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

Our Last Day in Bamberg

We just walked around to our favorite places and had a few quiet beers. Then we met at Spezial for our tradition last night in Bamberg dinner. I took no pictures, so just click on posts from previous years. By this time you should know what a glass of Spezial or Schlenkerla looks like.

Next is Salzburg. It's been 6 years since I was there so I am interested in what may have changed.

Walking around Bamberg drinking (mostly) Bock Beer

We started off the day at Cafe Abseits for a bock tasting. We are a little early in the bock season here, so Gerhard arranged something special for us -- Three different years of Mönchsambacher Weihnachtsbock (Christman bock).

We started out with our usual Mönchsambacher Lager and Huppendorfer Vollbier to wake beer taste buds.

It was lunch time, so he all had the traditional Schnitzel Sandwich...

... and the Rossdorfer Bock from Braurei Sauer.

Then the Weizenbock from Antla in Kronach. This was a collaboration beer with a group of local homebrewers formulating the recipe. Only 300 liters were brewed and where was about 5 liters left in the last keg so we got a sample. Sadly ( has happens to home brewers) everybody was having so much fun brewing they can't find the paper with the recipe details. 

Next week opened 2008, 2010 and 2012 (last year) bottles of the Mönchsambacher Christmas bock. The 2008 and 2010 bottles were stored at the brewery at near to freezing. These beers are also unfiltered, which helps in preservation. All were wonderful, even the 2008. That years version was 9% (the others closer to 8%) so it is not surprising it would age well.

We next had a sample of Weyermann's Barley Wine. This comes in at 11.5% and most of it went into various barrels for aging but Gerhard got a keg of it before the barrel aging. A very nice beer.

We were in need of some fresh air and walking to clear our heads a bit, so we wondered off to Mahrs Bräu to try their bock. I started with an U (which was good) but some of the others had the bock. I tasted theirs and decided I didn't really need one. It was OK, but nothing special. It has been better in the past.

a U

We headed back to the Altstadt and at Eckerts say that they were serving a bock. So we stopped. It would have been rude not to.

It is brewed by Drei Kronen Memmelsdorf (who does their house beer) and it was fine, but nothing special. I enjoyed the Gänstaller Zwickel-Pils we ordered with bock much more.

Around the corner from Eckerts is Klosterbräu. I needed to see if their Braunbier had gotten any better since May. It had -- it went from "dump this beer" to "could finish it if thirsty" which while an improvement, is not a whole lot better. We moved on.

Klosterbräu Braunbier

Walking along I spotted a small (seemed to be about 8 oz) bottle of Mahrs U -- clearly packaged for as a tourist souvenir

Also noticed that the renovation of the old Einhorn/Nelson Lounge building on Sandstrasse is about down. The pub is supposed to open soon. Hopefully there will be some good beer.

It was getting dinner time so we walked up the hil to Stöhrenkeller for some good Penang Curry and a glass of Friedel Vollbier from Zentbechhofen. Both were delicious.

The last beer of the night was a Keesmann bock. It was better than the Mahrs and the Schlenkerla so that makes it the best Bamberg bock so far, but it too seemed a bit ordinary. Maybe my expectations are too high?