brewpub – Page 9 – thebeergeek.com

October 10, 2012November 2, 2012

Funf Seidla Steig

People often ask me and Merideth why we travel to Germany as often as we do. A recent sunny Sunday in Franconia provides a great answer to this question.

Searching for breweries to visit during our time in Bamberg, I noticed a cluster of five breweries to the southeast around the village of Gräfenberg in the Fränkische Schweiz. Intrigued, I researched a bit further and learned about the Fünf Seidla Steig (‘five beer mug hike’), a 10km hiking trail (15km round trip) that connects the breweries. Hiking and beer? What a brilliant idea!

Leaving Ute and Wolfie in Mannheim on Sunday morning, we sped east on the autobahn towards our first destination, the village of Weißenohe. Home to Klosterbrauerei Weißenohe, this was supposed to be our kickoff point for the hike.

Under the trees at Klosterbrauerei Weissenohe

Our plan somewhat hit a hitch when we reached Weißenohe. Besides the small lot at the monastery, we couldn’t really find parking in the tiny village’s winding narrow streets. Hungry and thirsty after the three hour drive, we decided park there rather than continuing to search around for a place to leave our rental car for the day.

A small lane into the monastery split the restaurant from an apple tree shaded beer garden across the street. With the day bordering on absolutely beautiful, we opted for a table in the beer garden.

There was one beer available on tap in the beer garden, their Altfränkisches Klosterbier. Two beers and two orders of bratwurst with bread and potato salad were quickly ordered. The copper-colored brew was reminiscent of a Märzen, with a slight malty sweetness.

Enjoying the brats and beer under the shade of apple trees was perfect start to the day. Even the annoying little girl on the slide couldn’t ruin the moment. Though she did make filming difficult. It was a picture postcard moment of what it means to beer travel in Germany.

The ability to adapt to changes in plans is key to successful beer travel. After lunch, we decided to drive the few kilometers to Gräfenberg to find parking and start our hike. Just before the village gate, we found the parking we were looking for. And better yet, our second stop, Brauerei Friedmann, was across the street.

Grabbing a seat in their street side beer garden, Merideth and I each ordered a Helles. From our vantage point, we watched groups of hikers enter the village and join the crowd in Friedmann’s beer garden.

We recognized a few people from our first stop. Actually, it was the dogs that we recognized first. A trend that would continue the whole day, Merideth and I realized that we were part of a whole community doing the same thing: hiking and drinking beer. The thought gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling.

Well-marked trails make for an easy beer hike

With the car safely in a long-term parking spot, we could now plan our hike. Not knowing the distance of the hike, we decided Friedmann was a ‘one and done’ stop (well, two and done for me). Once our beers were finished, we walked into the village center where we assumed there would be hiking information.

In the Gräfenberg village center, we found what we were seeking, a big map of the local hiking trails. From this, we ascertained we needed to work our way to the far side of the village. There we would find the trail to Hohenschwärz and the next brewery. Brauerei Hoffman was five kilometers away.

Easily finding the trail, Merideth and I left Gräfenberg. From the edge of the village, we walked into a forest. We emerged from the woods into the open, surrounded by fields of corn. The terrain was fairly level and made for pleasant, not strenuous, hiking. We passed couples, families, groups of friends, and people of all ages. Everyone out walking on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

Well-deserved after a five kilometer walk

Reaching Hohenschwärz, we would have found Brauerei Hoffman right along the trail if we hadn’t mistakenly taken a round about route through the tiny village. The Hoffman beer garden was quite packed with hikers and bicyclists when we finally located it. Spying two seats at an otherwise full table, Merideth asked the people “Frei?” Getting a positive response, we squeezed in at the end of the table.

Looking around while waiting for our waitress, I noticed that everyone had a dark beer. Sure enough, from my request for “Zwei Bier, bitte,” our waitress delivered two deep brown, almost black half liters. Despite the dark color, the brew had a light, refreshing body.

Having just walked five kilometers, we treated ourselves by sharing a plate of the delicious Schweinebraten. From pigs I believe they raised themselves, the pork roast paired exceptionally well with the house brew. It’s great when the farm to table distance can be measured in a few meters.

Two kilometers further up the trail, there was another brewery, Thuisbrunner Eichbräu. But given advancing afternoon, we decided retrace our steps back to Gräfenberg. There was a bounce in our step as we passed through the same fields and forests on our way to Lindenbräu.

Located on a side street in the village, Lindenbräu was our fourth and last brewery stop of the day. Joining an older couple at one of the outside tables, we ordered a couple of beers. Merideth chose the refreshing, light on the banana and clove, Hefeweizen, while I went with the copper-colored, malty but not too sweet, Vollbier.

Our mood was quite jovial as we drank our beers. In a trip full of great days, our day of hiking and beer on the Fünf Seidla Steig very well may have been my favorite. Though we only visited four of the five breweries on the trail, that gives us the perfect excuse to return someday to do the full 15 kilometer loop.

View all the Fünf Seidla Steig images…

October 7, 2012November 2, 2012

750 Breweries!

While on our recent trip to Germany, Chris and I visited our 750th brewery! Three quarters of the way to a thousand! Together! The same one!

That’s right, the one thing I left out of my August post about going to Rogue Farms is that I visited a new brewery, Fire on the Mountain, in Portland that Chris hasn’t been to. That put us even in the brewery count. From here on out (at least until Chris visits the brewery), we will celebrate important List milestones together. It’s very romantic…in a beer geek sort of way.

At the beginning of our trip to Germany in mid-September, we spent three days with our friends Ute and Wolfgang. You may remember them from tales featured in Teachings From The Tap. Excited that we were in Mannheim for several days, they had a number of things planned for us, including brewery visits.

One of our days started out with a trip to Weisses Haus’l Hausbrauerei in Ludwigshafen, a short distance from Mannheim center. As we crossed the Rhine, the puffing smokestacks of the industrial area gave way to caravan parks and walking trails. A small winding road shrouded in trees led us to the Weisses Haus’l Hausbrauerei. Hidden amongst trees and bushes, the beer garden in front of the brewery seemed like the front yard of a friend’s house.

Starting the day at Weisses Haus’l Hausbrauerei…

The first customers of the day, it was quiet and peaceful, especially with the large Koi pond. To accompany our Weissbiers and Dunkles, we enjoyed Weisser Käse, a creamy white cheese dip/spread. We had never had it before and served on bread, it was the perfect beer drinking snack. This was a quick stop, however, as we had plans to meet up with our friend Tine (Tina in English) in Worms.

Worms is a city that has existed since before the Romans and it battles Trier and Cologne for the title of “Oldest City in Germany.” Given Worms is a stop for all the Rhine river cruises, it could also battle for the Germany’s “Oldest Tourists” title.

More importantly, it is the home of Wormser Hagenbräu. Located on the Rhine, we were warmed by the sun as we sat outside and enjoyed the view of passing barges and people on the promenade.

Their Helles paired well with Chris’ bratwurst and the Festbier with my käsespäztle. Tine got a kick out of signing her name to our personal copy of Teachings From The Tap on the page where she is mentioned (Page 167).

Ute thought it important that we also visit cultural sites, not just breweries on our trip. Coincidentally, Tine, who works in Worms, suggested a visit to some of the city’s historical sites.

We first visited the Jewish cemetery in Worms. Heiliger Sand is the oldest surviving Jewish cemetery in Europe, with the oldest legible tombstone being 1076. As are all cemeteries, it was a solemn, yet peaceful place. Burials continued there up until the 1930s, so some of the markers were clearly legible. Others, however, were pitted and worn by centuries of German weather and leaning every which way by the shifting ground. It was a beautifully spooky landscape that reminded me just how old Europe really is.

We then took a look inside the Dom St. Peter, “one of the finest examples of High Romanesque architecture in Germany.” I wouldn’t know Romanesque architecture from Gothic, but I do know that the gold-gilded high altar was amazing! Feeling pious and sufficiently awed by religious splendor, it was time to return to Mannheim.

We have visited Mannheim numerous times. And Ute and Wolfgang have taken us to several breweries in the area. However, one brewery we had never been to was Eichbaum, located right in the city. Sticking with the motto “Drink local,” Eichbaum is our beer of choice when in Mannheim. I guess it’s so part of our experience there, we never thought to visit the brewery. Ute and Wolfgang once tried to arrange a tour for us, but they don’t offer them.

Across town from Ute and Wolfgang’s flat, we really hadn’t considered going to the brewery’s bräustube until this trip. The most exciting realization after deciding to go was that it would be our 750th brewery visit.

We took the light rail over to the Wohlgelegen district of the city. Wolfgang led the way and we made it across the street and down just a few yards. However, he decided that was the wrong way and we instead went the opposite direction and made a huge loop around the block. We eventually located the bräustube. It was just 30 yards from where we started had we continued in our original direction. We laughed at our misguided excursion and joked about lost beer drinking time, but our route offered us a chance to fully understand the mystique of Eichbaum.

Locals lovingly (and sometimes not so lovingly) refer to Eichbaum as “Leichen Wasser” or corpse water. This macabre nickname stems from the fact that the brewery uses a water source that runs under the cemetery across the street. By going the long way around, Chris and I were treated to a glimpse of the cemetery we had heard so much about. This discovery added to the adventure and helped build anticipation around making our milestone brewery visit.

Eichbaum’s bräustube is modern inside with a long sleek bar, green-colored back lighting, and slide show signage. However, the beer garden, feeling like an enclosed courtyard, was much more our speed. Not very crowded outside, we settled into a large round table. Chris, Wolfie and I enjoyed a few Kellerbiers and Ureich Premium Lagers, while Ute opted for, of all things, a Berliner Weiss (the green kind).

More important than the beer, though, was the fact that we once again shared our beer adventures with Ute and Wolfgang. As we frequently say, beer travel is so much more than the beer. It is the ambiance and the personal interactions.

The heart of beer travel is the way the experience makes you feel. For that reason, we always remember our milestone brewery visits. We also always think that the most recent milestone is the most epic ever. But this time it truly was. Celebrating with dear friends in a city we feel at home in could be nothing less than epic. This amazing achievement couldn’t have been better had Chris planned it ahead of time.

Cheers to milestones and good times spent with good friends. Here’s to many more trips to Mannheim and to the next 750 breweries!

View the images from our Germany trip…

October 2, 2012October 3, 2012

Beer Geeks in the Heartland

Our trip to the Great Nebraska Beer Festival gave us the opportunity to explore the Omaha beer scene. Not generally a city associated with the craft beer revolution, good beer can definitely be found in America’s heartland.

We previously visited Omaha in 1992. At that time, I half-jokingly told a friend who played baseball for Cal, that if the team made the College World Series, we would go. Long story short, Cal made the CWS. In the infancy of our beer travels, I vaguely remember checking to see if there were any breweries in the area. There were not.

This trip was going to be different, though, and there was an air of excitement as we parked our rental car in an industrial park in the Omaha suburb of La Vista. The first stop, our 741st brewery, would be our very first in Nebraska. It had been along day of travel and our excitement might have been compounded by Merideth and I craving our first beers of the day. The honor went to Lucky Bucket Brewing.

Enjoying a pint of Cunningham Kriek at Lucky Bucket

The tasting room was already busy when we arrived late Friday afternoon. We grabbed the only available table next to the distillery and quickly ordered the sample flight.

There were six beers in the flight. While based on our history you might assume that the Lucky Bucket Lager and IPA would be each of our favorite beers, neither were. In one of those rare occasions, we agreed that the Cunningham Kriek was the star. From their Single Batch Series, the red-brown Kriek had a really pleasant, dry, fruit character. While not as tart as I like my Krieks, it was a great introduction to the diversity of the Nebraska beer scene.

Nebraska Brewing, host of the festival, was our next stop. Located at the end of Shadow Lake Towne Center’s faux main street shopping area, the cookie-cutter mall exterior contrasted sharply with the cozy, pub feel of the interior.

Merideth and I only experienced Nebraska Brewing in the context of the festival. Despite the frenetic air with festival goers coming and going, I got a strong sense of a neighborhood, family-friendly establishment.

Enjoying an IPA on the patio at Nebraska Brewing

They were popular at the Firestone Walker Invitational this past June and since then, I have had a number of “you HAVE to try their beer” recommendations from friends. However, unlike most every other brewery stop, we never did order a sample flight.

While Merideth pin-balled between the Infinite Wit and EOS Hefeweizen, I stuck with their IPA. With 2010 World Beer Championship Silver medal to its credit, the 6.5% ABV and 65 IBU IPA had a wonderful floral nose and a ‘did-I-just-finish-another-one’ drinkability. It could easily hold its own in the lineup of IPAs on the West Coast.

Obviously, we need to return to Nebraska Brewing in the future to try its full lineup.

The second largest labor monument in the United States

In our schedule, we had one free day, Sunday, to explore Omaha. Despite the midday heat and humidity, the draw of a Lewis and Clark landing site had Merideth and I strolling along the scenic river front walk located downtown. While boats cruised up and down the Missouri River, we tried to take in all the scenery.

Lewis and Clark were just one of the draws in the 23 acre park. For me, its most impressive feature was the labor monument, the second largest of its kind in the United States.

We could only survive about an hour under the blazing sun. Luckily, I planned our walk to finish up in the cobbled streets of Omaha’s Old Market. The city’s arts and entertainment district, the Old Market was home to our last brewery stop of the trip, Upstream Brewing.

Housed in the district’s 1904 firehouse, the blast of air conditioning was a most welcome feeling as we passed through Upstream’s front doors. After enjoying the cool air for a moment, we settled down at the dark wood bar to drink some beer.

The ten brew flight was the largest and most diverse of the trip. Three fruit beers and a chocolate Saison rounded out the more familiar Pale Ale, Red Ale, and IPA selections. Merideth’s favorites, the crisp Groll Bohemian Pilsner and the refreshing I Don’t Know Tropical Saison (flavored with hibiscus flowers and passion fruit) paired perfectly with the hot and humid weather.

I quickly identified Capitol Pale Ale as a favorite until I tried Flagship IPA. The copper-colored brew had delicious citrus and pine hop flavors. If I learned one thing on the trip, it is that the West Coast-style IPA is alive and well in Nebraska!

As the afternoon heat of the day broke, Merideth and I were able to finish our heartland beer adventure on Upstream’s expansive patio. Enjoying a few brews on a pleasant Midwest summer evening, it was a relaxing way to end our whirlwind trip.

View all the Omaha images

September 5, 2012

Great Nebraska Beer Festival

Thanks to our friends at The Roaming Pint, Merideth and I had the opportunity to beer travel to Omaha, Nebraska for the first time. The Great Nebraska Beer Festival was looking for someone to talk about beer travel in one of their seminars. When Brian and Maria couldn’t do it, they suggested us. It was an opportunity to not only introduce ourselves to a new audience and sell Merideth’s book but more important, to try a bunch of Midwest brews. The whole thing was just too good to turn down.

The Shadow Lake Towne Center parking lot transformed

Shadow Lake Towne Center in Papillion (pronounced pa-PILL-yun) was the home of the Great Nebraska Beer Festival. Overnight, the empty parking lot in front of the Dick’s Sporting Goods transformed into a small tent city for the beer festival. The eighty or so breweries were grouped in six tents throughout the fenced in area.

Before the festival opened, Merideth and I wandered around trying to get the lay of the land. As I noticed all the brewers greet each other warmly via a handshake or hug, an odd feeling came over me. We didn’t know ANYONE. Most of the beer fests we attend are on the West Coast, where we do know everyone. We’re some of those people giving each other hand shakes and hugs. Not so in Papillion, Nebraska. We were definitely going to need all of our anti-wallflower powers.

The week prior our journey to Nebraska, we checked the weather regularly. As the week progressed, the chance of rain went from a paltry 10% to 80% the day of the festival. Sure enough, once the festival kicked off at noon, a steady rain began to fall.

We quickly learned a new lesson in our lives as book purveyors. It is very difficult to sell books at an outdoor beer festival in the rain. Despite the realization that book sales were going to be slow at best, all was not lost. There were all those new beer to try…

One of the hidden gems for us was Cigar City, not available in California. At the festival, a hand scrawled ‘CIGAR’ and a soggy program opened to its beers was the only designation for one of the biggest cult breweries in the country.

Cigar City Cucumber Saison won my best of show brew. I’ve had a cucumber beer and soda before but both were so subtle that my taste buds had to search for the flavor. Cigar City’s Saison, on the other hand, had a VERY pronounced cucumber taste. If they had added a bit of brine, I would have professed it the best beer ever made.

Given our friend and thebeergeek.com contributor, Renee is from Iowa, we made sure we tried some brews from her home state. Pom Pom Shaker, a Pomegranate Sour from homebrew club Iowa Brewers Union made my list of top 3 brews of the festival.

Peace Tree Brewing from Knoxville, IA had me won over before I tried any of their beers with their Partridge Family-esque bus. Their beers were pretty good as well, with the Red Rambler Red Ale and Hop Wrangler IPA tickling our fancy.

Throughout the afternoon, while Merideth (wo)manned the covered book table, I wandered out into the festival’s intermittent showers in search of beer. While some of the brewery names sounded familiar (Boulevard, Free State, Tallgrass), others like Ploughshare, Morgan Street and Beaver View, I had never heard of. On each journey, I would bring back two beers for us to try.

Other notable brews we tasted…

Cask Mango Watch Man IPA – Empyrean Brewing, Lincoln, NE
Zesting the Cone IPA – Nebraska Brewing, Papillion, NE
8-Bit Pale Ale – Tallgrass Brewing, Manhattan, KS
Schwarzbier – Morgan Street Brewery, St. Louis, MO
Powerhouse Pilsner – Gottberg, Columbus, NE
Saison – Funkwerks, Fort Collins, CO
Ethan’s Stout – Blue Blood Brewing, Lincoln, NE
The Griffin (Hefeweizen) – Grimm Bros. Brewhouse, Loveland, CO
Kölsch – Schlafly Brewing, St. Louis, MO

Topeka’s Blind Tiger opened our eyes to a beer festival first to us, a beer dispensing back pack. I never saw it loaded but I assume it held a five gallon keg. All during the day, one of the brewers wandered around with a keg strapped to his back filling empty taster glasses to appreciative festival goers. I availed myself of this great service on several occasions when I found myself with an empty taster glass.

Obviously, Merideth and I were disappointed that the weather didn’t go our way. But in the end, we met some great people and drank some wonderful beer at the Great Nebraska Beer Festival.

View all the images from the Great Nebraska Beer Festival

September 1, 2012

My Day at Rogue Farms

Chris and I rarely beer travel separately. We enjoy traveling together and it feels weird to do otherwise. However, when I was presented with an opportunity to spend the day out at Rogue Farms celebrating women, beer and agriculture, I had to do it. And, leave Chris behind.

Beer Goddess Lisa Morrison and I started the morning out with an hour and a half drive from Portland down to Independence, a small pastoral town with lots of character. After a few missed turns due to chatting, we arrived at Rogue Farms. I was first struck with the size of the farm. I expected the hop yard (which was as impressive as any I’ve seen in Germany), but I didn’t realize all the other wonderful things going on there.

Acres and acres of hop bine walls on my left were matched on my right with a hazelnut orchard, rye field and beehives as we drove in. Shortly after arriving, the group of mostly media folks (and mostly women) gathered in the James and Franny Coleman Conference Center. Barley’s Angels Director Christine Jump organized the day’s schedule with fun and informative activities that started out with a taco lunch made with Chicken cooked in Rogue’s Chipotle Ale. It was very tasty, but admittedly it was odd that we were only offered water and pink lemonade for beverages (no beer).

During our lunch, we were treated to an entertaining talk about “beer vacations” from the famous Teri Fahrendorf. She offered great tips for organizing a well-planned, beer-packed adventure, as well as talked about her famous Pink Boots Tour, the cross-country journey that gave rise to the Pink Boots Society.

The next activity was a hopyard tour led by Farm Manager Natascha Cronin. While surrounded by Independent hop bines, she admitted to being a bit nervous talking to a bunch of well-versed beer people. Natascha performed brilliantly, however, as she led us through the life of a hop on Rogue Farms—from growing and harvesting to kilning and baling.

We then gathered outside on the lawn for Lisa’s seminar on proper glassware. She led us in an extremely effective exercise with spiced gumdrops that demonstrated the importance of aroma (I don’t want to give away Lisa’s party trick, so all I’ll say is that it was amazing!) and guided us through a taste test using various glassware, including one that fully cups around your nose and mouth. Her talk also gave us the first opportunity to drink some beer! Drinking Rogue Chocolate Stout out of a pilsner glass was an interesting experience to say the least. So was sharing the outdoor area with a handful of chickens who weaved in and around our tables. One especially vocal rooster even gave Lisa several crows of approval towards the end of her talk.

More beer was to come as we took a “tour” of the Farmstead Brewery. The tour consisted of hanging out in a barn with a woodworking shop on one end and a 1.5 bbl system on the other. Head Brewer Josh Cronin is a down-to-earth guy who laughed at his job title. He is, after all, the only brewer. We mingled and tried out the patio furniture made from old barrels as we sipped our samples of a not yet finished Nut Brown Ale. It needed a bit more time, but the flavor was definitely there and it was good! I also appreciated Josh’s casual approach to brewing. His perspective as a brewer is very similar to my perspective as a beer drinker: Do you like the beer? Is it good? Then it’s a keeper. If not, try something else. No need to over analyze things.

By this time, we were running a bit behind on our agenda, so Julia Herz took us on a whirlwind adventure in food pairing. She provided a fast-paced, authoritative presentation on how flavors contrast and complement each other. All of the beers were fantastic and our selection of food items was fun. Here’s some of our table’s findings:

Chatoe Rogue’s Good Chit Pils was a perfect match with feta. Ellie’s Brown from Avery definitely did NOT go with the feta! Breckenridge’s Oatmeal Stout went very well with the dark chocolate and blue cheese was exceptional with Rogue’s Imperial IPA. The hand’s down favorite pairing at our table was also the most surprising: Crabtree Brewing’s Berliner Weiss with dill pickles! I’ll eat pickles regardless of what I’m drinking. Doesn’t matter if the flavors conflict. But now I know at least one option I can go to when chowing down on a jar of pickles. One pairing that will come as no surprise to anyone was that the caramel corn went great with everything!

Perhaps my favorite part of the day was the soap making and foot balm demonstrations by Tammy Taggart of Farmland Soap Company. Apparently my interest in this was obvious, as Lisa later told me that I looked absolutely riveted. Among her other products, Tammy talked about her methods of using craft beer in soap (a bar of which we each got to take home) and hop oil in foot balm (we got one of those, too). It was very cool to watch and even the talk of rigorous safety precautions when using lye (an extremely caustic ingredient in soap) didn’t deter me from thinking I may have found my newest hobby.

Note: In the process of making soap, the lye is neutralized when it reacts with other ingredients. So just to be clear, Tammy’s soaps are absolutely safe.

The last part of day at the farm was time at the tap room. It was also the least structured and gave us an opportunity to socialize. Our participation in the day’s events included tastes of the beer, spirits, and rootbeer. I, however, stuck with beer. I especially enjoyed the Dirtoir Black Lager while talking beer with fellow girl beer geeks Corrie and Megan.

Here with Brian Yaeger and Lisa Morrison. The end to a great day…

The crowning glory of our amazing day was a farm to table feast of roast pig, salmon, and shrimp ceviche made with lime and pilsner. The cornbread topped with garlic butter and the coleslaw were equally tasty. Unfortunately, after all that, I was too full to get my rootbeer float.

The sun was setting and Lisa began to feel the effects of being the most popular girl at the mosquito party, both signals that it was our time to leave. It had been a long and remarkable day of celebrating women, beer, and agriculture. And one I will definitely mark up there with some of my best beer adventures.

Thank you to everyone at Rogue Farms (go to http://www.rogue.com/almanac/chatoe.php to see what to expect from a visit to the farm) and to Christine Jump with Barley’s Angels for organizing such a wonderful day!

View all the images from my day at the hop farm…