Franconian Beer Message Board

Bock beer tour 2016 - part 1

Posted by Mark Andersen on 2016-11-14 09:14:11

I finally got around to doing something I've been talking about for years and that is visit Franconia during Bockbier season and visit a Bockbieranstich or five. It was a load of fun and some great beers. I managed to get to 5 BBA's. I liken them to what we might call a "hoedown" here in parts of the US only with better beer.

First one visited was Hummel in Merkendorf on Friday the 4th with Jason and his mates Ronnie and Tony. This one was my favorite of the lot. I thought the Hummel bockbiers were the best ones I had during the whole visit (especially the Dunkel Bock) and their event itself was great fun to in the building out behind the gastatte. They had a fun Oompah band and the bock biers were being gravity poured where they tasted even better than the ones on keg in the gastatte. That night was a total win even considering the jet lag as it was the day I arrived.

Next evening it got turned up a notch as we did a bus tour to three BBA's with the Nebraskans to Beck in Trabelsdorf, Wagner in Kemmern, and Will in Schedendorf. All beers were enjoyable with a slight nod to Wagner for the best of the night. Although in fairness to Will I was a bit "foggy" by then. By far drank the most beer that day/night of any on the trip. I'm not sure if I should be proud or horrified about the number of bocks I drank from 11am Saturday when I kicked off with Schlenkeral Urbock until the end of the bus tour. As Tony would say ... deplorable!! Let's just say that it was probably a 2 digit number.

Anyhow, the only hangover of the trip naturally was that Sunday but the perfect cure was a tour with Juergen, Jason, and Ronnie. Tony also really enjoyed the bock bier Saturday and had to miss the Juergen tour on Sunday unfortunately. So Juergen took us first to Dorn in Bruckberg (a nice warmup. I had the Dunkle) then to Reuter in Unterbibert which I thought was excellent and one of the best of the trip. This was a nice surprise too because I had been there with Juergen in 2009 and the beers were off. Goes to show with these old, small, Franconian breweries it can vary. The next stop was Reindler in Jochsberg and though it was a bit hard to get to with the closed roads all around it was worth the effort as I thought the beers were excellent there also and it's a very nice gastatte too. Lastly of course was the wonderful Gold-Ochsenbrau in Spielbach where the beer and atomsphere did not dissapoint my memory from my first visit there in 2009. This was a great day and thanks much again to Juergen for driving us around.

I'll post more later on.

Brau Beviale by Mark Andersen on 2016-11-14 12:27:20

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Brau Beviale by Andy H on 2016-11-15 02:37:50

Aichinger and Knoblach by Mark Andersen on 2016-11-15 04:31:00

Aichinger by Nick B. on 2016-11-15 04:42:23

Aichinger and Knoblach by Jürgen Wening on 2016-11-15 04:44:21

Aichinger and Knoblach by Jürgen Wening on 2016-11-15 04:45:38

Aichinger and Knoblach by Nick B. on 2016-11-15 04:58:06

Aichinger by Mark Andersen on 2016-11-15 06:17:50

Brau Beviale by Mark Andersen on 2016-11-15 06:39:11

Brau Beviale by FredW on 2016-11-15 06:51:23

Visits in December by Mark Andersen on 2016-11-15 07:10:03

Aichinger by Gunnar H on 2016-11-15 07:31:04

Aichinger and Knoblach by Barry on 2016-11-15 09:35:08

Aichinger and Knoblach by Nick B. on 2016-11-16 00:19:33

Brau Beviale by Andy H on 2016-11-16 02:10:12

Visits in December by Andy H on 2016-11-16 02:17:23

Visits in December by Mark Andersen on 2016-11-16 05:38:28

Brau Beviale by Barry on 2016-11-16 10:41:28

Aichinger and Knoblach by pivnizub on 2016-11-16 14:04:10

Aichinger and Knoblach by Barry on 2016-11-16 14:23:47