I've just returned from a two-day visit to the town of Bamberg, in northern Bavaria. Bamberg is located within Upper Franconia (Oberfranken) which is an area which, in all likelihood, boasts the highest concentration of breweries per person in all of Germany (and possibly the world, depending on how you draw your geographical boundaries).
Bamberg is a beer drinker's dream. Without even consulting any kind of beer guidebook, or beer-related tourism tips, I managed to walk past no fewer than seven breweries during the two day stay. There are, apparently two more which I did not get around to finding. Not bad for a town with only 70,000 inhabitants!
The local specialty is Rauchbier (smoked beer). Many beer drinkers will already be familiar with the Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier which is the most famous of this particular style. This Rauchbier is commonly described in superlative terms by many who try it. However, for me, Bamberg was about the other less famous Rachbiers. In particular, just a few doors down from the Aecht Schlenkerla pub is another Brewery called "Ambräusianum". This site has only been operating since 2004. Inside they will serve a 3 x 100ml taster ("Bierprobe") of their Helles, Dunkles and the Rauchbier. Not as heavily smoked as the Schlenkerla Rauchbier, I found this to be the most pleasant bier in the smoked style on offer.
One absolute highlight for me was a shop called "bierothek" which is located on the north bank of the Main-Donau Canal, near the centre of town. This little shop was incredibly well stocked with hundreds of beer varieties all in bottles laid out with (minus a couple of exceptions) a maximum of two facings per type. I've posted some photos below from inside this shop, which the gentleman behind the counter kindly let me take.
I returned from Bierothek with this little stash of goodies (all Bavarian) which I shall be tasting and reviewing over the next couple of weeks. So, plenty to write and read about in the upcoming days. Stay tuned!
No comments:
Post a Comment