Franconian Beer Message Board

In Forchheim 2

Posted by Barry on 2013-09-11 02:30:04

(Sorry, another long posting but go to do something as it's now raining.) Saturday afternoon and still the weather absolutely gorgeous! Took a walk down to Greif, calling in at Gaststatte Schöslle first. Enquired whether Bier vom Fass was Hebendanz, told it was, so ordered a couple. Asked barmaid/landlady about brewery – understood that it was closed but reason to complex for my limited Deutsche. Beer in excellent form, very yellowy colour and soft taste, not so hoppy but still tasty. Walked over to Greif – closed, as usual! Walked back to Schöslle and ordered 2 more seidla – excellent. Two more and I noticed that J's was a bit different from mine – her's was from Flasche! Barmaid had disappeared so couldn't ask whether Fass had finished. Maybe I had the last seidla of Hebendanz vom Fass in the whole world – hope not. See other oosting for definitive news on Hebendanz. Saturday night and a little stroll to Neder. Weather still excellent, so went inside to order. Told that that the Fass had been drunk dry but would be replenished for Früschoppen Sonntag! Ordered couple of bottles of Schwarz Anna. Wow, this is really lovely beer – I thought very chocolaty, J thought very licorichy. Anyway, very more-ish. Sunday morning not so nice but decided to carry on with planned trip to Rossdorf/Geisfeld. What do you know, this year, the Brauerei Express turned up in Hirschaid, so at 11.45, sitting in garden of Sauer drinking really excellent lagerbeer vom Fass. Another really good beer, bit darker than, say, Roppelt's, but good strong taste. Decided to press on to Felsenkeller – which was shut! Open at 3 pm, so decided to walk to Griess Keller. Nick warned of lengthy uphill climb but really it was more undulating than steep and the weather had improved greatly. Arrived at Keller at 1 pm to find that it wouldn't open 'til 2 pm. No problem, sat on a beer bench and started eating our packed lunch. About 1.30 pm, staff arrived to set up Keller and, immediately, officious looking young lady marched over and told us that we couldn't eat our own food, especially when other guests were around. As there was no one else in sight, pleaded 'kein Deutsche – Englische' and she relented and became a little pleasanter, so we carried on. Exactly at 2 pm, ausschank opened, so I ordered 2 seidlas. After all the praise of Griess beer, what an unpleasant surprise! It was flat, had a scummy head and a very unpleasant after-taste – sort of metallic or vaguely smoky, we couldn't really make up our minds. Whatever, it was so unpleasant that we threw half away – a first in Franken! We moved on to Geisfeld and another disappointment – Krug shut until Tuesday. So, back to Griess pub, which was empty except for one determined drinker and the landlord. Got our seidlas and decided to sit inside, which was probably a mistake because the atmosphere was decidedly cool. No matter, the beer would make up for that. But no, although it was an improvement on the Keller in the sense that it was fresh, it was quite fizzy and had that same fairly unpleasant taste and after-taste. I've read many reports on visits to Griess and most stress the quality of the beer. So, was this just an off day and had we simply stumbled on a beer that we didn't like? We returned to Rossdorf and the Felsenkeller, which had now opened. Sadly, the Sauer that had been excellent in the pub was extremely gassy at the Keller and quite hard to drink. I was really reminded of our visit to Witzgall Keller, where the beer was, again, very fizzy (we'll probably give this another try this weekend). I think it's something to do with the economics of kellers – trying to keep a Fass going over a couple of days by adding a blanket of CO2. In some mitigation, the people at the Felsenkeller were extremely friendly and they have an extensive veggie menu, which we sampled – excellent dinkel burger and erbsen hummus. But, we were so full of gas that we gave up at that point and took the bus back to Hirschaid. I was glad that we finally made the trip and really liked Sauer. The two kellers were disappointing but I’ll try to buy a bottle of Griess at a trinktmarkt and see what it's like (oh, and a bottle of Sauer Braunbier so I can talk to Juergen!). For Monday, Nick had arranged a meeting in Forchheim with Ian from Ashford, Kent. Duly met in Neder, once more drinking the excellent Bier vom Fass. Nick joined us mit kellerhund but the bad news was that Eichorn wouldn't let in poor Tabor – even to the garden – so we decided to stroll down to Greif. Really nice session with a very helpful landlady as Ian literally went through the card, with a little assistance from Nick and self. Don't ask me to name all the beers – just look at the list in Steve Thomas's book, we had the lot. Also solved the problem of Greif's opening times, which are handily posted on their inside door – not much use when the outside gate is locked but now we know. Walked back up Bambergerstr and decided to try Eichorn. Nick sportingly offered to wait outside in company of Tobar, while Ian once more went through the card and we all had a spot of lunch. I tried the pils, which I hadn't tried before and found it quite excellent. I should explain that Ian is a keen rater of beer for Rate Beer and I was quite fascinated as he talked me through the process. Think that it's a bit late to adopt another hobby but it certainly is an interesting process and quite valuable if you can trust the taste buds of the rater. We ended up back in Neder and I finished off with the Fass Bier and a bottle of the Schwarz Anna. All in all, a very good, if somewhat tiring day. Tuesday: blistering heat gone! Weather quite Irish – cold and wet. Slipped out to Neder for usual night cap. It’s a really friendly place, with a most interesting clientele. The man who told us about Hebendanz now claims a special relationship with the almighty and can order sunny weather, even at night. No sign of his wanting to do so at the moment, as the rain splashes down.

In Forchheim 2 by Jürgen Wening on 2013-09-11 02:33:12

In Forchheim 2 by Nick B. on 2013-09-11 04:31:31

Griess Does Vary by Nick B. on 2013-09-11 04:38:39

In Forchheim 2 by Fred Waltman on 2013-09-11 04:46:44

In Forchheim 2 by Fred Waltman on 2013-09-11 05:15:29

In Forchheim 2 by Barry on 2013-09-11 05:18:47

In Forchheim 2 by Jürgen Wening on 2013-09-11 06:12:50

In Forchheim 2 by Mark Andersen on 2013-09-11 08:11:55

In Forchheim 2 by Mark Andersen on 2013-09-11 08:15:06

In Forchheim 2 by DonS on 2013-09-11 09:18:52

In Forchheim 2 by Barry on 2013-09-12 00:49:57

Sauer Braunbier by Nick B. on 2013-09-12 01:42:43

Sauer Braunbier by Gerhard Schoolmann on 2013-09-12 02:10:06

Griess Does Vary by Gerhard Schoolmann on 2013-09-12 02:17:28

Happy Hour, Bamberg Style by Fred Waltman on 2013-09-12 03:33:32

Happy Hour, Bamberg Style by Gerhard Schoolmann on 2013-09-12 04:33:04

Happy Hour, Bamberg Style by Uncle Jimbo on 2013-09-12 05:46:15

Happy Hour, Bamberg Style by Neil on 2013-09-13 04:20:32

Happy Hour, Bamberg Style by Barry on 2013-09-13 12:49:53

Happy Hour, Bamberg Style by JohnRatcliffe on 2013-09-15 04:52:45

Happy Hour, Bamberg Style by Uncle Jimbo on 2013-09-15 08:43:17

In Forchheim 2 by Fred Waltman on 2013-09-16 12:53:10

In Forchheim 2 by gary on 2013-09-16 19:56:56

In Forchheim 2 by Barry on 2013-09-17 13:40:41