Franconian Beer Message Board

Our visit to Forchheim last Frirday has already been covered, so just to add that we made a visit to Kraus Hirschaid the day before.  Then, on Saturday afternoon, we walked up to Merkendorf where we sampled the Raucherla (excellent) and I had another go at the Zwickelbier, which was really nice.  We made our way to Wagner for more Dunkel and Marzen, again in superb condition.  Nick and others have asked whether the range of Hummel and Wagner beers were gravity or keg.  From what I can see, all the beers are keg, which is probably the only way that these breweries could manage such a wide range of beers.  Both of these breweries seem to have discovered the knack of using CO2 without it masking the real taste of the beer, which is quite a trick, IMHO!

So on to 'Juergen Sunday'!  Once again, our good friend Juergen had volunteered to show us some out of the way pubs, returning once again to the Frankische Schweiz region.  Our first stop was Brauerei Ott in Oberleinleiter, where a decent crowd was enjoying the lovely sunshine on the benches in front of the pub. The Dunkles was good but we were keen to move on to Heckel in Waischenfeld.  It's not surprising that several have commented that  it is difficult to find, we would certainly have found it hard without our guide.  Inside, there were half a dozen men at the Stamtisch - unfortunately, our visit was brought to a shuddering halt as we were told that the place was closing and would we mind coming back at 4.30!
So, undaunted, we made our way to Held in Oberailsfeld for another Dunkles - this time, a really 'chocolate-y' delight, reminiscent of that from Mager in Pottenstein.  After Spiegelei and Kaesebrot, we backtracked to Nankendorf and Brauerei Schroll - another Dunkles and a Schnitt of a light yellow Helles, both excellent.  Then on to Hochstahl and Reichold for an unfiltered kellerbier, not bad but not exceptional.  By this time, it was approaching 4.30 pm and time to return to Heckel!
When we arrived, the pub was quite full but we found a place alongside a friendly local genetleman and ordered 3 seidlas.   Hard to classify this beer, somewhere between a Kellerbier and a Helles - unfortunately, a little too much CO2 obscured it a little but it was quite enjoyable without being outstanding - enjoyable enough for us to order another seidla!  I suppose that the real delight of Heckel is not the beer but the place itself, which reminded me of many unspoilt old pubs in the west of Ireland - in fact, in many ways, it was eerily reminiscent of my local back in Cooraclare.  We did not experience any unease or hostility from the locals (who were, anyway, probably outnumbered by visitors) and the presiding lady and her 2 sons (?) were very friendly.  All in all, a really enjoyable experience and well worth the trip.

Then it was back home, so it only remains to say thank you once again to Juergen for faciltating yet another super day, which we hope will be repeated in years to come!