Back in Bamberg

We had a very tiring 10 hour, four train ride from Rostock to Bamberg. Because we had the bikes we couldn't take faster (ICE/IC) trains and I to rely on local trains (RE/RB).

We started out with an "oops" moment -- we had everything planned: we were going to ride to the nearby S-Bahn station (which we had scoped out earlier) and get to Rostock Hbf in plenty of time to buy some sandwiches and stuff for the long day.  Except the bike garage was locked and the person who normally opened it was late. Finally, a maintenance man showed up a freed our bikes.

Tuesday, we rode out to Merkendorf to Brauerei Wagner (Hummel is closed Tuesdays) and spent a pleasant afternoon in their biergarten. As Bob said, "A perfect 6 hour bike ride -- 45 minutes riding each way and 4 1/2 hours in the biergarten."

I won't post much for the rest of the week unless there is something unusual. You can get lots of pictures of Bamberg here or at www.HaveBeerWillTravel.com

I will leave you with one picture, of the price list for Belgian beers at the new international beer shop in Bamberg (just down the street from Spezial). They even had a few American beers from Anderson Valley, Anchor Brewing and Flying Dog. It will be interesting to see if they succeed -- it is a large, prime corner location and I think you'd have to sell a lot of beer. The people behind are those behind the St. Erhard beers (brewed in Hallendorf but "from" Bamberg and mostly for export to Asia)

No Warm Up Ride Today

We had some errands to run in the morning (being the first "work day" of our trip) and when we convened at noon it really looked like rain was coming. All the websites said rain in the afternoon and evening. Not wanting to be out in the countryside in a downpour, we decided to stay in town.

Added into the mix, my smartphone suffer a fatality so a bunch of pictures were lost. And the rain this morning is interfering with my internet connection so no pictures for now. Just go to www.HaveBeerWillTravel.com and pick a random day in Bamberg -- that pretty much is what we did.

Our original plan was to ride this morning to Lichtenfels and then catch a train to Jena. But there looks to be heavy rain and thunderstorms all day in the Bamberg area so we may just take the train from Bamberg all the way to Jena.

Warm Up Ride #2

Some days you train your legs and lungs. Today we trained our liver.

We left 11:30 ish and rode 2 km to Cafe Abseits. We all ordered a Mönschambacher Lager and a Schnitzel Sandwich. Then Gerhardt, the proprietor came out and sat with us. He said he had a bunch of beers he was waiting to taste with us an came back with literally a case beers (German case of 20). We protested that we had a long ride ahead of us but we did try a few...

Mönchsambacher Lager

First was Burgdorfer IPA from Switzerland. The brewer there is the former head brewer at Weyermann so it had some strong similarities to the Weyermann IPA -- namely a huge malt presence (not unexpected for a Malting company). It was a very drinkable beer.

Burgdorfer IPA

Next up was a Gose from Bier Zauberei of Austria. While it was a tasty beer, I thought it wasn't sour enough for a Gose. I'll find out on Thursday when we arrive in Leipzig -- maybe my memory is wrong.

Bier Zauberei Gose

Then closer to home Gerhardt brought out a bottle of Barrel Aged Franken Ale from Drei Kronen in Schesslitz. This is the beer that was originally called "Franken Pale Ale" that was aged for 8 months in a red wine barrel (the "Pale" was dropped because the beer became very red). I'm usually not a fan of barrel aged beers but this one worked. There were lots of fruity notes that I'm guessing came from the wine. It was bottled into corked champagne style 750ml bottles for a nice presentation as well.

Drei Kronen Barrel Aged Franken Ale

We were going to hit the road but were talked into a Schnitt of the beer of the month, Andy Gänstaller's Rauchmärzen. Like all of Andy's beers it was excellent, fitting in between Spezial and Schlenkerla is color and smokiness.

Gänstaller Rauchmärzen

Finally we pried ourselves away from the beer and got back on the bikes and rode to Memmelsdorf, where we stopped at Braurei Drei Kronen. They had four beers on draft: the usual Zwickel Pils, Kellerbier and Stöffla (rauchbier) and a seasonal Wheat beer.

All were fine. The wheat was a little on the bland side for me but I'm guessing that was the intention. We all agreed the Zwickel Pils was the best of the bunch.

Next we headed up the hill to Merkendorf, home of Brauerei Wagner and Brauere Hummel. We went to Wagner first. Their biergarten behind the pub was open, so we headed there. It was a nice garden, benches and trees and fairly quiet.

They had four beers on draft: Pils, Lagerbier, Jubiläumsbier and a Weizenbier. I got the Weizen, the others the Pils and Lager. All were good but again the Pils was the best of the bunch (I'm noticing a trend here...). Bob and I had the Pils for round 2 and Tom the Jubiläumsbier. The Pils was still the best.

It was hard to leave but we had another brewery in town and rode the 500 meters to Hummel. Hummel always has a huge number of beers on draft (I think eight that day) and we were in no shape to try then all. We went with the Pils, Kellerbier and the the Räucherla rauchbier. Again the Pils was the best, followed by the Kellerbier. We decided the 90+ degree weather was why the Pils were going down so well.


We headed back down the hill were we passed by Brauerei Göller in Drosendorf. Couldn't pass a brewery, could we?


They too have a nice biergarten in the back. We ordered the Dunkel (lightly smoked), the (amber) Lagerbier and the Kellerbier. While all were drinkable, none really caught our fancy. It could be the heat and all the other beers but we didn't feel the need for another round and rode back to Bamberg (passing Brauerei Höhn in Memmelsdorf, proving we could pass one) and to Spezial were we had dinner a couple of beers.

Distance ridden: 25 km

Warm up Ride #1.

After getting the bikes together we had a light lunch at Spezial and then headed down the Canal bike path to Hirschaid. We had to make some stops along the way to adjust this and that but we were soon at Brauerei Kraus in Hirschaid.

Main-Danube Canal Bike Path

Bob and I had the Lagerbier and Tom the Pils. Tom made the better choice as the Lager had quite a bit of diacityl and it was really hard to finish. I had planned to have two as our next stop didn't open until 3pm but we moved on anyway.

Kraus Hirschaid Lagerbier

Kraus biergarten

We retraced our path a bit and then turned west towards Pettstadt. To get there you have to take a little ferry across part of the Regnitz. It is un-motorized, powered by the current, pivot points and a bit of human muscle. The ferry costs a Euro but is well worth it.

Three bikes on the ferry

Since the Schrauder Keller doesn't open until 3pm, we road thru town to find Gastätte Schrauder but they were closed for a few days, not opening until the next match that Germany has in the World Cup. So we headed to the keller and just waited for them to open.

After about a half hour wait (very pleasant sitting the keller by ourselves) the counter opened and we were soon all drink the delicious Kellerbier from Löwenbräu Buttenheim. It was so good we had another. We might have had a third but there were some dark clouds coming in and we thought we'd head back towards Bamberg is case it rained.

Schrauder Keller, Pettstadt

We were riding up thru the Hain and were soon at the Bootshaus. We stopped for some beers from Brauerei Kundmüller of Weiher. I had the lager and Tom and Bob the Pils. Both were very drinkable.

It turns out Bob had never been to Spezial Keller, so we worked our way over to Judenstrasse and then up the Stephansberg. Tom and I walked our bikes up the hill but Bob actually made on the bike (or so he says, we was out of view for a while).

We soon were sitting at a table at Spezi Keller and fresh krugs of Spezial Lagerbier. We only had one as there were fourth stops to make.

Going down the hill we stopped at Stöhrenkeller were they had the Lagerbier from Brauerei Witzgal in Schlammersdorf. This is one you don't see to often outside the brewery, so we had one.

Witzgall, Schlammersdorf at Stöhrenkeller

They also had the Gänstaller (Schnaid) Kellerbier and Andy's beers are always good so we had one. It was nicely bitter but also had a nice hop aroma, something you don't usually find around here.


Another would have been good but it was starting to get dark so we headed back to Spezial. Since it was Saturday night, the pub was closed so we parked the bikes and walked across the street to Brauerei Fässla for a Gold Pils. A very nice nightcap for a first day of riding.




Distance ridden: 31 km

Back in Bamberg

For a couple of weeks. The weather hasn't been co-operating, but I've gotten a couple rides in,

For now, I'll just post the routes. I've mostly done this before you if you want pictures, you can find them in the archives :)

First longish ride was out to Stettfeld and back on Saturday, May 11. Pretty straight forward out and back with stops a few breweries. It threatened rain the whole time and started to sprinkle at the end so I cut it a bit short.

Day Three -- Rain shortened -- to Kemmern and back

Wednesday started off slow -- I am sure all the Schlenkerla drunk the night before was not to blame.

I headed over to Spezial for lunch but got there just as the kitchen closed. They have a half hour break or so before they start serving cold dishes (Brotzeit) so I just had a beer and decided to ride up to Kemmern for some beers at Brauerei Wagner.

Spezial Lagerbier in the courtyard

I was getting hungry and not sure I wanted to wait to get to Kemmern only to find out their kitchen was not yet open. When pass thru the northern industrial section of Bamberg and passed a stand with a "Super Schnitzel Sandwich"

Traudl's Imbiss

Cafe Abseits makes a great schnitzel sandwich so I thought I try Traudl's. The counterman grabbed a cutlet that was practically paper thin and dropped in the fryer. A few minutes later I had my sandwich.

Traudl's Super Schnitzelsandwich

It hit the spot but Cafe Abseits is still king of the Schnitzel Sandwich in my book.

When I got to Kemmer it was still about 15 minutes before official opening time. The were starting to setup so I grabbed a seat at a table in the biergarten.

Brauerei Wagner, Kemmern

They have a Pils and Schwarzbier on draft. The Schwarzbier in past visits was OK but nothing special, but the Pils is very nice, so I ordered one.

Wagner Kemmern Pils

I was on my second beer when it was if somebody had turned off the lights.  In a minute or so it went from bright and sunny to very windy and very dark clouds. Oh boy, am I going to get wet. So I finished my beer and headed back to Bamberg at what was (for me) record speed. I kept track of every overpass, bus shelter, grove of trees or anything that might provide shelter. The wind was picking up and there was the smell of rain in the air. And of course the wind was coming at me.

As I turned into the street where my apartment is, the rain started coming in huge drops. About two minutes after I was safely indoors, the heavens opened up. I was glad I didn't try for a third beer.

An hour or so later the rain had let up somewhat so I wandered down to the corner where there is a fairly new restaurant the Blaue Glocke. I gather more correctly it is a newer version of a restaurant that was there many years ago. Every time I've been there they have had a beer from a different (but good) small brewery. In March is was Brauerei Först from Drügendorf. This time it was the Kellerbier from Brauerei Griess in Geisfeld -- an excellent beer.

Blau Glocke on Sandstrasse

I wasn't too hunger (the Schnitzelsandwich was filling) but they had a Spargel (asparagus) soup and a herring plate and that sounded good.

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Griess Kellerbier at the Blaue Glocke

Spargelsuppe at Blaue Glocke

Herring at Blaue Glocke

By then I was ready for a Schlenkerla or four and headed down that way. The rain had ended and it was a quite nice evening so I spent it in the Schlernkerla biergarten.

Posting will be light the next few days.  She Who Must Be Obeyed is flying in to join me for bike rides but she is not a beer drinker so there won't be a lot to write about.

Day Two -- to Strassgiech and Back

Andreas ("Andy") Gänstaller -- formerly at Beck-Trabelsdorf and Mahrs before that -- has opened his new pub in Strassgiech (Drei Kronen Strassgeiech). The beers are brewed at the form Friedel brewery in Schnaid (Friedel having moved the brewery to the Kreuzberg). The pub is only open Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and doesn't open until 4pm so I needed to kill some time on the way. What to do?

Well, not far out of the way is Cafe Abseits.  I stopped in for a beer or two and a light lunch. I started off with one of my favorites, Mönchambacher Lager

Mönchsambacher Lager

The lunch special was goulash over noodles -- that sounded good.

Goulash at Cafe Abseits

The "beer of the month" was the new Mönchsambacher Weizenbock. I had to try it.

Mönchambacher Weizenbock

I was a little sweeter than I like -- I was told that the wheat malt supplier had substituted some French Wheat Malt in place the for usual Franconian and that led to some fermentation problems. I look forward to trying it next year with Franconian Wheat Malt.

I could easily spend the afternoon the Cafe Abseits garden but there were breweries to visit.

The first village you pass thru is Memmelsdorf, home to two breweries, Höhn and Drei Kronen.  I stopped in at Drei Kronen first (leaving Höhn for the way home, if time)

Drei Kronen, Memmelsdorf

First off, I tried their seasonal beer -- this time a Dinkelweisse (Dinkel is an archaic form a wheat)

Drei Kronen Dinkelweisse

It tasted like a typical German wheat beer with just a bit more spiciness. That could be from the yeast but also from the Dinkel. Very refreshing. 

Next up was one of their standard beers, the Keller-Pils

Drei Kronen Keller Pils

 I think it was a little less hoppy than in the past. Herr Straub told me his daughter (who recently finished her brewing education) was now mostly brewing the regular beers. I hope she didn't cut down on the hops!

On the way to Strassgiech you pass thru Drosendorf (home of Brauerei Göller) but I took a slight detour -- a couple miles up the road (up -- as in uphill) is Merkendorf, also home to two breweries.

First stop was Brauerei Wagnerm which is one of my favorites.

Brauerei Wagner, Merkendorf

They have a number of beers on draft, but I had a kellerbier. Actually, it was so good I had two.

The recently won a silver medal at the European Beer Star competition and were proudly displaying this banner.

I have to leave you with a picture of the mosaic in the entry way. My initials are FW so I have a particular fondness for this...

Down the street from Wagner is the other brewery Hummel.

Brauerei Hummel, Merkendorf

Since I had a bit of a trend going, I started with their kellerbier

Hoppy and refreshing. Just what I needed for the long (200 meter) ride from Brauerei Wagner.

Then things started to go downhill -- I noticed they had a Maibock on draft. I could pass that up, so I had one.

You could spend a while at Hummel -- they had nine beers on draft that day (with probably another nine in the bottles.)

Just stay away from the "Cowboy Schwarzbier" -- it is the only one I've had that I didn't like at all.

The Maibock took me a little longer to drink that I though, so now I was a little late for the 4pm opening. But I soon was there.

As the brewery is just getting started, Andy only had his kellerbier on draft.

But soon after Andy brought out of sample of his Zwickelbier which will be ready soon (Very tasty but a bit young still)

They have a nice garden there, which started to fill up after I took this picture.

Dinner was one of my favorites they brought along from Trabelsdorf, Schnitzel breaded in spent grains with a beer gravy and fried potatoes. Yum

I had lights on my bike but I don't like riding in the dark, so I passed on another beer and headed back to Bamberg.  As I was passing Brauerei Göller in Drosendorf, I realized I had forgotten something very import -- a bit stop.

Since I used their facilities, I felt in only fair to have a beer. So I did.

It was a perfectly nice beer, but not quite up to the standards of Merkendorf or Strassgiech.

I continued on to Bamberg and when passed Schlenkerla the open door beckoned. I could not resist.

It was a much short ride than Tuesday -- only 20 miles round trip -- but the beer consumption was far higher. Eleven beers, including two bocks and not counting the nightcaps (plural) at Schlenkerla. A hard day but lots of fun.