Northern Bavarian Breweries

Bamberg

Bamberg rivals Munich for the world's beer king city. In Germany it's really more famous because the beer history goes back farther.

Klosterbrau is the oldest. The brewery at this location was first recorded in city records in 1333. They claim a date of 1533 since it was 200 years before the brewery actually got an owner and a name - Prince Bishop's Brown Beer House. 22 prince bishops held sway until 1790 when the church secularized it. Peter Braun bought the place in 1851 and it's now in the 5th generation of that family.

Amazingly parts of the current gasthaus are original to the 1500s. Rooms have names like Tithe House, Decoction House, Little Brown Beer Room, Little Yard, and Vault.

• Maibock - This is the very end of the season and it was pretty stale. The bitter was overpowering and also quite sour.
• Schwarzla - Pure black and very roasty.
• Brauns Weiss - A pretty normal dunkelwiezen. It's their flagship beer and fabled in the city guides but is really nothing special.
• Weiss - A+ Big and bready.
• They also have a Gold Pils and Vollbier.
   

At the Klosterbrau, Bob walked into the WC just as Kevin Cox walked out and said "Hi Bob" just as if it were natural to see someone you know. So we sat around and had a couple more beers.

Kevin was in Munich before Bamberg and was going on to Salzburg and Prague.
 

Schlenkerla. What can one say. It's possibly the best bar in the world. Certainly among the top 10. To qualify you have to have:

• History - It opened in 1678 and hasn't changed much since.
• Good beer - Hey, it's Schlenkerla Rauchbier. Fabled of song and story.
• Cordial staff - Certainly so. The bartender and waitress (there is only one of each - it's really small) knew us by name before the week was out. They, and the regulars, are used to tourists and understand when flashes of cameras go off - it happens every 5 minutes or so.
• Convivial drinkers - Even though it's a major tourist stop in crowded Bamberg, the regulars are interesting and the locals are welcoming.

Bob closed down the place 3 nights of the 5 we stayed in Bamberg. Once with Kevin Cox plus the duo from Munich mentioned below, once by himself, and once with a crew from Nurnberg that come to Bamberg weekly just for the rauchbier and the ambiance. Thanks Tom, Oliver, Christian, etc. for the good times.

The first time we walked into the place we took the first picture below and 3 other people took pictures before we hit the door. It's that famous in Germany, people travel here repeatedly.

There's only one beer on tap at Schlenkeria, the Rauchbier Marzen - 5.1%. It's served from a wooden cask that's emptied every 20 minutes or so. Some people will wait for the tourists to drink the dregs to get the fresh beer from the next keg. You can get Rauchbier Weisse from bottles also. Both are priced at, get this, 2.05€ per 1/2 liter glass. Cheapest best beer in the world or best cheap beer in the world. Either way, it's special. The smoky character comes through strongly from start to finish and 3 liters in an evening don't produce a hangover at all. Wonderful stuff.

Those antlers on the wall are older than the United States.

First pull from a new cask.
Alex Culaj, a student from Kosovo, is one of the Schlenkerla's six Bierschänker (Beer Servers).

The carry-out department sells schnapps for consumption on site, postcards, 3-liter kegs,
and believe it or not a 5-pack of Schlenkerla Rauchbier for 5.50€. That's not a typo.
In fact the 10-pack of 1/5 liter bottles behind the 5-pack in this picture is 10.50€!
I dare you to match that price anywhere -
especially when it sells in the USA for, what, $5 per bottle.

Schlenkerla on tap at a hotel gave a creamy ivory head. From the wood it has very little carbonation and very little head.

Fun facts. Schlenkern is German for not walking straight. Schlenkeria does its own maltings, smoking the malt over a beechwood fire. The text on their mats translates to "Even if the brew tastes somewhat strange at the first swallow, do not stop, because soon you will realize that your thirst will not decrease and your pleasure will visibly increase".

Brauerei Spezial - Only this one picture since it was raining and the inside was filled with locals and a flash would have been disturbing. Sorry. Spezial dates back to 1536 and the inside could be easily from the 1800s without change.

• Rauchbier Lagerbier - Not nearly as smoky as Schlenkerla's rauchbier. In fact just a mild smoked malt essence. Lightly carbonated and translucent.
• Weisse - Nice.
• These were the only two beers available. Seasonaly they make a marzen and a bock.

Two guys, one from Mississippi and one from Lincolnshire sat down at our table. Turns out they just got in on the train from Nuremberg on a evening pub crawl. So we joined them, or vice-versa, at the Fassla and back to Schlenkerla until it closed. A lovely evening.
 

Brauerei Fassla is directly across the street from Spezial. It's almost as old (1649) and the front rooms have even more of a locals-only mentality. You either order at the bar or a waiter walks around occasionally with a tray of beers. They mark the barmats to keep track of your tab - even for strangers. But for strangers, they mark only one mat of the group and individual tabs aren't allowed. In back a covered garden is less strict.

• Echtes Bamberger Zwergla - Smooth but with a strong bitterness and some nuttiness. Medium copper.

• Pils - Crystal clear and deep yellow. Mild with a long lasting bitterness.
   

Bamberg's newest brewery, Ambrausianum, sits directly next door to Schlenkeria. It has all contemporary furnishings in an equally as old building. The malty brewing smells extend right out onto the street from the coppers located under stone arches in the center of the restaurant.

• Wiezen - Dark dull apricot. Almost to dunkle darkness. Still no clove but plenty of banana on a nice malty base.
• Dunkel - Dull walnut. Unfiltered. Smooth bitter chocolate dominates. Probably deadly. Terry's 2nd favorite in Europe and Bob's 2nd favorite in Bamberg.
• Also a Hell which we sadly didn't try.

They have a taster consisting of 1/10th liter of each of the three for 2.90€.

Stopped in after the Schlenkeria closed one night and they sold us a beer and told us we had to drink it on the street - but to bring back the glass.
 

Outside of Bamberg

Rodental - Brauerei Grosch. That's Grosch, not Grolsch.

This site was a hotel in 1425 that was licensed to brew in 1492 as long as they promised to provide beer for the Duke's court. The Duchy took it over in 1597 but gave it to the Bauersach family in 1736 in exchange for an 8 franc per vat tax. It passed to Henrich Grosch in 1852 and is now owned by the 6th generation of that family.

The busy hotel and restaurant are visited by tour busses regularly and we couldn't, at first, get a seat anywhere but the courtyard which experienced a heavy shower, dampening the spirits of the waiter but not our mood. The small courtyard was interesting - ringed by the hotel, kitchen, and the keg filling plant.

• Zwicklbeer - Light body served in a clay pot. A very bitter helles lager.
• Fuhrmannstrunk - Dark brown. Earth, strong taste. Late developing coffee bitterness with a touch of chocolate and roast.
• Erntebier - "das sommer frische" Medium gold 3.0% schankbier served in a swing-top bottle. Deep yellow. Light and mellow lager.
• Also a pilsner, malztrunk, and a bock in season.
   

Reichelshofen bei Rothenburg on de Tauber - Landwehrbrau. They can't fit the city name on the sign. They'd use the back side of the sign but it say's Aufweidersein. That's the joke anyway.

The Landwehrbrau Privatbrauerei is actually about half of the town. It has been owned since 1755 by the Worner family so they probably are officers in the local chamber of commerce - heck, there isn't any other business in the town. It's a hotel, a restaurant, a brau stuble, and a large brewery complex out back.

Landwehrbrau is distributed in only a 20 mile area plus one outlet in Nuremberg.
 

• Toppler Pils - Bright gold with a creamy white head. Non-biting earthy floral hops. Pale dry finish. A delicious beer that can only come from years of experience.
• Dunkles Landbier - Deep amber. A moderate stale malt aroma. Very creamy texture. Goes down smooth but is a very plain beer.
• Also available in bottle - Export Edelhell and Pils.

Altdrossenfeld - Brauerei Schnupp. The brewery is out back of a modern restaurant and hotel.

Lunch ends here at 2pm but they serve brats and cold cuts in the afternoon which suited us fine. Good beers served with little carbonation. Recommended.

• Alte Frankisches Dunkel - Light amber. Little aroma but a big malty caramel taste that dries quickly.
• Voll - Golden. Nice, clean, pale taste with a richer finish that lingers.
• Also an Edelpilsner on tap and bottled marzen and storchen leichte. They made a doppelbock but are completely out.
   

Kulmbach - Kulmbacher Brauerei is big. It's taken over many of the other local breweries and now makes Kulmbacher, EKU, Kapuziner, and Monchshof. They are the biggest employer in Kulmbach and have made their town into a showplace for their beer. Flags of the various brands are everywhere on the downtown streets and a block from the main square holds a semi-permanent pavilion which hosts a festival every 3 or 4 weeks in the summer. We saw at least 3 separate brewery Kulmbacher complexes in town. There's also a museum attached to the Monchshof brewery but it was closed when we stopped in.

Kulmbach - Kommunbrau. Down a 1-lane cobbled street on the northwest edge of a town dominated by a giant. Location, location, location. You have to look hard to find this place, even with a map. Have only 2 beers which are the normal style for the area. It doesn't seem to be a formula for success but Kommunbrau has held on as the last independent in town.

It's a newly built multi-room pub in an old building. It's supposed to look old, with 2-wire electricity, cast iron supporting posts, etc. but it only takes a second glance to see it's new.

On a slow Monday afternoon when the kitchen is closed some regulars were sitting in small groups reading the newspaper or whispering conversation while a few others returned the 1-liter swing-top bottles for deposit refund. The regulars' mugs are kept in a locked compartment - odd.

• Helles - Bright yellow, low carbonation. Good, to style, but not distinctive.
• Dunkel - Dark amber lager. Aroma is faintly of tea and fruity hops. First taste has sweet candied fruit (orange?) but that changes to darker hoppier notes quickly.

The vats are actually in front of the serving station.

Brewery Museum

The extensive brewery museum in Bamberg is a product of a club with 400 members, including 70 brewery representatives. It's a full-time professional display covering 3 floors in the old monastery.

An excellent mostly-copper model of the brewing process.
Much like the printed flowchart we're all familiar with, but in glorious 3D.

A wort chiller. Water is run over the outside to cool the liquid running through the tubes.
There's a very similar one at the Red Oak brewery in Greensboro, NC.

A much different wort chiller.
Didn't figure out exactly how it works.

The coolest grundy ever. About 4 ft high.

Catalog drawing of a flat tambourine filter - and the real thing.

We've noticed that European brewers, at least the small ones, don't have a "house style" the way many American brewpubs and even large breweries do. Many times the bitter, amber, porter, and even stout at a brewpub will use much of the same recipe with some additional malts but the same hops and the same yeast. This gives them all a similar taste.

But in Europe, the pils, hell, marzen, bock, schwartz, are all distinct. Even a weisse and a dunkel-weisse are usually very different.