amiss, but this will be different and I'm looking forward to the cider houses, as they'll surely be worth trying. There will be beer too of course, though that's one thing Frankfurt doesn't really excel in, being dominated by the giant Binding, but there is always weisse bier, as the weather promises to be hot. Scorchio in fact, so hooray for that.

So I'm off to London later and despite the strikers best efforts, we'll be flying BA from London City. A good move for us as not only is the BA fare cheaper than the atrociously expensive Flybe from Manchester, it is an easy journey for us direct to the airport from Tower Gateway, round the corner from our flat. We'll be there a full six hours earlier than our other 17 friends too, so an opportunity to steal a march on them and explore!

So tonight a couple of drinks in London. I wonder where?