Trip Report from Bavaria (long)

[Ralf]

"Michael Maxwell" <sm...@mindREMOVETHISspring.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:6bsgis4dl31oelgff...@4ax.com...
> Trip Report from Bavaria - April 2000 (Sorry it is late, but "real
> life" interrupted me!)
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Hallo Bierfreunde in Germany,
was haltet Ihr von dieser Berichterstattung über Deutsches Bier.
Die Amis fühlen sich bei uns und der tollen Bierkultur so richtig wohl.
Hopfen und Malz, Gott erhalts.
Ralf
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> Landing in Munich was a little rough as the winds were quite strong,
> and the pilot had to come in hard and fast. With visions of the
> Southwest plane that skidded off of the runway in California flashing
> in my mind, we finally came to a proper stop. It was raining at the
> airport, but by the time I reached my final destination, it was
> snowing. With the exception of one other day, the rest of my visit
> would be clear and sunny. I would be staying the entire 11 days of my
> visit in a small village called Hausham, which is the hometown of my
> good friend, Marion, and her family. Hausham, about 45 minutes
> southeast from Munich, is not too far off of the A-8 Autobahn. Rather
> than staying in a hotel, which had been normal for me, I booked a 2
> room "holiday apartment" (Ferienwohnung) at a farm. The apartment had
> a large bedroom, an in-room bathroom with shower, and a combination
> living room/kitchen. These places like for you to stay a minimum of 4
> days to 1 week and with most of them, you will need to bring your own
> bed linen and bath towels. However, this one came completely
> furnished with anything and everything you might need, and with a
> price that was cheaper than the hotel where I normally stay (DM 65 -
> USD$ 33), a great deal. In planning for the beer related parts of the
> trip other than places I had visited in the past, I used two sources:
> James Robertson's "A Beer Drinker's Guide to Southern Germany", and
> Don Scheidt's Beer Travel information on his web site.
>
> After getting settled and greeting my friends, it was time for some
> "Welcome to Germany" beers from the local brewery, Brauhaus Hausham.
> They brew three styles: Märzen (Maerzen), Weissbier, and Helles, all
> of which come in "flip-top" bottles with a ceramic top. The Märzen
> comes in at 5.6%, with the look and taste of what a beer of this style
> should taste like, not like the new breed of "Oktoberfest Märzen"
> beers you will find at the Oktoberfest. This is easily my favorite
> beer from this brewery. The Weissbier at 5.3%, normally dependable
> but not assertive in taste, was having some problems. Each bottle we
> would open would "explode" like champagne, and the taste was a little
> too acidic for my liking. The Helles is also at 5.3%, brewed with
> Hallertauer hops and, while I have tasted worse, there are much better
> Helles beers in the area. My chief complaint with the Helles is that
> it seems not to have much of a body that I have grown accustomed to in
> German beers. Again, not a bad beer, but I have had better.
>
> Next day, it was time to stock my refrigerator with some beers to
> enjoy when I was "at home". It had been quite a while since I had
> tasted some Budweiser Budvar, and I remembered a "beverage shop"
> (Getränkemarkt) in Bad Tölz that sold it, so off I went. Upon arrival
> at the "beverage shop", I made a disappointing discovery. No, they
> still sold Budvar, but it now comes in green bottles just like
> Pilsener Urquell. I did manage to find some Budvar that came in brown
> bottles and bought this, as well as my favorite Munich Helles,
> Augustiner. Other than the Budvar and Augustiner beers, the only other
> beer for today was in Miesbach, home of the Hans Hopf Brewery,
> specializing in weissbeers. I enjoyed a Hefe Weizen and a Dunkle
> Weisse, both of which did not disappoint. The Hefe Weizen had a nice
> banana and clove aroma, and is still one of my favorite, unfiltered
> hefeweizen. The Dunkel Weisse had a nice malty flavor and was very
> nice with dinner.
>
> The weekend brought nice weather and flea markets. Flea markets
> (Flohmarkt) are great places to find a lot of breweriana, especially
> beer glasses and steins. I visited a total of 3 (they really are all
> over the place) and purchased several beer glasses to go into my
> collection (yes, I am a compulsive beer glass collector!), as well as
> 2 tap handles and 2 serving trays. I also got a good price on a
> Paulaner Salvator (or should I say Salv?!?) stein from the 1960's, so
> it is now also in my collection. Typical prices you can expect to pay
> for beer glasses are DM 1 - 3 (USD$ .50 - 1.50), so it is a great time
> to "stock up". I found someone who did not want to carry his glasses
> back home, and was willing to sell them for DM .50 (USD$ .25) each, so
> I bought most of my glasses there. I also got 2 glasses from Belgium
> (De Koninck) for DM 2 (USD$ 1).
>
> The negotiations at the Flea Markets made us thirsty, so since it was
> a sunny day, we decided to make a pilgrimage to Andechs. Although I
> had tasted their beers from bottles, I was really looking forward to
> tasting them at the source. Since the weather was nice (and it was a
> weekend), it seems like more than half of Munich had the same idea,
> but we were able to find a table, and enjoy our beers. Since I was
> driving (how did that happen!), I enjoyed one Helles beer, a nice,
> full bodied beer coming in at 5% alcohol. As most of you know, this
> is a "must see" place when you come to Munich. On the way home, we
> stopped at a beer garden in Herrsching and enjoyed a Hofbräu München
> Helles, as we let most of the traffic go ahead of us.
>
> Most of the remainder of the week was spent conducting business that
> brought me to the Munich area in the first place, so not so much time
> to seek out new beers. However, while in Munich, I was able to enjoy
> a Schneider Weisse at the Weisses Brauhaus. Again, I have enjoyed
> Schneider's for years, but this was the first time I had ever been
> here before. I took advantage of the weather and sat outside at one
> of the tables, enjoying a nice lunch and beers. Another day, I
> visited the first Bavarian "beer hall" that I had ever visited back on
> my first visit to Germany: the Herzogliches Bräustüberl in Tegernsee.
> Here you can enjoy all of the beers from the brewery, but my favorite
> is the Tegernseer Spezial, a beer that has a bit more body that their
> helles, and comes in at 5.6% alcohol. Also at DM 3,70 (under USD$
> 2.00) for a half liter, a nice price as well.
>
> At the weekend, I drove into the Berchtesgaden area, in order to take
> advantage of the nice weather, but also to stop at some of the
> beverage shops along the way to buy some beers that I had not tried
> before and bring them home with me. I was also able to go to
> Regensburg, where I was able to sample the beers at the Brauerei
> Knettinger, a suggestion I got from Don Scheidt's beer travel reports
> on his web site. Sorry to report Don, that the waitress you and your
> wife had must have had the day off. The service was not so great, but
> when we did get served, the beers more than made up for it. I had the
> Export Dunkel, which had a nice malty taste. Since I was driving
> again, I could only take a small taste of the Bock, but it was enough
> for me to know I would be back here next trip to enjoy it better.
> When we left, my friends gave me a bottle of Knettinger Pilsener,
> which I brought home, so I will have the opportunity to sample all of
> their beers.
>
> On my last day, I had probably my most "unique" beer of the trip.
> Another beer from Hopf Brewery, it was called Hopf Helles-Weiss. It
> poured like a weissbeer, the head was like a weissbeer, but when you
> drank it, it tasted like a helles. A bit confusing to the taste buds,
> but a nice, refreshing beer at 5.7% alcohol.
>
> I just want to offer some quick hints that might make your next trip
> to Germany better:
>
> 1. Find out where the closest bookstore is to where you are staying.
> In Munich, ask for Hugendubel, which is like Borders/Barnes and Noble
> here in the USA. In the bookstore, do not only look for beer related
> books in the "food and beverage" section, but look in the travel
> section under the heading "regional". In the regional section of a
> bookstore in Regensburg, I found a guidebook on breweries in Franconia
> that was not in the food and beverage section. Also, do not forget
> large department stores (Karstadt) that have book departments. If you
> do not want to buy books, you can also see if they are available at
> the local library (Bibliothek), where you can make photocopies. Even
> if you do not speak or read German, you can usually figure out
> addresses, opening/closing times, phone numbers and other important
> things.
>
> 2. Consider bringing some beers back home with you from Germany. I
> bring a "small" U-Haul moving box (folded flat) with me (yes, I know
> they make boxes in Germany, but I do not want to spend time looking
> for them). The plastic beer case that your beer comes in will fit
> perfect in the box. (You can put travel brochures and other things you
> pick up on your trip in the little space between beer case and box.)
> The cases have a DM6 deposit that will be lost as you will take it
> home with you. This will give you space for 20 bottles of beer. If
> you wish, you can take 4 more bottles, wrap them carefully in plastic
> bags, tape them up, and lay them flat across the top of the full case,
> which will let you bring back 24 beers per box. I always pack the
> beers that are going to lay flat the night before I leave, which
> reduces the chance that they will leak from the cap. I regularly
> bring one such box with me each time I return from Germany. Upon
> landing in Atlanta, I tell US Customs exactly what I have: 12 liters
> of beer (assuming each bottle is .5L). Unless the agent is new, they
> will wave you through the green line (nothing to declare). Only once
> out of about 15 trips, I was asked to go to the red line (items to
> declare) and when I told them it was beer, the supervisor waved me
> right through. It is too much paperwork to complete to collect such
> little customs duty on the excess beer. And one time I brought 3
> cases of beer with me with no problems! In fact, if you are over the
> baggage limit, you will have more problems not paying the extra
> baggage fee with the airline, than any problems with US Customs.
>
> 3. Wherever you stay, find more than one beverage shop (Getränkemarkt)
> to shop for your beers. One small village with less than 5000
> inhabitants where I have stayed before has 10 beverage shops, and each
> one carried at least 5 different beers that the others did not have.
> The beverage shops also sell glasses, so if you do not want to do the
> Flea Market thing, you can also buy glasses there. Grocery stores and
> gas stations also sell beer (gas stations sell beer when other stores
> are closed, but at a higher price).
>
> I am already looking forward to my next trip to Germany in
> September/October, and hope that I will be able to spend a little more
> of this trip enjoying more of the beers that this country offers.
>