Day Five: Riding around, not so much beer.

We decided to ride out to Merkendorf and visit Brauerei Hummel, knowing that Brauerei Wagner was still on holiday. An uneventful ride, by bike could do it by itself its been so many times.

Hummel has a lot of beers on tap. This time only seven though...

We started with the Pils and the Kellerbier and both were in fine form.

It was lunch time and they had marinated herring on the menu — I think I was a penguin in a former life as I love herring.

With so many beers it seemed a shame to only try two we we order their Rauchbier “Räucherla.”  No problems with it but one was enough

Bob had never been Brauerei Göller so we decided to stop there and decide our next move. I had visited there for years before I knew they had a nice Biergarten in the back.

We order one of of the Lager and their Dunkel. The Dunkel was a bit more interesting but both, while well made, were a little on the bland side. Worthwhile if you are in the neighborhood but not worth a trek form themselves.

We decided to try next for Brauerei Knoblach in Schammelsdorf. It was up a big hill but I felt up to it. Wrong. We got to a T-intersection and I was about done. Turn right to go up an even bigger hill to Schammelsdorf or turn left and go (apparently) downhill to Köttensdorf and Brauerei Hoh. I chose left but after that short downhill was another big hill. I made it, but barely. Then it was a nice downhill into the village to find the brewery closed for vacation.  We also found out from some other riders that Knoblach was open.  Oh well.

So we headed back to Memmelsdorf and stopped in at Drei Kronen. That had just released a Festbier the day before so we had one of those along with the Keller-Pils (it has a new name but I forget what it is).  The Festbier was really, really good. Made with 95% Vienna malt (looked darker than the phone below, its the one in the tall glass). We also got to try their specialty wheat beer Orgelweisse, originally brewed 25 years ago to help the local church buy a new organ.  Forgot to get a picture, though.

Friday was the start of the Memmelsdorfer Kirchweih and even though they are on holiday, Brauerei Wagner had a booth set up so we stopped in for a Lagerbier (looks red from the tent).  Delicious as always, can’t wait for them to reopen next week.

We rode back to Bamberg and made ourselves presentable to polite society (as much as possible) and headed over to Spezial. This is the last night they are open before their holiday and we figured it would be jammed but we actually found a seat, had a nice dinner and a couple of beers. 

All in all a good day even with the brewery missteps.