Too much Brown Beer?

Is it me, or is something seriously wrong with English beer? I say that because I don't seem to have had a decent native pint since I returned from Munich two weeks ago. I know I drank a lot of beer out there, but I don't think my palate could have changed that much

Last Saturday's beers in the Golding Hop really weren't up to much, but it was Wednesday's CAMRA social that really did it for me. It was held at the Bullfinch in the Riverhead area of Sevenoaks. The pub has recently been acquired by McMullens of Hertford, and is the company's first, and only, pub in Kent. Three cask ales were on offer, one of which (Cask Ale 3.8%) was definitely passed its best. (we would have noticed this sooner if it hadn't been so chilled). The 4.3% Country Bitter, and the seasonal Googly (also 3.8%), were of acceptable quality, but really didn't do anything for me - Brown Beer at its worst.

On the way back to the station, a couple of us popped into the Halfway House. Ok it's a Greene King pub, but there is nowhere else in the vicinity following the sad, and totally unnecessary demise of the Farmers. We thought the Abbot would be alright but were proved wrong. It wasn't quite bad enough to return, but it had that stale fruitiness that strong beers can develop when they have been kept too long.

CAMRA business took me over to Sevenaoks again yesterday. The beer range in the Sennockian, (the JDW outlet) was decidedly disappointing, and the Bath Ales SPA was cloudy. The Polish relief manager, who knows us, and who should know better, kept insisting that this beer was normally cloudy. I told him it wasn't a wheat beer, and definitely was NOT supposed to be served cloudy, but he wouldn't have it! The Kings Mallard 5.2%? also had a strange taste to it, and by this time I was starting to think I would never get a decent pint of English ale. Most of the Sennockian's clientele seemed to be immoderately-dressed young girls. The manager was kept busy asking them for Proof of Age, but they weren't the type of customers who would be boosting his flagging beer sales!

We adjourned to the nearby Anchor afterwards, where the Harveys proved to be the best pint of the night, and indeed the preceding fortnight. Another time I would have probably been singing its praises, but my palate was definitely jaded following the SPA and Mallard experience.

Northern Blogger, Tandleman , refers to these tasteless and insipid Brown Beers as "Slutch", and I think he is right with this definition. By the way, I am not counting Harveys as Slutch, and neither I think would he. McMullens definitely qualify though, as do Shepherd Neame and Youngs, to name a few.

Some More of Munich's Finest

We excelled ourselves on the Sunday we were in Munich by visiting three really fine beer gardens that just seemed to get better as the day wore on.

There wasn't much happening in central Munich that Sunday morning. Bavaria is a staunchly catholic country and, much to my son's annoyance, old customs, such as shops not opening on the Sabbath are still observed. "Never mind" I said, we'll just have to occupy our time in visiting a few beer gardens instead!

We started off at Leiberheim, an establishment that is not particularly well-known to foreign visitors, and which is definitely well of the tourist trail. Leiberheim was founded in 1918 by Eduard Ordnung a decorated war-hero on his return from the First World War. It is named after his former wartime infantry unit, the Royal Bavarian Leibregiment. The beer garden and restaurant is situated in the Walderpach area of the city, and our trip there involved both train and bus, followed by a short walk. We arrived shortly after midday when the place was relatively empty. The sun was quite fierce, after the previous day's rain, so we were glad of the shade afforded by the many chestnut trees, and soon settled ourselves down with a mug of the local brew. I must confess that the main reason for visiting Leiberheim was the chance to sample beer from a brewery not commonly seen in Munich. Erharting hit the spot, and we tried both the Helles and the Dunkel. We also has a light snack of Wurst and Brez'n.

Having previously checked the bus departure times we caught the bus back to Silberhornstrasse, where we changed to a tram and journeyed to Menterschwaige. From here it was a short walk through some rather well-to-do side streets to the beer garden of the same name. When we arrived the place was absolutely heaving and we were lucky to find ourselves a seat. I can't think of a better place to spend a a hot Sunday afternoon, despite being "buzzed" by some rather aggressive hornets. As well as couples and groups of friends there were plenty of family groups. The children, on the whole, played happily in the large play area. Lots of people had followed the time-honoured Bavarian tradition and brought their own food with them. The beer was from Loewenbraeu, and this establishment also qualifies for the BDG2M BOGOF offer.

Menterschwaige was once part of the estate of King Ludwig I, and it was here that he carried out an illicit affair with a Spanish dancer called Lola Montez. The affair ended in both scandal and public disgrace for Ludwig and led to his eventual abdication in 1848. Today though, despite its tucked away location, Menterschwaige is one of Munich's best beer gardens.

After a litre each of Loewenbraeu we decided to move on. The BDG2M showed that there was a 30 minute walk from Menterschwaige to another 5 Beer Mug BOGOF offer beer garden called Waldwirtschaft Grossesselohe. Despite the rather schematic map in the guide, we managed to find our way, walking at first through cool woodland on high ground over-looking the River Isar some distance below us. There were plenty of people out for a stroll that fine Sunday afternoon, and before long we reached the impressive Grossesselohe Bruecke, a high level bridge that carries the S20 and S27 S-Bahn lines across the Isar. Strung beneath the tracks, at a lower level, is a crossing for pedestrians and cyclists, and from here we were rewarded by the sight of the river, and its gravel beaches far below us. There were several groups picnicking along the banks, and being a hot day quite a few of them were bathing in the river. As we approached the far side there is a separate and much straighter channel where the river appears to have been canalised. We watched from above as a Floss, or rafting party passed along the channel. Floss is something of a local tradition. The rafts are constructed from large logs secured together, and are reputed to weigh in excess of 20 tonnes. Up to 60 people can be accommodated on one of these monster rafts, although the one we watched had considerably less passengers. Needless to say the rafts are equipped with both a bar and a barbecue, so this is a novel way to enjoy your beer as you cruise along the river!

Once across we found our way to Waldwirtschaft Grossesselohe, which is referred to as "Wa-Wi" for short by the locals. The number of parked cars clogging the approach road gave us an indication of the popularity of this beer garden, but despite the crowds, which were predominantly family groups, we still managed to find a table. Taking full advantage of our BOGOF token, we ordered ourselves a litre each of Spatenbraeu, and a bit later on treated ourselves to a grilled mackerel apiece from the Stecklerfisch stand. As well as good beer and good food, live jazz is a key feature of "Wa-Wi", and the toe-tapping rhythms add to the already lively and fun-loving atmosphere. Not for the last time on our holiday I was left wondering why can't there be places like this back home?

As late afternoon slowly turned to early evening, the temperature started to fall. Neither of us had brought jackets so we decided to call it a day. Leaving "Wa-Wi" we headed for the station at nearby Grossesselohe Isartal Bahnhof. The former station building has been converted into a brew-pub, complete with its own in-house micro-brewery. The pub specialises in wheat beer, but also features beer from Hofbraeuhaus Traunstein. Being somewhat "beered-out" by now we didn't venture inside, but instead caught a train back into central Munich. On the journey back I received umpteen text messages from friends back home telling me that England had won the Ashes! This was the perfect end to a perfect day out; one that had taken us to some of Munich's finest, yet well-hidden beer gardens.

Some of Munich's Finest - Part One

As promised, here is a write-up about some of Munich's best beer gardens. On our first full day in Munich we purchased a 3-Day Partner-Tageskarte. For the princely sum of 21 Euro's, my son and I enjoyed 3 day's unlimited travel over the inner-ring of Munich's extensive public transport network. This gave us the use of trains (both above and below ground), buses and trams, and we made full use of it.

On the Friday we travelled out to Thalkirchen, where the city's zoo is situated. Ignoring the zoo's undoubted animal attractions, we then caught a bus to a stop called Campingplatz, which as its name suggests is a large camping and caravan park. From Campingplatz is was a short walk through the woods, along the banks of the Isar River to our destination that lunchtime, Hinterbruehl. This attractive guest-house and beer- garden has the look of an Alpine lodge, yet is still well within the city limits. It began life as a a stop-over for loggers, floating their logs downstream from the forested areas outside Munich, to the saw-mills closer to the city centre. Nowadays, city folk have replaced the loggers, but the original forested atmosphere still remains.

We walked up the steps, and made our way to the self-service area, and found ourselves a table over-looking the river. We had the place virtually to ourselves for much of the time, but it was nice just sitting there enjoying the rural tranquility and the Hacker-Pschorr beer. An interesting snippet in the BDG2M, informs readers that Hinterlbruehl was a favourite meeting place for the likes of Hitler, Goering and Goebbels, both before and during WWII, it being close to Munich, yet tucked away and secluded enough to be a place where business could be conducted away from prying eyes. This somewhat ghoulish fact aside, Hinterbruehl proved to be the ideal lunchtime spot on this our first day in the Bavarian capital.

Our next port of call was at the opposite end of the city, but easily accessible by U6 underground from Thalkirchen. We journeyed to Studentenstadt, which as its name suggests is where much of the city's university accommodation is situated. A short bus-ride, followed by a short walk, brought us to Sankt Emmerans Muehle, a former paper-mill that is now a high-class restaurant and beer-garden. We would never have found this attractive and secluded establishment without the aid of the BSG2M, and the guide also informed us that this was, and still is the place to see and be seen. The guest book includes the likes of Rod Stewart, Led Zeppelin, ABBA and Tina Turner. Boris Becker is reputed to have paused for refreshment here, as did former top Bavarian politician, Franz Joseph Strauss, after whom Munich's international airport is named.

Despite its illustrious guest-list, Sankt Emmerans Muehle is still a place that is affordable to lesser mortals, and it was here that we used the first of our Buy-One-Get-One-Free, "Five Beer Club" tokens from the back of the guide We sat a table under a sun-shade, enjoying a litre each of Spatenbraeu, over-looking country meadows, watching the cyclists making their way along the path that passes the side of the pub. The umbrella came in handy shortly after when the heavens opened during a thunderstorm!

We waited until the storm had passed, before walking back to the bus-stop and making our way back into Munich. We alighted at Munchener Freiheit, and made our way back through Munich's excellent open-air park, the Englischer Garten, before catching a tram back to our hotel. Strolling through the park we passed two more excellent beer-gardens, Seehaus and Chinesischer Turm, but having by this time drank our fill, didn't stop

Later that evening we walked the short distance up to Stiglmaier Platz, and had a few more beers, plus a bite to eat, at the Loewenbraeu Keller. We sampled both the Helles and the Dunkel, before calling it a day. It had been a good introduction to some of Munich's finest beer gardens, and there would be more to come over the following days!

Golding Hop - Plaxtol

By way of a complete change I'm off to the Golding Hop at Plaxtol tomorrow. I'll be meeting up with an old friend whom I haven't seen for some time. We'll be comparing holiday notes and catching up with what's been happening in our own different worlds, but more importantly we'll be enjoying some good beer, in an unspoilt and idyllic rural setting. This will be my first chance to enjoy some English cask ale since returning from Germany, and I'm really looking forward to it. I have written about the Golding Hop before, so double-click on the title of this post to read more about the pub.

The Beer Drinker's Guide to Munich

The first couple of times I went to Munich, I contented myself with visiting the better known beer gardens and hostelries. These included Augustiner Grossgaststatte and Keller, Lowenbrau Keller, Chinesischer Turm, Seehaus and of course the Hofbrauhaus. I did make a few trips to places outside the city such as Weihenstephan, Aying and of course, Kloster Andechs, but it wasn't until I logged on to a website entitled "The Beer Drinkers Guide to Munich" that I realised just what I had been missing in terms of traditional beer gardens that are off the normal tourist trail, and only known to locals.

Although having a presence on the web, "The Beer Drinkers Guide to Munich" is primarily a hard-copy publication; in fact it is exactly what it describes itself as, namely a fully illustrated, 240 page guide to drinking in the Bavarian capital. Now in its Sixth Edition, the BDG2M, as it likes to abbreviate itself, is the labour of love of American author Larry Hawthorne. Larry has devoted the last 30 years to both researching, and continually updating this indispensable guide, which is not only packed with details of over 50 of the best of Munich's beer gardens and taverns, but also contains essential information on how to reach them by public transport, sections on Munich Breweries, German beer styles, drinking etiquette as well as how to get around this fun-loving, easy going city. The comment on the back cover, sums up the guide. It reads "Enjoy Munich like a Munchener".

The BDG2M retails at $16.95, and can be purchased from the website. I bought my copy via Amazon, that way not only did I buy it at a discount, but I also saved on the shipping costs from the US. An added bonus is the inclusion at the back of the guide of a number of vouchers that entitle the bearer to a free litre of beer at selected "Five Beer Mug -Rated" establishments, when you purchase a beer at the regular price. (Essentially this is a "BOGOF" offer).

When the guide arrived through the post I found it hard to put it down. Most weekends this summer would find me sitting out in the garden for an hour or so, perusing the pages and selecting those beer gardens we especially wanted to visit on our forthcoming trip. When it came to actually using the guide in the field, so to speak, it proved to be worth every penny. There were places we would never have found un-aided, and yet by following the concise directions that accompany each entry, we were able to visit some real hidden gems. Getting to some of these establishments often involved a combination of train, bus and tram, but the only time we got a bit lost (and then not disastrously so), was when walking from Menterschwaige to Waldwirstschaft, a fantastic walk that took us right over the secluded Isar Valley, via a high-level pedestrian bridge.

If you are contemplating a trip to Munich, then I thoroughly recommend you get yourself a copy of this invaluable guide and no, before you ask, I am not on commission from the author!

ps. I almost forgot to mention that the BDG2M also includes details of six, out of town trips to places like Kloster Andechs, Tegernsee, Weihenstephan and even Augustiner Brau in Salzburg.

Munich - Some Highs and the Odd Low

The eight days my son and I spent in Munich were mainly, but not exclusively devoted to beer sampling. There was of course the odd bit of sight-seeing, some shopping and just generally chilling out, but the real highs were sampling the excellent products of Forschungsbrauerei, our day trip to Tegernsee in its glorious mountain lakeside setting, plus a return visit to Kloster Andechs.

The lows, were not really lows but slight disappointments. Arriving in Holzkirchen only to find that it was a Ruhetag (rest day) at Brauerei Gasthof Oberbrau and not being able to sample Holzkirchen Oberbrau; no real worry here, we travelled on to Tegernsee instead. The other disappointment was travelling to Geltendorf, at the far end of S-Bahn Line 8, and discovering that buses to Kaltenberg (home of Prinz Luitpold of Bavaria, as well as his castle-cum-brewery), only seemed to run when there was an "r" in the month. Small matter, we travelled back into Munich and visited Maisacher Brauerei instead.

I must expand a bit more here about Forschungsbrauerei. We visited on a Saturday, which was the only rainy day of our trip. A moderate S-Bahn ride to Perlach station, followed by a short walk, through the rain, saw us arriving at this renowned brewery shortly after 4pm. The biergarten was obviously closed, due to the inclement weather, so we made our way inside the cosy Braustuberl. After being shown to a vacant table we ordered a half litre each of Pilsissimus, the brewery's everyday 5.2% lager bier, only to have it pointed out to us that after 4pm beer is only served in litre mugs! No matter, we settled for a mass each of this tasty brew, it arriving at our table in traditional, stone-ware mugs which have the advantage of keeping the beer cooler for longer on hot days (not that it mattered that day!) The place began to slowly fill up, by which time I at least, although my son chickened out, decided to try Forschung's other product, the legendary St Jakobus Bock. This is a beer that doesn't take any prisoners, and at 7.5% is not really a beer to be drank in litre quantities. Having said that though this brew ranks amongst the finest beers I have ever drank, being intensely malty with a well-balanced hoppiness. The Pilsissimus was also a superb drink, with a wonderful, almost peppery bite from the whole-leaf hops used. Both beers were by far the best we sampled on the entire trip, and looking back I regret not making a return visit later on in the week.

A word of advice if you are planning to visit Forschungsbrauerei; it is closed on Mondays, and only opens for seven months of the year, from March to mid-October. During the other five months brewer Stefan Jakob and his uncle Sigmund Steinbeisser concentrate their skills on brewing research for other breweries. This is still a real family-run enterprise, and I cannot emphasise enough how, despite my somewhat limited German, we were made to feel really welcome, and left feeling we had sampled a true taste of Bavarian hospitality.

That's all for now; more about Tegernsee, Kloster Andechs, plus a bit about some of Munich's hidden beer gardens in future posts.

First Reflections on Returning from Munich

Well we got back from Munich earlier today, somewhat tired after eight days travelling in and around the Bavarian Capital. When we were last there in 2007, the so-called "credit crunch" was just starting to unwind. In fact, at the time CNN (the only English language TV station available in our hotel) were making dire predictions about what would happen if the banks were to stop lending money to one another, as well as to the likes of businesses and private individuals.

Now two years on, I am pleased to report that Munich, along with the rest of the western world, seems to have survived the worst of the economic downturn. The city was perhaps looking a tiny bit shabby in places, but there seems to be a lot of construction and also renovation projects in progress - always a good sign.

We were blessed with glorious weather, with only one day of rain. We visited some fantastic beer gardens, and sampled some excellent beers. The best of these though, came from outside the city, with the honourable exception of Forschungs - whose beers must rank amongst some of the finest I have ever tasted. Of Munich's "big Six" brewers, Augustiner rose way above the rest, especially when served direct from large wooden barrels, as in the Hirschgarten. Hofbrau was also quite drinkable, but the likes of Lowenbrau, Spaten, Hacker-Pschorr and Paulaner, whilst pleasant enough thirst quenchers on a hot summer's day, were not what I would call particularly "challenging".

This small gripe aside, we were really impressed by the popularity of the city's beer gardens. They attract people of all ages and from all walks of life. They act as great social levellers, and are places where people can go to relax after a hard days work, or to meet up with friends. At the weekends they are heaving, and are particularly popular with family groups.

Over the next week or so, I will be posting details of some of the best of these gardens, so look out for these.