Travel in Europe – Page 8 – thebeergeek.com

July 8, 2010March 15, 2013

A Short Visit to Switzerland

After almost a week of pounding the pavement of various German cities, we needed a nature break. Southeast of Dresden is Sächsische Schweiz, (Saxon Switzerland), a national park along the Elbe River. Known for its rock formations, the park is popular with everyone from your average tourist to avid rock climbers.

Typical rock formations in Sächsische Schweiz

Despite the projected 95 degree heat, we forged ahead with our plan to get some exercise. Hopping on the S-Bahn with hordes of other tourists at Dresden’s Hauptbahnhof, the ride to Sächsische Schweiz was a short 40 minutes. Getting off the train at Kurort Rathen, the final part of our journey was a ferry crossing to the opposite bank of the narrow Elbe River.

At this point, I somewhat doubted our decision. Not only was the hot late morning sun beating down on us, but the hordes seemed to have multiplied on the ferry.

However, once off the ferry, we quickly separated ourselves from the pack, located the trail and headed up. As our hikes in Europe go, this one was pretty mellow. We were shaded from the scorching sun and we weren’t in the back country. It was more of an uphill walk comparable to the walk to Andechs, just a bit steeper.

Being Germany, we knew we were going to be rewarded with beers for our efforts. Sure enough, when we reached the top, we found a little beer garden amongst the complex of buildings. Sitting down for a rest, we enjoyed a couple of Hefeweizens and a Bratwurst from a nearby stand.

Then we headed back down the trail from where we came. It wasn’t like our hikes in the other Switzerland; in fact it looked nothing like Switzerland. But we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless. And there was beer.

The view looking towards the Czech Republic

Obviously, there had to be a plan to visit a brewery somehow in this journey. Hopping back on the S-Bahn towards Dresden, we got off three stops up the line in Pirna. The brewery was located on the opposite side of the city from the train stop.

In a way, the several kilometer walk to the brewery was more difficult than our hike. Crossing a bridge over the Elbe River, we passed through the city center and then headed up a hill. While it was not as steep as our hike, we had no protection from the midday sun. And we weren’t quite sure where it was. I was very relieved to see the sign that said Brauhaus Pirna zum Giesser was only 300 meters away.

Merideth enjoying a Pils after a walk in the sun

Finding a table in the shade, Merideth and I quickly ordered beers from our waitress. Having not found a beer menu in the 30 seconds we had been sitting down, we both just instinctively ordered a Pils. Good guess on our part. The golden brew tasted amazing after the long, hot walk.

Finally finding the Getränkekarte, Brauhaus Pirna zum Giesser had an eclectic stable of beers. Unfortunately, the ones I really wanted to try were the seasonals. We had just missed the Maibock and were too early for the Rauchbier. After the Pils, I also tried the Pirnaer Stadtbier, an amber and Weltmeisterbier, their light, summery World Cup beer.

It was our last full day in Germany on the trip. As we enjoyed our late lunch and beers, we reflected on our many beer adventures. The next day, we would be in Prague.

July 6, 2010March 15, 2013

Dresden

Our stop in Dresden really didn’t have much to do with beer. For years, I have been fascinated by the city and its resurrection from the fire-bombing by Allied planes February 1945. It is estimated that 25,000 civilians died in the raids and subsequent firestorm.

My recent interest stemmed from our first visit to Munich in 2001. We were at our very first dinner in Germany and Merideth and I were struggling with the Bavarian dialect menu. Nothing seemed to be in our Germany dictionary.

There was an elderly couple sitting close to us. After about 10 minutes of looking at the menu then looking at the dictionary then looking back at the menu, the man finally asked in perfect English, “Can we help with the menu?” We gladly accepted and he and his wife spent the next few minutes translating the menu for us item by item.

In subsequent conversation, we learned that he was a Dresdener and that he was in the firebombing. Having a degree in History and an interest in the Second World War, it was very special to get to talk to this elderly man.

Nine years later, we finally made Dresden part of our Germany itinerary.

A symbol of Dresden’s resurrection is the 18th century Frauenkirche. It seemingly survived the raids only to collapse into a heap of rubble the last day. It remained a heap of rubble for almost 50 years. Reconstruction began in 1993 and was finally completed in the 2000. Using the original plans, the church was rebuilt with the existing stones where possible.

Our hotel was across from the Frauenkirche. Arriving late afternoon, we quickly checked in and then headed out to walk the Altstadt’s cobbled streets. It was one of the most beautiful we had ever seen in Germany. From the impressive buildings to the blindingly gold statues, we wandered around in awe.

The Frauenkirche rose impressively out of the central square. The checkerboard pattern of new and salvaged stones had us pondering how did the builders know where to put them.

Enjoying an Augustiner Edelstoff aus dem Holzfass in Dresden

Merideth and I were quite parched from the walk around the Altstadt in the hot and humid weather. Located the the opposite side of the Frauenkirche from our hotel was Augustiner an der Frauenkirche. Normally, we wouldn’t be drinking Munich beer in Dresden but we learned from our friend Paul that they poured a beer from the barrel. That’s too good an opportunity to pass up.

While Merideth ordered her cherished Helles, I went with Edelstoff aus dem Holzfass. An “Export” lager, the Edelstoff was a bit warm from being out in the heat. The temperature gave it a ‘real ale meets lager’ mouth feel, but the brew was still crisp and refreshing. The next day, I was fortunate enough to have another one. This time from a freshly tapped keg. The beer’s temperature was much more what I would expect from a German lager. Both were excellent, but the colder version paired better with the hot and humid weather.

There are several breweries in Dresden. We needed to cross to the opposite bank of the Elbe River to seek out the first. Looking at my printed out map, I was unsure of whether we could walk there in a timely manner, but we set out on foot anyways. After about twenty minutes of walking, it looked like we were barely halfway there. Reaching a tram stop, we climbed on the next tram headed in our direction. We were dropped off right in front of Brauhaus am Waldschlössen.

The history of the Waldschlössen (little forest manor) dates back to 1790 with brewing commencing in the 1830s. The current brewery reopened in 1997. Quite an impressive building, Brauhaus am Waldschlössen sat on top of a hill with Dresden’s largest beer garden overlooking the Elbe River Valley.

The heat of the day was finally breaking and the evening turned quite pleasant. Merideth and I grabbed an unshaded table on the edge of the beer garden.

Waldschlössen’s Zwickelbier and Hefeweizen

Merideth was in luck as Monday was Hax’ntag. For less than 9 Euro, Merideth got a pretty good sized pork knuckle which also included a half liter beer. She paired her Haxe with the Hefeweizen. My beer choice was the excellent Zwickelbier which I paired with a two 75 Euro cent pickles.

We enjoyed the view of the river and the distant Dresden skyline as we devoured our haxe and pickles and drank our beers. Another day, another beer garden, another great memory from Germany.

July 2, 2010March 15, 2013

Anything Gose

I’m pretty good at coming up with brilliant ideas. Recently, one of my best ideas was in planning our train trip from Berlin to Dresden. I noticed that one of the intermediate stations was Leipzig, which I remembered was home to one of the few Gose breweries in the world. Realizing that this was a good beer travel opportunity, I planned for us to get off the train in Leipzig, visit the two breweries in the city and get back on the train to continue our journey to Dresden. After confirming that Leipzig Hauptbahnhof had luggage storage, the train tickets were purchased.

But even great ideas can have flaws. We got off the train in Leipzig and quickly found the luggage storage lockers. Opening the door to one of the available lockers, I slipped my bag in only to have it be several inches too long. Panic set in as I realized that I wasn’t going to be drinking Gose that day.

While, I was panicking, Merideth was thinking. She realized that if we tilted our bags at an angle, they would fit. It took a few minutes of wrestling each bag, but they were eventually safely stored. Soon after that, we were walking the streets of Leipzig in search of our first brewery.

The construction around Bayerischer Bahnhof

Bayerischer Bahnhof, one of the few Gose breweries in the world, was a 20 minute walk from the Hauptbahnhof. Approaching the brewery, I had my second panic attack within an hour. Bayerischer Platz was a fenced in construction zone. “What if the brewery is closed?” I thought to myself. To my relief, we found the entrance, and they were open.

Bayerischer Bahnhof is an expansive facility. The huge rectangular building is flanked on one side by a tree shaded beer garden. The brewery sits in the middle of the restaurant that seems to go on forever. The first customers of the day, Merideth and I found a table outside.

Originating in the town of Goslar, a Gose is a top fermented wheat beer flavored with corinader and salt. Fresh from my Berliner Weiße trauma, I was a bit worried about having a similar beer experience. My confidence suffered the added blow seeing on the menu that the Gose could also be flavored with raspberry or woodruff syrup. Merideth also had the option of getting the “Lady-Friendly”, Gose flavored with cherry liquor. Passing on all the girly versions, Merideth and I both ordered “Original Leipziger Gose”.

Our waitress brought over the beers and the big moment had arrived. From the first sip, I loved the brew. The slightly tart beer was wonderfully refreshing, especially on yet another beautiful summer day in Germany. A hint of coriander, which became more prominent as the beer warmed up, gave the beer a kick of spiciness.

By my second or third Gose, I was patting myself on the back for the brilliant plan. Merideth and I enjoyed a nice, semi-leisurely lunch in the beer garden. I even moved on to try another one of Bayerischer Bahnhof brews, a wonderful Schwarzbier.

Leipzig’s other brewery, Brauhaus an der Thomaskirche was located in the center of the Altstadt. As the name implies, the brewpub is next to the Thomaskirche, the 15th century church that holds the tomb of Johann Sebastian Bach. Not being complete beer heathens, Merideth and I went to the church to see the final resting place of the great composer and former choirmaster of the Thomaskirche. We even got the added treat of choir practice, soothing background music to our five minutes of culture. With our normal tourist duty completed we retreated across the street to the brewpub’s beer garden.

The Pils at Brauhaus an der Thomaskirche

To the background music of the laughter and screams of the town’s children playing in the fountain in front of the brewpub, Merideth and I contemplated the Brauhaus beer menu. With a lineup closer to the more standard German variety, they did not brew a Gose. While I started with the Pils, Merideth went for the banana-y Weißbier. I finished up with the Schwarzbier. While not as good as the one I drank earlier in the day, it was still quite nice.

Our time at Brauhaus an der Thomaskirche was short and sweet. We quickly drank our beers and then headed back to the Hauptbahnhof to catch our train to Dresden. We spent less than four hours in Leipzig but it was a great four hours.

July 1, 2010March 15, 2013

Berlin Is Growing On Us

We had two more days to explore Berlin which gave us time to venture outside the city center. We called it ‘traveling off the map’ as a number of our brewery destinations weren’t on the free Tourist office maps. Armed with the not-always-reliable Google maps, we hopped on the U-Bahn ready to explore Berlin’s neighborhoods.

We’d already been to Berlin’s smallest brewery. Now, it was time to drink beer at Germany’s smallest brewery. Located a short walk from the Spindersfeld S-Bahn station, Schlossplatzbrauerei Coepenick, as the name suggests, is located in the Schlossplatz in the riverside neighborhood of Köpenick.

Merideth enjoying the sun and her Helles

The brewery and tiny bar occupies a kiosk type building in the small square. The seats in the beer garden must outnumber the seats at the bar by several hundred. With the sun beaming brightly, we grabbed a seat in their beer garden.

From their tiny brewery, Schlossplatzbrauerei Coepenick produced the standard Helles and Dunkel plus a few seasonal beers. On the day of our visit, only the standards were available, so ‘zwei Helles’ it was.

The relaxing, quiet atmosphere was only interrupted by an occasional tram, car or the old guy hacking up a lung. Schlossplatzbrauerei Coepenick was well worth the three trains we had to ride to get there.

Walking down a residential street in the Neukölln neighborhood, we had the sneaking suspicion that Google maps had lead us wrong again. To our relief, halfway down the tree shaded block, we finally spotted a faded brewery sign. Brauhaus in Rixdorf, was set back from the street in a small compound. The 19^th century building was surrounded on two sides by an expansive and varied beer garden that included a koi pond and several big screens for watching the World Cup.

One of the front dining rooms at Brauhaus in Rixdorf

The main building housed the brewery and a bar on each level. Exploring the building, I was amazed by all the small dining rooms and nooks, all elaborately decorated with wall paintings and knick knacks. It took me several minutes of wandering its halls to discover them all. The other interesting thing about the building, it was completely empty. Everyone was out in the beer garden.

Over a very pleasant lunch of Nürnberger sausages, Merideth and I enjoyed the range of their house beers. We each started with a Weizenbiere and then I moved on to try the Helles and Dunkel. Brauhaus in Rixdorf also had a “Saisonbiere’, their Summer beer, but we passed on that.

We are not experts on Berlin neighborhoods, but we do know from watching House Hunters International that Brauhaus Südstern is located in one of Berlin’s hip up and coming addresses: Kreuzberg. Exiting the Südstern U-Bahn station, the brewpub was just a short walk down the street. There are two beer gardens to chose from, one in the front on the street, the other out back, quiet and peaceful.

Sitting in the street side beer garden, we arrived just in time to watch some of the first knockout match of the World Cup, Uruguay v. South Korea. We spent the first half trying the four house beers, Helles, Pils, Weizen and Dunkel (surprise!). The Helles and Pils were the two stars.

We knew nothing of the Fredrichshain neighborhood as we stepped off the S-Bahn at Frankfurter Allee. As we walked the short three blocks to the Schalander Hausbraueri, we fell in love with the neighborhood. We could see ourselves living in one of the flats above the tree-lined avenues. And we could see ourselves walking to our local brewery, Schalander.

A pleasant lunch at Schalander Hausbraueri

Fantasy over, we grabbed one of the tables out front. After a long morning walk, lunch and a few beers was what Merideth and I needed. Merideth’s Flammenhkuchen with ham and onions and my house-made sausages and potato salad went perfectly with the house-made Helles beer. Schalander was one of those places we could have stayed all day, enjoying the beer, sunshine and playing scrabble. But we had other places to be and with great reluctance, we pushed on.

Located north of the Tiergarten, Brewbaker, like Brahaus Lemke was under an elevated railroad track. We stopped by Brewbaker after the German’s huge victory over the English in the World Cup so the crowd was boisterous and festive. With our friends Paul and Eilís, our foursome grabbed a table in the compact beer garden in the back.

Brewbaker was probably the most unique German brewery that we have ever been to. Besides the fine Pils, Brewbaker also had a Summer Stout and Amber Ale. The Summer Stout rivaled any low ABV stout I have ever had in the UK. The roasted malt and chocolate flavors melded perfectly with the light body. As Merideth said, “This truly is a summer stout.” Amber beers are the Rodney Dangerfield of the brewing world. But if more were like the Brewbaker version, maybe they would get more respect. Brilliantly hoppy, the Amber Ale was another great summer beer.

Enjoying a beer and the Germany v. England highlights at Brewbaker

In our three days in Berlin, we made it to nine of the ten breweries on our target list. In reaching the breweries, we traveled to Berlin’s numerous and varied neighborhoods. In doing so, I think we gained a new found respect for the German capital. We might not go as far as to say we love Berlin, but it is definitely growing on us.

June 28, 2010March 15, 2013

Giving Berlin A Second Chance

We last visited Berlin on our first trip to Germany in 2001. Earlier on that journey, we visited Munich and completely fell in love with the Bavarian capital. During our stay in Berlin, all we could think was that it wasn’t Munich. The warm and cozy feel we got in Munich was not present in the sprawling construction zone that was Berlin. Now, we return to Berlin nine years later to give it another chance.

In 2010, Berlin still feels like a huge construction zone. While not like 2001, cranes still dominate parts of the skyline. But this is not the Berlin of 2001. We were introduced to the new Berlin on the walk to our first brewery stop of the day, Lindenbräu in the Sony Center at Potsdamer Platz. The Wall ran right through Potsdamer Platz and back in 2001, the Sony Center was the only building in a sea of construction sites. Walking from our hotel to the Sony Center, we were amazed by how little we recognized the area. A new city has sprouted up around the Sony Center.

We arrived at Lindenbräu right at opening time and grabbed one of the numerous outside tables. The brewpub is some sort of collaboration with Hofbräuhaus Traunstein with the Bavarian brewery supervising the brewing of the one house beer, Hofbräu-Weiße. Each of us quickly had one in hand. It was the perfect beer for an already warm day.

I vaguely remember drinking Berliner Weiße back in 2001. And I vaguely remember not caring for it. Berliner Weiße is a wheat beer that has syrup added when served. Traditionally there are two flavors of syrup, Himbeer (raspberry) or Waldmeister (woodruff). With its low alcohol content, Berliner Weiße is touted as the perfect summer beer.

We knew we wanted to try Berliner Weiße again. Seeing the Berliner Kindl version on Lindenbräu’s menu, I ordered one of each, a red and a green. My order elicited two responses from our waitress: “Only tourists order that…” and “Do you know what it is?”

Assuring our waitress that we understood what we were getting ourselves into, we soon had two glasses of neon colored liquid in front of us. Both syrups give the Berliner Weiße a sickly sweet flavor with the green being the milder of the two. The red was just like drinking soda pop. In either case, we couldn’t tell the base component was beer. With my memories from 2001 validated, it was time to move on.

If Berlin has a brewing center, it would be the area around Alexander Platz. In close proximity of the train station are three breweries with a fourth a short walk away.

Walking down from the Brandenburg Gate along Unter den Linden, the first of these brewpubs we reached was Brahaus Mitte. Located in a unassuming shopping mall, Brahaus Mitte is situated on the second level overlooking the action out on Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse. Avoiding the inside seating inundated with tour groups, we grabbed a seat on the flower-covered balcony.

Brauhaus Mitte had three of the standard German brews: Pils, Hefeweizen and Dunkel. I started with the Pils while Merideth, turning over a new leaf, chose the Hefe. Merideth has learned to appreciate German-style wheat beers more and more. Brauhaus Mitte’s Weizen was neither too clove-y nor banana-y, just the way she likes it. As the day warmed up to be a bit hot and humid, the Weizen was perfect.

Our next stop, Brauhaus Lemke, should have been a short walk around the corner from Brauhaus Mitte. Unfortunately, we relied on the Google map that I had printed out for directions. The dot on the sheet was on the opposite side of the Alexander Platz train station from its actual location. After wandering around for about a half an hour, I finally said to Merideth. “it should be here according to my Google map.” Then a flash of brilliance: look at the street numbers. We found Brahaus Lemke shortly thereafter.

Brauhaus Lemke is located in an archway underneath the elevated railway tracks. The arched ceiling gives the brewpub a cool cave, cellar-like feel. Passing through the building, we situated ourselves in the peaceful beer garden out back. There were a couple of cozy chairs, but we chose one of the tables in the garden-like setting. The only noise that disturbed the tranquility was the occasional train passing overhead.

A rarity in Germany, Brauhaus Lemke had a taster set of their four beers. Along with the standard Pils and Weizen, the taster set was rounded out by a Zwickelbier and “Original”, a malty, deep amber-colored brew. After our taster set, we both ordered a half liter of the Zwickelbier, an unfiltered lager.

The last brewery in the Alexander Platz neighborhood, Marcus Bräu, was a short, two-minute walk from Lemke. Billed as Berlin’s smallest brewery, Marcus Bräu, was located in a small corner pub on a busy shopping street. Having just opened for the day, Merideth and I were their first customers.

Marcus Bräu had two beers, a Pils and a Dark. Both were very nice with the Pils being the preferred choice for the weather.

We ended the first day’s brewery tour at GeorgBräu, a brewpub that we visited back in 2001. The brewpub’s pleasant riverside setting was one of the strong memories we had of our first trip to Berlin. Located along the Spree River, GeorgBräu, was a ten minute walk from Alexander Platz.

With our brewery goals for the day reached, we finally had some time to relax and enjoy the Berlin evening.