A trip to the Munich suburbs

We caught the S7 line out to Pullach, intending to visit Isar Bräu a lovely little brewery,  in a converted train station, only to find out it was closed for renovation. So we hopped back on the S7 and took it back thru town and into the south east Munich area to Perlach home of Forschungs Brauerei.

Forschungs Brauerei

The brewery was founded in 1930. The name translates as "Research Brewery" so I guess it was somebody's "pilot brewery" at some point.

We started off with the "Sommer Hell" and "Naturquell Dunkel." Unlike all of the other Munich Dunkels we've had, this one had an actual roast malt character. And the Hell, while lighter in alcohol had a wonderful refreshing flavor.

Sommer Hell and Naturquell Dunkel

It was well past noon so we ordered a bit to eat -- Käsespätzle -- the German answer to "Mac and Cheese."

Käsespätzle

Next up was the Pilissimus Export. I had heard good things about this, Jim and I each got one.

Wow, was this a nice beer -- by far the best one in Munich and probably the best since Bamberg. At 5.6% it was a tad strong but I could drink it all afternoon.

Pilsissimus Export

Until a few years ago they were only open April to mid-October but now are open year round. The beer garden was clearly the main area but there was a quaint inside pub as well.

Inside the Gaststätte

Inside the Gaststätte

The beer garden

The final beer they had on tap was the St. Jakobus Blonder Bock. It was more amber than blond and very tasty. But at 7.6% on a warm afternoon, it was a bit nap inducing, so we split one.

St Jakobus Blonder Bock

There were people in the beer garden drinking multiples of these -- I guess they were not at the end of a 2+ week beer trip.

You can just make out the brewery in the upper story of the buiding. Looks to be the original kettles.

We headed back to town for our St Jakobus nap.

We headed back towards the Augustiner Braugaststätte but along the way we came to the Gaststätte Bavaria and I remembered I'd had a nice dinner years ago, so we stopped in for dinner and a beer.

Gaststätte Bavaria

The only draft beer was the Augustiner Hell, which is what I would have had, had we made it all the way to the Braugaststätte.

Augustiner Hell

This by far the best of the "big" Munich breweries and the first few sips were nice, but by the end of the glass I was getting bored and really didn't want another one. That seems to be my problem with most Munich beers -- no staying power.

While we were eating the place started to fill up and soon was packed with locals having a good time on a Friday night.

Tomorrow we travel to Frankfurt for one night and then fly home early Sunday morning. It has been a good trip but it will be good to get back home.

Walking around Munich drinking beer.

We decided to walk down to the Viktualienmarkt lunch and a beer.

Karlstor

The Viktualienmark is Munich's open air "Farmers Market."

Viktualienmarkt

There is a biergarden in the center but it was absolutely packed (being lunchtime on a nice day) so we wandered to the far side to Der Pschorr, a Hacker-Pschorr pub.

Der Pschorr

We had a Hell and Dunkel and some soup. The soup was good, the beer fair.

Hacker-Pschorr Hell and Dunkel

Next up was the Paulaner Bräuhaus on Kaputziner Platz. This is a brewpub that Paulaner runs. On the way, pointing down a driveway we saw this...

I am not familiar with Schlossbrauerei Au-Hallertau, but that is one of the traditional hop growing regions of Germany,  so it seemed worth a stop.

In the middle of a courtyard was a small bistro.

Schlossbrauerei Au-Hallertau Hell

The beer was quite nice, definitely more bitterness than the typical Munich beer.

We continued on to the Paulaner Bräuhaus. This was once the Thomasbräu brewery before Paulaner bought them over a century ago.

As is typical of German brewpubs, they had the standard three colors of beer: yellow, brown and white (actually, that can be said of most Munich pubs as well)

We had the Dunkel and Zwickl and they were decent. Much better than the typical German brewpub beer. They were brewing while we were there, so that was a bonus.

We didn't eat, but the food looked good and the room is very nice. Would be worth a meal stop if in the area.

We wander around some more, seeing some sights. We ended up at the Schnitzelwirt which is a Spaten pub.

Spaten Hell

 Many years ago -- before I had traveled much to Germany -- Spaten was my favorite German beer. It was drinkable and OK with the schnitzel but that is about the best I can say. Travel to Bamberg will skew your taste buds.

Jägerschnitzel at Schnitzelwirt

The Schnitzel was OK, but nothing special and a bit pricy (but this is Munich). I'm not sure I'd go back to the Schnitzelwirt.

Just down the street is the Augustiner Grossgaststätte so we had a night cap there. This is my favorite Munich beer, but I'd take almost any Bamberg beer (except Klosterbräu) over it. Just goes to show.

Augustiner Hell

Arrived in Munich

Arrived in Munich after minima; train delays. Dropped our bags and went for lunch and a beer.

Augustiner Braustubl

Augustiner Helles, Octoberfest, Edelstoffe

Hofbräuhaus

Some many helles and dunkles

Ayinger Spies & Trank

Ayinger Lager,  Jahrhundert, Dunkel and Kellerbier

Tapping a keg

Ayinger Kirta, Dunkles Weizen and Weizen

Ayinger Lager from the barrel

Ayinger barrel of Lagerbier

Schneider Weisses Brauhaus

Scheider Hopfenweisse, Aventinus, Original and Helles

Schneider Grünes Weizen, Aventinus Eisbock, Krystalweizen

Löwenbräu

Löwenbräu keller

Löwenbräu Dunkel, 2 helles and Triamphator

Walking around Salzburg, then drinking beer.

We spent the morning walking around the Altstadt while some in the group took a tour bus. In our walk we came by the Hotel Sacher -- sister hotel to the famous one in Vienna. I cannot pass up a Sacher Torte.

Sacher Torter and Grosser Brauner at Hotel Sacher

 We headed over to Augustiner only to find the open at 3pm. But next door was their more formal restaurant, Krimpelstätter. Their garden was open so we sat outside and lunch and a beer or two

At 3pm we headed over to Augustiner to meet up with the rest of the group. It was a beautiful day so we sat in the bier garden

I didn't show you some of the rooms in yesterday's post. Here are a couple of the many large halls.

We ended up spending the enitre afternoon there. It was that pleasant.

 Getting hungry, we headed into the Altstadt to the Zipfer Bierhaus for dinner and a beer.

They had three beers on draft, Zipfer UrType, Gösser Zwickel Dunkel and Edelweiss weizenbier. We skipped the wheat and tried the other two. They were fine but nothing special. Went well with the wurst for dinner.

Göoser Zwickl Dunkel and Zipfer Urtype

Tomorrow it is off to Munich. We leave one behind here in Salzburg so we'll be down to 4 people (from the original 8 in Antwerp).

Arrived in Salzburg

We arrived in Salzburg after a few delays with German Rail. 

We found our hotel, drop our bags and headed for Kloster Mülln, home of Augustiner Bräu.

Along the way we passed the Stieglbräu so we popped in for a beer. I would have been rude not to have. 

Stiegl Goldbräu, Zwickl, Weizeb

We all agreed the Weizen was pretty tasteless -- just not much there. The Gold and Zwickl were better and it pretty depended on whether you like the residual sweetness of the Zwickl. We all agreed they were well made beers but not particularly interesting.

Kloster Mülln

 As we headed towards Mülln, we had to cross the river (Salzach) we afforded a bunch or tourist (i.e. non-beer) pictures. Some are provided below...

We soon reached the rear entrance to the Stübl, which is a bit uphill

Then you go down a grand staircase to the "food court" area...

Where you chose a mug from the rack and give the cashier your money. He gives you a ticket which you give to the pourer, who fills your mug.

It was a warm day so we retired to the beer garden.

One of the stands sell a large radish that has been spiral cut into one long piece and then sprinkled with salt. I think it counts as a vegetable.

Rettiche

We were getting hungry so we headed to Bärenwirt, a nearby restaurant of great character.

Bärenwirt

 Of course they serve Augustiner....

A bunch of us had the wild boar sausage with potatoes. It was wonderful.

We headed back across the river for a nightcap or three at Die Weisse. Of course, it was time for tourist pictures again.

Die Weisse had only one wheat beer on draft (the "Original") plus there Märzen, "Max." Märzen in Austria means something different than in Germany. Here it is pretty close to what you would call a Helles if north of the boarder.

They also had Trummer Pils (another local beer) so we order a couple plus a bottle of their Dunkel weizen and their Weizendoppelbock, Jubilator. All were very good but the Jubilaor was exceptional.

We then headed to 's Kloane Brauhaus, a tiny brewpub not far from Die Weisse

They had a weizenbier and a kellerbier. The wizen was good, the kellerbier was fair -- no problems but not up to Bamberg standards.

Tomorrow we are off to Bergheim to visit Isi Bräu