So I was in Germany for right at a month. What a trip it was and an experience that I would recommend for any beer enthusiast. Just wanted to give you guys a quick break down of my time there and I feel greatful for the people I met and some of the things I saw.
The first experience that I had was just outside of the Army post Grafenwhoer. Not exactly the ideal place to really experience Germany, but hey for a free trip I wasn’t going to complain. All of the beer that we drank here was primarilly from Nurenburg and my gosh the Dunklewiezen was outstanding. The great thing about the Guest Houses is that most of all the food and beer was really cheap. Here is an example of a really basic lunch that I bought for 5 Euro.
My boss arranged for me to meet 7th Generation Head Brewer/Owner of Schlossbrauerei Hirschau. His name is Franz Dorfner and this guy was amazing. He spoke very good English which was a plus and having toured many breweries in the states, this was unique. My boss had told him that I was a home brewer but it I don’t think I asked questions that most people would ask. Besides that it was hands down the best tour I have been on and he has won many world wide awards. He took us through every nook and cranny of his operation and he moved with such speed for an old man! At the end of the tour he busted out 5 different samples and at 9 o’clock in the morning I drank about 3.5 liters of beer ( Nap took place right after the tour).
On our way from a trip to the Munich Airport we are on the A93 and I saw a sign for a Hop Museum!! Once I made it clear to my boss that he would not live to see the next day we stopped. It was 3 Euro to get in and everything is in German. No problem with that as you get the jist of the whole tour even with the language barrier. The tour pretty much starts with the beginning and modern aspects of Hop farming, Literature and Hop Art. Really cool place to spend an hour and there is a great Deli right across the street that sells great sandwich’s and local brew.
No trip to Bavaria is complete without a good trip to Munich. We had all good intentions of getting into the Hofbrauhaus but no one told us that you had to have reservations. That place was packed so we walked over to the Augustiner brewery right across the street. Amazing experience and I forgot to take lots of pics as the food and beer was incredible. We spent the whole night in this part of Munich and I can’t wait to go back.