After that we headed to the world's most renowned smoked beer brewery - Schlenkerla. Bamberg is known as the home of smoked beer.
After a smoked weizen that looked like a yeasty whirlpool we thought we'd move to another table without settling our bill. Bad move. Things operate a bit differently here and moving between areas within the same bar and not settling your bill spells trouble - as Nix found out, stranded with no cash, as I went to pee. Apparently she got berated - maybe she's exaggerating though...
We quickly got out of there and moved two doors down to Ambräusianum dinner. When the highlight of your meal is between a German tasting platter, a schnitzel, their house beer and a beer by another brewery, and the beer brewed by the other brewery comes out on top, it's a bit of a worry. At least we left full and boozed.
The second day in Bamberg we headed off on a biggish walk up to Brauerie Greifenklau, our first beer garden of Germany - beer garden virgins. The view to the castle and shining sun made for a very enjoyable first experience. After a couple of their lagerbiers paired with the kalbsrahmbraten (veal with potato dumplings and creamed savoy cabbage) we headed off in search of our next beer garden.
This proved to be a fruitless search though. We went to Spezial Keller and Wilde Rose but no luck. And Störenkeller on the way down the hill to town but that was closed too. We finally got lucky at Klosterbrau and were able to sit outside in the alley, in the sun, and down multiple braunbiers and schwarzlas - not a bad compromise.
After that we headed to Spezial (Bamberg's other famous smoked beer brewery) and worked our way through their beer list. We also shared a blaue zipfel - sausages cooked in vinegar, nice!
By this stage we were feeling pretty good and thought it was time to break away from Bamberg tradition and go for a bit more of the German craft beer angle. Off to Café Abseits we went...
This is a pretty random place. The wrong side of the train tracks, in a building that doesn't look like much at all from the outside and just filled with locals who probably wouldn't look sideways at something that isn't their go to beer.
It was good fun though. We shared some mex tex pizza thing much to Nix's disgust but unfortunately it was the most appetising sounding thing on the menu. However, we did follow it up with quite a few awesome beers. Most notable were the three from BraufactuM, in particular their Honey Chilli Porter which we were almost forced into having because other bottles couldn't be found. An amazing beer, genuine chilli heat and some nice honey notes all backed up by a very impressive porter.
Needless to say we stumbled home that night but a late night kebap certainly helped!
On our third day we thought we should try doing something non beer related so climbed Bamberg's highest mountain (maybe it was just a hill). At the top we enjoyed a pretty good lunch that included rauchbier brot (bread baked with smoked beer!).
Following that we were a bit parched so headed to Brauerei Keesmann for a few pils (apparently the best in Bamberg) ordered from a little hole in the wall as you walk in. We then headed inside to have something to eat. We initially tried to sit at the Stammtisch (the regulars' table) though and got told "nein nein nein" as the old men laughed us away. The tasty bratwurst and sauerkraut paired with their hefeweizen soon made up for that.
Fassla was looking good for dinner where we tucked into more bratwurst with sauerkraut and something beef with something paired with dark lagers. An awesome way to end a few very beery days.
Bamberg would be an awesome place for a husband to take his wife as she could occupy herself with the city while he was off beering. Evidently I don't have to worry about that!
OFFICIAL PUG DROUGHT
Bamberg Breweries - 7/9
The Beers
Fassla Pilsener, Lagerbier, Zwergla
Schlenkerla Weizen, Marzen
Greifenklau Lagerbier
Klosterbrau Braunbier, Schwarzla
Huppendorfer Weizenbeer, Vollbier
BraumanfactuM IPA, Honey Chilli Porter, Imperial Stout
Spezial Lager, Weissbier, Marzen
Keesmann Herren Pils, Hefeweizen
