Franconian Beer Message Board

OT: Eschawo - final summing up

Posted by barry on 2012-06-20 12:04:37

Well, we're back in wet and windy west Clare after our six week sojourn in the Oberpfalz. Following our visit to the haus brauer in Neuhaus last Monday, not so much happened. Loistl was closed when we got there at 8 pm on Tuesday - a little warning to future visitors: Loistl opens around 4 p.m. and is often finished by 7.30 - 8 p.m. It's really like an extended stamtisch for the dozen or so regulars and, once they've gone, Annie doesn't hang around - so get there early! We paid our final visit on Thursday (early!); Rudi's zoigl was the best ever for our farewell and we said good-bye to Annie and the rest of the stamtisch - a good set of people who tolerate our appalling inability to speak their language (Oberpfalzische!). The Wednesday stamtisch at Weisser Schwann was cancelled due to a certain footie match, which we watched at Ludwig and Renate Lindner's house (well done Germany, maybe a match with England in the semi's beckons?). To Don and Jan: Ludwig would be pleased to meet you both when you visit Eschawo; he loves to talk about zoigl and is a really good and knowledgable guy. He speaks excellent English but that's not important for you two. Charly can put you in touch but he's generally in the WS on Wednesdays and most other stub'n at some stage of any weekend. If you want to know what he looks like, go to John White's Eschawo page (the start of our love affair with the town) - he hasn't changed too much. Thursday night continued with a late session with our convivial host Charly, perhaps too convivial because we had planned trotting across to Schlosshof for a final zoigl or two before leaving but that plan was abandoned due to a hangover! Our long journey home was punctuated by quick stops in Leipheim and a seidla of hell bier in Hirschbrau (excellent), plus also Manchester. Of course, I had to visit my boyhood haunt, The Griffin in Heald Green, where I had a pint of Holt's bitter (ok) and one of their excellent IPA - I'm really growing to like this brew, nice and hoppy and a Nick strength of 1038. So, how to sum up six weeks in Eschawo: at the begining it seemed like an age: what would we do for all that time? But it went like lightning, even now I can hardly believe that we're back so quickly. We only stirred out of town for our 3-day visit to the Erzgebirge, otherwise, all our time was spent wandering aroud, meeting friends old and new, swimming in the lovely freibad, walking in the Waldnaabtal and drinking zoigl! Believe me, there isn't just one drink in town(s), there are as many variations as there are stub'n (12 plus WS, etc.) and, often, the brew vary's from brew batch to brew batch. You could hardly meet more friendly and hospitable people - as I say, they put up with a couple of strange English people from Ireland who struggle to understand more than a few words of their language. It's a truly delightful place and I can only urge those of you who haven't been there to give it a go - you'll not regret it! We'll be back next year but for how long? Well, the first visit was for one day, the second visit was for three weeks, the fourth was for a month and this last, six weeks. The next...

OT: Eschawo - final summing up by TreinJan on 2012-06-21 07:00:29

OT: Eschawo - final summing up by barry on 2012-06-21 08:06:29

OT: Eschawo - final summing up by DonS on 2012-06-21 09:51:37

OT: Eschawo - final summing up by barry on 2012-06-22 01:51:35

OT: Eschawo - final summing up by DonS on 2012-06-22 06:56:23

OT: Eschawo - final summing up by barry on 2012-06-22 09:30:33