I’m back from Munich, and the trip was incredible. Dr B. (my Dad) and I spent 6 days exploring Munich, Bamberg, and other parts of Bavaria. Let me fill you in on the best part of the trip: the beer.
My thoughts on the Munich beer scene
Beer is part of daily life in Munich. It’s more ingrained into the DNA of Müncheners than it is in Americans. At your meal, you get a beer. On the train, you get a beer. When you’re just hanging out, you get a beer. And they don’t get out of control, either. You won’t find much overt drunkenness (outside of festivals, of course).
There aren’t the same stigmas that we have about drinking beer, especially when it comes to women. Everyone drinks beer. I even saw numerous occasions at beer gardens where parents would pass their glass to their little kids for a few sips. Looking around it was obvious that we were the only ones who thought it was strange.
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In early May I’m taking a beer trip to Munich, Germany. You could say that I’m excited.
In 2006 I spent a day in Munich while traveling in Europe. I almost wish I hadn’t because it was so much fun I didn’t want to leave. It’s been a while, but I’m finally going back.
I want to make sure I do it right though, so I thought I would share with you my plan of attack. I also know that many BillyBrew readers have been to Germany and I’d be an idiot to not tap into that knowledge. I’ll be traveling with my photographer aka Dr. B aka Dad. He’s always wanted to go to Germany and I’m glad we can do this trip before he becomes an old(er) fart.
Here is the gist of the trip:
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The following is a guest post from my friend Chris Jensen. He’s been homebrewing for 5 years and works on the National Marketing team at Whole Foods Market.
I’ve just returned from a spectacular two-week journey through Belgium, the self-proclaimed Beer Paradise. That moniker is no exaggeration.
Belgian beer culture is likely to make any beer enthusiast a little weak at the knees. According to Brooklyn Brewing’s Garrett Oliver, Belgium has “held onto a greater range of [its] brewing tradition than any other country in the world. ” If one could say that England is the Heart of brewing tradition, and Germany is its purist Mind, then Belgium is most certainly the Soul.
As a homebrewer and lover of beer, I’ve long respected Belgian brewers: I respect their substantial influence on brewers I love here in the US; I respect their tradition of bottle fermentation, which seems more natural and can produce more complex and mature qualities than forced carbonation; and I respect that each brewery has its own specialized glassware designed to highlight its beers’ features.
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When you hear talks about the best beer cities in America, the same names always come up: Denver (represent!), Portland, Philly, Asheville, and San Diego.
I recently had the pleasure of visiting the last one as my girlfriend and I took a much needed vacation to Southern California. It was our first time there, and I wanted to see what all the beer talk was about.
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