Ayinger Bräu - Munich's favourite country brewery

Whilst bemoaning the total lack of travel opportunities at the moment, I started looking back at some of the places I have visited over the years – places where beer inevitably plays a pivotal role. Most of my holidays have been relatively short city breaks, and there are two places that keep coming up. More than that, these two cities seem to compete with each other for my affection and hence it is often difficult to decide between the two.

The two cities are both relatively close to one another, and both are famed the world over for being places where large amounts of beer are brewed and enjoyed. You might well have guessed the names of these two places by now, but in case you haven’t, they are Munich and Prague.

Since the middle of the 2000’s, when I was free to travel again, following the sale of our off-license business, I have made six visits to both cities, although Prague comes out on top due to a much earlier visit, back in 1984. My son Matthew has accompanied me on most of these trips and, like me, he seems equally torn between the Bavarian and the Bohemian, but for this article it is Munich I want to concentrate on.

 Our last visit to the city was a fleeting one, in May 2018. We’d spent a few days in Bamberg, with some friends from Maidstone CAMRA and because we’d flown in and out via Munich’s large international airport, we managed a short stop off in the city on our way home. We also took a short break there, the previous February.

This was primarily to meet up with Matthew’s best friend; my role primarily being to keep an eye on the two, whilst acting as a sort of tour guide. Mid-winter isn’t the best time for visiting any city in northern Europe. The bright lights and the crowds of the Christmas markets will have long vanished, and spring still seems a long way off, but I still enjoyed the break. 

It got me thinking that it is a long time since we enjoyed a proper summer holiday in the Bavarian capital and when I checked it turned out our last high season break in Munich was in 2014. We were unlucky with the weather that year, leaving sub-tropical temperatures behind as we left England, to experience a 10 degree fall in temperature and leaden skies, on our first full day in the city. A sudden change in direction in the jet-stream, bringing the remains of tropical storm “Bertha” was responsible for the wettest and chilliest holiday we’ve had in Munich, but we still managed to track down plenty of decent beer.  

I was reminded of this holiday by some beers I bought back in December. Unable to serve the on-trade, local beer café Fuggles, who have outlets in both Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells converted their premises into off-licences offering a wide range of bottles, cans and mini-kegs for customers to takeout, and it was here that I picked up some beers from Bavarian brewers  Ayinger Bräu,

The latter brew in the village of Aying, a 35-minute train journey on the S-Bahn to the south of Munich. The company like to promote themselves as “Munich’s favourite country brewery,” and it is well worth making the trip out to Aying in order to sample their beers.

A short walk from the station leads to the village centre, where you will find the brewery inn and guest house complex, known as Liebhards.  Ayinger Bräu’s large, modern-looking brewery is on the western edge of the village. It brews a wide and diverse range of different beers and also offers tours, although I have still to go on one.

Previously our visits to Liebhards, had been in the early evening, but in 2014 we made the trip at lunchtime instead. It was our first full day in Munich and the grey-leaden skies were pouring with rain like it was never going to stop. We got soaked just walking up from the station, but once inside the rustically furnished, but surprisingly large inn, and with a half-litre mug or two of Ayinger Bräu’s excellent, unfiltered Kellerbier in front of us, all thoughts of the inclement weather outside vanished.

We arrived at around 12.30pm and the pub was quite quiet, but not long. After we has sat down and ordered our drinks, several parties of mainly elderly people came in. Like us, they seemed glad to escape from the rain, and like us they ordered some food to go with their beer. Actually, we only ordered some soup, as we were planning on eating something more substantial in the evening, but the chicken noodle soup and the dense, dark local Landbrot that went with it, were exactly right for lunchtime.

If you don’t want to make the trip right out to Aying village, the company’s beers can be found in several outlets in Munich itself; including Ayinger am Platzl, opposite the Hofbräuhaus, right in the city centre. The latter is run by a member of the Inselkammer family, who also own and run the brewery, but for thirsty travellers, who have just arrived in the city, there’s another Ayinger run establishment, directly opposite the Hauptbahnhof (railway station).

On the northern side of Arnulf Straße, directly opposite the halt where the Lufthansa bus drops off passengers from the airport, you will find Wirtshaus Rechthaler hof.  Its yellow painted walls and distinctive Ayinger Bräu signs, are easy to spot, and on the last afternoon of our February 2017 visit, we decided to pop in for a couple of final beers, before taking the bus to the airport. We were glad that we did, as the place was spotlessly clean and welcoming, with an interior decorated in a traditional Bavarian-style, with wooden barrel ends mounted on the wall, animal trophies and historical pictures.

We chose one of the high tables close to the window, so we could sit and watch the world go by, whilst enjoying our beers.  I sampled the Helles, plus the Altbairisch Dunkles; both were good, with the former being probably the best beer of the trip. Judging by the newness of the décor, I was wondering whether Ayiner Bräu had only recently taken over but given the central location of this excellent pub and the quality of its beer, I would definitely recommend a visit.

I digress and returning to my haul of takeaways from Fuggles, I bought the following three bottles: 

 Kirtabier 5.8%, is an amber coloured, Märzen style beer, that is packed full of
chewy-toffee, malt-driven flavours. It is soft on the palate, whilst being rich in flavours, making it easy to drink and enjoy.

Winter Bock 6.7% is a strong, dark, Bock style beer, full of rich, but soft roast malt flavours, balanced by the spicy, earthy pepperiness derived from a generous hopping. Rich in flavours whilst soft on the palate, this is the perfect winter beer to enjoy on a cold late January night.

Celebrator 6.7%. This is a strong, Doppelbock beer, brewed specially for the winter season. I haven’t opened this one yet, although I might at the weekend, for reasons that might become apparent toward the end of this piece.

This talk, and sampling of Ayiner Bräu beers has increased my yearning for a return to Munich and that train ride back out to the village of Aying. Foreign travel may well still be several months away; it might not even be possible until the autumn, at the earliest. But when it does come, I shall make that journey to Aying, walk up to Liebhards and drink deeply of whichever beers they have on tap. I might even call in at Wirtshaus Rechthaler hof as soon as I arrive in the city.

One thing that really does fill me optimism at the moment, is the phone call I received earlier today, asking Mrs PBT’s and I to attend the local vaccination centre, for our first shots of the Covid-19 vaccine. The local medical centre has even given us the date for our second jabs.

A small step I know, but a significant one along the rocky road to an eventual return to some form of normality. That eventual outcome can’t come soon enough, and I’m sure we are all in agreement on that! 

Footnote: The Lufthansa transit service, to and from Munich airport, is a bus in the American sense of the word. Effectively it is what we Brits would call a “coach.” If you want comfort, style and a reasonable transit time, it really is the best way to travel into central Munich. It certainly beats struggling onto the S-Bahn with your baggage, and then sitting there as the train stops at every station en route – that’s if you can even get a seat!

 

St Peter's acquired by new owners

I am sure that many beer lovers will be familiar with Suffolk-based St Peter’s Brewery, with its distinctive oval-shaped bottles and diverse range of interesting beers. Founded in 1996, the brewery is based in former agricultural buildings alongside the historic St Peter’s Hall, in the village of St Peter South Elmham, close to the town of Bungay.

St Peter’s could be described as one of the UK's pioneering craft brewers, long before the term became fashionable, and alongside a range of “traditional” beers, such as Best Bitter, Pale Ale and Golden Ale, produce a host of other interesting beers, including porters, stout, pilsner and the odd fruit beer.

Four of the beers are available in cask form, but I don’t recall ever seeing them in this part of the country. I have enjoyed them before though, at the company’s London pub, the Jerusalem Tavern in Clerkenwell.  Most St Peter’s beers are supplied in either keg or bottled form, and although due to lock-down, it’s a while since I last ventured into a supermarket to buy beer, I am reliably informed the bottles are readily available at Waitrose.

So far, so good, but the reason I am writing about St Peter’s is the news that the company has been bought by a group of private individuals, for an undisclosed sum. This follows the decision of brewery founder, John Murphy, to retire after 23 years, during which he developed and ran the business.

Although selling St Peter’s was a difficult decision for John, he is delighted to have found a team that will continue his legacy and continue to make high quality, traditional beers. This is especially important given the loyal following St Peter's attracts, in over 20 countries.

The new owners are friends who have worked together and share a passion for beer. The team will be led by Derek Jones; a seasoned beer man with more than 20 years of global beer experience, including at Molson Coors and SABMiller. Following the announcement of the takeover, Derek said, “This is an incredibly exciting new chapter for St Peter's Brewery. The company has strong roots and a very distinctive identity. It is a powerful platform from which to grow the business into the future.”

He went on to say that “John Murphy had a clear vision for the brand, and we want to build on that.” He pledged to invest in the Suffolk brewery from the outset, and to maintain quality while meeting growing demand.

So, some a positive development, coming at a time when good news is in short supply. I was alerted to the takeover, by a press release forwarded by Nikki Whiteford, who also kindly supplied the high-resolution photos used to illustrate this post.

Most are self-explanatory, whilst the final shot shows  new CEO Derek Jones toasting the deal at the Jerusalem Tavern with former owner and founder John Murphy.

Pandemic blues

It seems I am not alone, and I don’t know whether that’s a good thing, or a bad thing. If the reports are to be believed, the majority of the nation is suffering  quite badly, mentally during this third national lock-down, and much more so than was the case during the first.

I’m not sure what happened during the second shut-down, sandwiched as it was between complicated, and often inconsistent periods of restrictions, known as Tiers – no pun intended. This current incarceration though is a real bummer, especially as it coincides with two of the coldest and most miserable months of the year.

January and February aren’t brilliant, at the best of times, but at least there are warmer days to look forward to, holidays to plan and, particularly missed at the moment, cosy evenings tucked away in the comforting warmth of a local pub, enjoying a pint or two in the company of friends. There are also occasional excursions or days out to help break up the gloom and lighten one’s load.

The beginning of 2021 sees none of these welcome pattern interrupts occurring, and instead we are confined to our own homes and only allowed out for a handful of specific reasons. Exercise – that essential pick-me-up and mood enhancer, is only allowed within a prescribed radius of one’s own home, preventing people like me with a National Trail to complete, from jumping on a train and walking in a different area.

We are not supposed to meet up with family or friends, even in an outdoor setting; a totally ludicrous and unnatural state of affairs. The population, on the whole, are behaving like compliant sheep, having been sacred witless by tales of impending doom, and whilst I don’t wish to play down the seriousness of the situation, it is surely time for a more balanced approach than this soul-destroying, involuntary, self-incarceration.

There’s no escape from it though, try and behave normally and you will feel the full weight of a police state come crashing down on you, and in case you had forgotten the message, adverts assail our eyes and ears with an Orwellian “Newspeak” message. “Protect the NHS,” say the ads, when surely the role of the health service should be the other way round, and protect us?

Now I know I will be castigated for that statement, and my heart goes out to all hard-pressed healthcare staff, working on the front-line. I also fully agree we should do our utmost to contain this insidious virus, but there are ways and means. Most of us are sufficiently grown up to know we should act responsibly, without it being drummed into us by the nanny state, so please give us a break from these utterly depressing ads!

Returning now to the issue of mental health, and further explanation as to why it should be so bad during this lock-down. We have already mentioned the weather and the complete contrast with those balmy days and mild dusky evenings of early summer, sat outside in the garden enjoying an alfresco meal and a few cool glasses of beer.

Now, after ten months of on and off restrictions of varying severity, pandemic fatigue is really setting in. The media are making it worse, with tales of new variants of the virus, capable of spreading faster, and possibly less susceptible to the vaccines that are hurriedly being rolled out. There are rumours that the lock-down may have to be extended into April, and possibly beyond that – cheer us all up, why don’t you?

No wonder many of us are depressed; six in ten men, if the reports are correct, and seven in ten women. This article in the New Statesman, sums up the situation far better than I can, but basically because it is difficult to see an end to the pandemic, despite the promise of release offered by the vaccines, people have little to look forward to beyond the dull monotony that goes with cutting all but essential contact with our fellow human beings.

I’ve written before that I’m fortunate in going to work five days a week, and I can honestly say that without the contact and interaction with my workmates, I would probably have cracked long ago, but work isn’t everything. Us humans need some variety in our lives, along with the odd spot of pleasure too. Those trips out, visiting new places or re-visiting old haunts, all help lighten the mood, as do times spent with friends and family, and yet we’re made to feel bad and accused of being selfish for wanting to experience these normally acceptable pastimes and high points in our daily lives.

So, is it just me, or are others feeling the same? I strongly suspect the latter, but what can be done about it, apart from remaining patient?  Pursuits that help take our mind off things certainly help -reading, writing, exercising outdoors, or a project to get stuck into, are all good examples, as is any pursuit that brings satisfaction and a sense of achievement.

One of the best ways to prevent the gloom from taking hold is to watch or listen to news reports sparingly. We all know that bad news sells copy, which is why the media fall over themselves to serve up as much of it, as they can.  Stories become tested and facts become exaggerated, tacitly encouraged by the government to perpetuate the state of fear and keep the nation compliant.

For the sake of your mental health, give all this gloom a wide birth. Look instead for the good news, the heart-warming and encouraging stories, and that way there won’t be room inside your mind for the bad stuff. I know there are some with a vested interest in prolonging this misery for a long as possible, but remember pandemics always end one way or another, and even if the end doesn’t work out quite as we might like, this current one will end, and things will gradually get better.

Ending on a positive note, just writing this piece has helped lift my mood considerably and given me fresh encouragement to keep going and look for the light that must surely be there at the end of the tunnel.

 

 

Time to bury bad news, or just Matt Hancock?

Probably in keeping with most other beer writers, I’ve run out of things to write about. With the entire hospitality sector on hold, and all but essential travel on hold, there really isn’t much of merit to report on at the moment. The story below, which I saw on an Irish news site, did catch my eye though, so read on.

The news is that all major beer distributors in the Republic, are to cease supplying beer in kegs.  This is a move to counter the rise of “shebeens” – unlicensed premises where surprisingly large numbers of people were gathering for a drop of draught beer. As well as flaunting licensing regulations, such places were obviously in contravention of the country’s strict lock-down rules, although despite the increase in risk to public health, one can’t help a grudging admiration for Irish ingenuity. 

Kegs were on sale at cash & carries, something I have seen over here in the UK, so by cutting off the supply of draught, the authorities are clamping down on these illegal drinking dens. However, what’s to stop the people behind these places from stocking up with bottles and can from the supermarket (or even the local cash & carry), instead? 

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, “Try and make people moral, and you lay the grounds for vice.” Even if these rules are promoted under the guise of public health, people will still find a way around them, regardless of the consequences. Take a look at the USA during the era of Prohibition if you don’t believe me.

Returning to not having much to write about, I’ve been busy raking through the annals of this blog in order to find material for inclusion on my new website – Paul’s Beer Travels, in case you missed the previous article! I came up with apiece about the Rhineland city of Cologne, Köln in German, and its famous beer style known as Kölsch.

There was plenty I’d written previously that I could revamp and recycle, and if you head over to the website you can read all about Kölsch – the taste of Cologne. One reason I’d produced so much material is the fact I’ve made seven visits to the city, with five of them being for business reasons. These trips were made as part of a team manning our company trade stand at the International Dental Show (IDS).

This event, which takes place during March,  every other year, is by far the world’s largest dental show. It occupies several halls of the Köln Messe (the Cologne city exhibitions halls), and just about every company involved in the field of dentistry is normally there. Sadly, due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, we won’t be exhibiting in 2021, having wisely taken the decision back in October, to cancel our space.

This year would have represented my final IDS, so the cancellation is particularly sad for me, but it is nothing compared to the impact the loss of tens of thousands of visitors will have on the local economy. The same can be said in respect of trade shows the world over, that have been forced to cancel in the wake of the pandemic. There are still doubts over the postponed Tokyo Olympics which, despite the bravado of the IOC, are looking increasingly in doubt.

From a personal viewpoint, it’s not the trade show itself that I will miss, it’s more the opportunities for socialisation in the evening, that it offers. Whilst these evenings might appear as nothing more than a “piss-up” to some people, they normally involve dining with customers and/or suppliers, and this is where relationships are strengthened, and the real deals often made. All the pundits expounding the virtues of “virtual“ Zoom meetings, forget the importance of face-to-face meetings in business negotiations, and if these get togethers are “lubricated” by more than a little alcohol, then so much the better!

A small ray of light is the news that the show has been rescheduled for the third week in September, but whether my company will bite the bullet and book a stand, remains to be seen, but one trip that is presumably off, is the already postponed visit to the Czech Republic in March. I haven’t heard from the organisers yet, but with much of northern and central Europe facing similar restrictions to us, the chances of this trip to Pilsen taking place, must be minimal.

This brings me on to the email I received yesterday, from Easy Jet, informing me that the voucher I received for last year’s cancelled flights can now be used. The voucher is only valid until the end of June, but the good news is that it can be used to book any future flights that are available at that point in time. A visit to either Germany or Czechia for early autumn, would therefore be good bet, always assuming that the government release us from our current misery!

Those words aren’t written completely in jest, as I remain deeply suspicious of the Department of Health’s motives on this. Today, that pimply, shifty-eyed excuse of a Health Minister Matt Hancock, threw into the ring, the ultimate caveat for extending lockdown indefinitely, by stating that his biggest concern was “yet to be discovered variants of the virus.”

Well hold on a minute matey – yes you with that awful pink tie! Viruses mutate all the time, with most new variants becoming less lethal. If Hancock is prepared to keep us locked down because he is afraid of something that MIGHT possibly happen in the future then, to quote Private Frazer, “We’re all doomed, doomed!”

Unfortunately, Mr Hancock is so far up his own backside, and so engrossed in believing his own rhetoric, that unless there’s a concerted opposition to this lunacy, we might just end up confined in our own houses for eternity. Don’t these clowns realise how absurd their pronouncements are?

Ignoring this overgrown public schoolboy, and returning, for a moment, to the subject of cancelled holidays, Mrs PBT’s and I have credit with Cunard, in respect of last spring’s canceled cruise. Cruising hasn’t re-started yet, so we will probably carry the credit over for a further year.

Cruise ships are notorious for the spread of things such as norovirus, and at the beginning of the current pandemic, several ended up as floating “plague hotels.” I’m not totally risk averse, but I think I’d rather wait until Coronavirus is well and truly under control, and preferably on its way out, before booking a cabin on a liner with a couple of thousand other potential plague carriers. You never know our friend at the DoH might just be right about that mutant variant!

A new venture

For the past six months, or possibly even longer – one loses all sense of time during a pandemic, I’ve been working on a project which has slowly come to fruition. It’s a project that involves writing, just like me blog, and in many ways is an extension of the blog. It’s been quite a sharp learning curve and I’ve had to discover many things for myself to see how they work out in practice, but now I feel ready to tell the world, in order for people to find out what I’ve been up to and decide for themselves.

The sharp eyed amongst you, may have already noticed a link to a new site, appearing in the left hand side bar of the blog, under the heading of My Blog List,. In case you haven't I’ve set up my own website, called Paul’s Beer Travels,  and it's the project I've been working on since the start of the pandemic. 

If the title of the website sounds a little too similar to my current blog, then that’s a bonus, because in many ways there are a number of parallels between the two, but the site is far more than just a blog, as I will explain. Paul’s Beer & Travel Blog is exactly that; a blog where I get to post articles about beer and beer-related topics, especially where there’s an element of travel involved.

The website, on the other hand, whilst continuing in this vein (hence the similar sounding name), gives me the opportunity of publishing far lengthier posts, and to group these pieces under a number of different headings.These headings are: Home, About, The Beers, Beer Destinations, Walking & Beer, plus Blog.

 If you click on the site, you will notice drop down menu choices under the middle four of those six headings. I am still working on adding longer articles to the site – “populating it” I believe is the correct technical term, and have already added several posts under the "Beer Destinations" and "Walking & Beer" headings: the latter being something of a labour of love, given my liking of rambling and long country walks.  

There is nothing currently under the "Blog" heading, but this may change, depending how the site develops and whether or not I wish to maintain the Blogger site, hosted by Google alongside the self-hosted WordPress one (see below.) That’s a decision for another day, as the current site is doing reasonably well in terms of Pageviews, and even pulls in a tiny amount of revenue, but I would need to grow the number of visitors to the new site quite considerably, before considering such a move.

I chose WordPress to host my new site, but opted for the dot.org version, rather than the more common dot.com form of WordPress. WordPress.org, is a self-hosted site, whereas WordPress.com is a hosted blogging platform, run by a company called Automattic.

So, with WordPress.org, the owner of the site is free to download and install the WordPress software on any web-hosting site of his or her choosing, and then use that software without restriction, in any way they see fit. Whereas with WordPress.com, users are restricted to one hosting platform and also to the number of themes to choose from, when it comes to customizing their site.

Going with WordPress.org though, was quite tough to begin with, as whilst there’s plenty of online advice, in some ways there’s too much. I opted for a company called Bluehost to host the site, and I also purchased my domain name through them.  URL https://paulsbeertravels.com now belongs to me, and will remain my property as long as I pay the Domain Registration fee of £9.68 each year.

Bluehost will provide software support, as well as sorting out any problems I may have. They have already assisted in upgrading my site to the latest version of WordPress. Because I am self-hosting the site, I can monetise it in the future – should I so desire. This means I can offer affiliate links, sell items etc, as quite a few other beer and travel websites do at the moment.

I mentioned at the beginning of this piece, that there’s been a lot to learn, but it’s been enjoyable, in a strange sort of way, not just adding content, but playing around with the layout of the site, as well as its overall look.

Although it’s still something of a work in progress, the website is fully functional, so why not take a look and let me know what you think? Feedback, whether positive or negative, will be much appreciated, as will suggestions for improvement or enhancement. You can also sign up to receive regular email updates,  regarding new posts.