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

Munich, Day Three

Not so many pictures today. Ended up drinking Glühwein at the Christmas markets for most of the evening. So when I do a Glühwein blog, maybe I'll post some pictures.

This is Isar Bräu in the old Isartal train station to the south of the city center. They brew a nice wheat beer here.

The also sell beers from Hofbräuhaus Tronstein. I had their zwickl. It was not up to the quality of the other twoI had. (Hacker-Pschorr and Paulaner-Thomasbräu). Drinkable but that was about all I could say.

They were brewing when I left, but unfortunately the light was all wrong.

Keeping with the wheat beer theme, I stopped in at the Schneider Weisses Bräuhaus. Until WW II this was the home of the Schneider & Sohn brewery.

This is "TAP7" -- the original Schneider Weisse. They offered it both on tap and from the bottle (for purists).

Also on draft was Aventinus. I had a small. A large would have put me under the table.

And some haxen being cooked on a spit -- for some this is "pork porn" -- you know who you are.

Munich, Day Two

Just pictures for now, words later....