Bam bam bam ch bam bam ch Bamberg

So it was off to Fassla for our first couple of beers of Bamberg - a city of just over 70,000 people with nine breweries to boast of!  How many breweries have you got Mandurah?

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

The Beers of Berlin

Whilst Berlin doesn't have a massive beer scene, we still managed to get our hands on a few beers from up and coming craft brewers, a few quaffers from traditional ones and most importantly, some Berliner Weisse. 

Berliner Weisse

We sat down one night and had three Berliner Kindl Weisse side by side by side.  The unsweetened was OK, probably not enough sour for our liking, but the two syruped versions, raspberry and woodruff, were way too sweet.  This is Nana beer at its worst!  And at the supermarket you can buy your unsweetened stubbies and a packet of syrup pods that come in all sorts of naff flavours to DIY. 

Berlin's saving (beer) grace though was the Potsdamer Weisse by Braumanufactur.  With just enough sour to it and a really dry finish, you could easily drink an s load of this on a 40 degree day.  We found two bottles in an organic supermarket on the outskirts of Berlin and carried them around with us for a full day only to have some bastard at our hostel decide to pinch one of the bottles! 

Unfortunately though, and unlike Cologne and Düsseldorf, the production of Berlin's regional beer speciality seems to be a dying art and it is hard to see it being rekindled.  These Berliner Weisse don't hold a candle to Feral's Watermelon Warhead. 

Craft Beer Journey

We devoted one day and about 15 kilometres of walking to searching out a few of Berlin's apparent beer hotspots. 

First of all we hit up Das Meisterstück for Maisel & Friends' Chocolate Bock and Jeff's Bavarian Ale, and red cheese sausage with potato salad.  While the beers, sausage, concept and place itself were all great, that's where the good news stopped.  The waitress pretty much didn't want to know us,  leaving us waiting for at least 15 minutes before there was any sort of recognition, and then as we were leaving gave us a token "I hope you enjoyed it here, have a great day" in a last ditch attempt for a tip (which in protest we didn't give - that will show them!).  And then to cap it all off, the bar owner cracked the shits when we didn't want to pay 10 Euros for one takeaway, sorry buddy, that's a nights accommodation in SE Asia. 

So we left there and whinged all the way to the Berlin Bier Shop where we were met with an equally cold reception.  We picked up a couple of beers (one of which smelled like lanolin/dags/sheep's p*ss - yum!) but may have left with a couple more if the owner had showed just a slight bit more enthusiasm for his country's craft beer scene. 

After that we headed through what seemed to be the Centrelink section of this city (too un-PC?) to the most random restaurant come brewery tap,  Zunftwirtschaft, to try beer by Brewcraft.  We felt like we were sitting in one of our Nanas' living rooms drinking beer.   It was quite surreal really - roses on tables with faded yellow tablecloths, a chef out the back in his full chef's whites, quite innovative beer on tap in a pretty random section of Berlin with nothing else similar near it at all in what seemed like an old house.  The Brewbaker IPA was very interesting though and had almost a Saison like character to it -  v enjoyable. 

On the way home we dropped into Hops & Barley for a few to finish the day.  We had the Wiezen, Dunkel, Amber and their Cider whilst all around us seats near the television became very hot property as the bar filled up and everyone settled in for "a very famous German show" which was to begin at 8.15.  It turned out to be a German cop drama that people can't seem to get enough of.  We had to whisper to pay as we quickly shuffled out to give up our seat for someone else who clearly wanted it much more than us. 

In terms of the beers, they do what it says on the label but it would be nice to see them push the boundaries a bit more. 

So our craft beer experience around Berlin gave us a bit of a mix bag. 

Honourable Mention

Quickly running around the corner to pick up four more Erdinger Weisse for less than 5 Euros is absolutely brilliant and so convenient.  Oh, I'm out of beer, be back in a few minutes as I just head to the corner store to pick up a few more, get 8 cents back for each previously emptied bottle and then open one at the counter to drink on the way back as two minutes is too long to wait. Brilliant! 

Dishonourable Mention

The Weihenstephan Bar in central Berlin is a tourist trap abomination. 

The Beers

Erdinger Wiessbier, Dunkel

Weihenstephan Hefeweissbier , Vitus

Hops & Barley Amber, Wiezen, Dunkel, (Cider) 

Gessner Dunkler Bock

BrauKunstKeller Pale Ale

Hopfenstopfer Incredible Pale Ale

Rathaus Pils

Kindl Unsweetened, Raspberry, Woodruff

Andechs Wiessbier

Braumanufactur Potsdamer Weisse, Stanger

Maisel & Friends Chocolate Bock, Jeff's Bavarian Ale

Brewbaker IPA

Lausitzer Kirsch Porter