Franconian Beer Message Board
Trip recap from July |
| Posted by Mark Andersen on 2022-08-17 12:56:40 |
| Following AndyH's lead I'll do a quick recap of my trip to Franconia this July. Firstly we started out in Munich for a couple of days followed by Eschawo/Nehaus for a day and Prague for three days. The oppressive heat had not yet set in during those first 5 days other than one somewhat hot day in Munich and one in Prague. But otherwise it was pleasant enough. I won't get into any details regarding these few days. Needless to say it was a good time as always and plenty of great beer was had, especially in Prague. We rented a car for a few days to expedite our trip to Prague and then onto Bamberg. I'd prefer to just take trains and buses but going to Eschawo from Munich and then onto Prague from there it just seemed a lot more efficient to travel by auto. Plus this gave us some flexibility to stop at places along the way such as the brewery in Adlersberg (just outside Regensburg - where as designated driver I got to jealously watch my travelling companions enjoy the dopplebock). On the way back from Prague we visited Mager in Pottenstein. It was okay. Nothing special. Hufheisen still appears to be closed. I'm not sure they've ever reopened from the COVID shutdowns? We arrived in Bamberg on Tuesday when the heatwave really kicked in. Had a nice initial session in the Faessla courtyard. The Pils went down pretty well on that hot afternoon. I honestly can't remember what we did the rest of that day/evening but I know during our 6 night stay in Bamberg we did a lot of the usual stuff. Spezial, Schlenkerla, Greifenklau, Wilde Rose and Spezial Kellers (to try in vain to beat the heat on the hottest day of the trip), Stohrenkeller (where I enjoyed the Griess Keller bier to end one evening), Rotenschild (for some Moechsambacher from the barrel), Zum Sternla (good beer and food), Hopfenhaus (beer was meh but worth drinking), etc. On Thursday we started in the morning at Brauerei Trunk and did the hike from there over to Metzgerbrau. Had not idea that AndyH and Karen had done the same thing right before us but met up with them and several others at Metzgerbrau. We thought we were just meeting Jason and Jimbo there but were pleasantly surprised to see the others there (Gerhard as well whom I hadn't seen in a few years). So it was a mini forum gathering that randomly happened. My impression of the beer at Metzgerbrau was good as always. Like the others I would say nothing mind blowing but I really enjoyed it as I had in the past. We thought we try to go to Loffeld from there but wound up staying a bit longer and just took the bus back to Bad Staffelstein from there then train back to Bamberg. The hike from Trunk to Metzgerbrau was really nice. I had done the hike from Trunk to Loffeld (over Staffelberg) before so I was familiar with some of it but I would rate this as one of the better beer hikes I've done in Franconia. On a future visit I'll be likely to do it again and continue on to Stublang, Loffeld, Pferdsfeld, etc. Preferrably in cooler weather. Other hike we did was Muersbach (Sonnenbrau) onto Freudeneck, Hoefen, and Reckendorf. Nice hike (despite the heat - common theme for the trip) with what IMO is excellent beer in three of the four stops (Freudeneck in average). We did start at Schwanenbrau in Ebing where we met up with Juergen and Elmar. We enjoyed a bottle of Juergen's homebrew while waiting for Schwanenbrau to open. It was a nice warmup and Elmar was kind enough to shuttle us up to Sonnenbrau from there to begin the hike. I admit I could have just stayed in Hoefen for the rest of the day rather than go onto Reckendorf as I really like that beer. But it is a nice hike from there to Reckendorf with a good uphill climb for the first couple of kilometers then downhill into Reckendorf. I love Schroll's beer too. Could of stayed there longer but alas there was a train to catch back to Bamberg. Annafest. What can I say? It was a blast as always. The combination of the beer, kellers, live music, and hanging out with a group of friends is hard to beat. Oh I almost forgot. Like others have already mentioned. Eichhorn in Dorfleins was/is exceptional. We had a nice long session there one of the days. Between us we cycled through just about every beer they brew and they were all excellent. Definitely one of the top breweries of Franconia. There were a few places I hoped to get to but didn't find the time. But I'm back in two weeks so there is that. |
| Followups: |
 Trip recap from July by AndyH on 2022-08-18 01:37:52 |
| Trip recap from July by Rob Sterowski on 2022-08-18 05:11:36 |
| Trip recap from July by Barry on 2022-08-26 05:10:36 |