A Taste of Bavaria
In April 2009 a small group of Keighley and Craven CAMRA members undertook a short trip to the Bavarian city of Augsburg, with Colleen Holiday, Branch chair and erstwhile resident of that city as their guide...
Situated in southern Bavaria, Augsburg was founded over 2000 years ago by the Romans. With Munich 40 kilometres to the east, it is slightly off the beaten track for tourism, but has a rich history as a centre for trade and manufacture with companies such as MAN diesel based there. It has a good shopping district and there are plenty of museums, historic churches and buildings of architectural interest to see.
Augsburg boasts four good-size breweries, a couple of brewpubs and a number of breweries based outside the city that produce both top- and bottom-fermented beers in various styles. Helles (light coloured, lightly hopped lager), Dunkel (dark lager - Augsburg dunkels are soft with a pleasant chocolate note), Pilsner (pale and bitter) and Hefe Weizen (top-fermented beer with wheat included) are the standard styles. Then there are variations such as Schwarz Bier (black lager), Keller Bier (amber in colour - it’s highly hopped and can be unfiltered), Dunkel Weizen (dark version of the Hefe Weizen) and Dopplebock (strong, dark and very malty).
Our plan was to try as many of Augsburg’s 'local' beers as possible and have a couple of day trips to other areas of Bavaria for a bit of sightseeing. Instead of the usual cheap flight to Europe we undertook the trip from Keighley and back completely by train, including an overnight sleeper from Paris, which dropped us off at the Augsburg Hauptbahnhof at 6.30 a.m. on Good Friday. Although it was Easter weekend, the city’s tram system was running and we quickly found our hotel, dropped our bags and began our beer adventure.
The weather was unseasonably warm and sunny and the beer gardens were open, enabling us to enjoy the pleasure of drinking litres of beer in the great outdoors. The 'Lug ins Land' beer garden, run by the owners of Hotel Fischertor, where we stayed, is located just a few minutes from the hotel. Situated snugly in a corner of what remains of the wall which once surrounded the city, the beer garden offers Helles and Dunkel from the nearby Thorbräu Brewery (est. 1582). The beers are served from a wooden hut and we enjoyed them at communal tables sheltered by large chestnut trees along with many of the local population. Unsurprisingly, we spent quite a few of our evenings there!
Two brewpubs were visited, one being the König von Flandern which is housed in the cellar of a bookstore (yes, a bookstore!) in the city centre. We walked by twice before we noticed the pub sign and ventured down into the vaulted cellar complex which houses the brewery and pub. Helles, Hefe Weisse and Aligator Dopplebock were available to drink on site or to take home in 2 litre ceramic jugs. The other brew pub was Charly Bräu which sits opposite the Oberhausen Bahnhof, just outside the city centre. Helles, Keller Bier and Weisse are brewed and the multilevel pub offers a pleasant atmosphere to drink in.
Numerous pubs across in the city were visited with names such as Zum Weissen Hasen, Bauerntanz, Wirthaus zum Zuckerhof, Drei Königinnen and Unterbaarer Hof. This enabled us to sample beers from the other local breweries which are: Hasen Bräu (founded 1464 and the largest brewery in Augsburg), Riegele (a youngster, est. 1884), Augusta Bräu (est. 1488) and Schlossbrauerie Unterbaar (est. 1608 in a hamlet north of Augsburg). The staple brews from all of these were Helles, Hefe Weizen and Dunkel. Sadly, two breweries have disappeared over the last decade, Goldener Gans and Burgerbräu which were both swallowed up by Hasen Bräu. The Goldener Gans brewing equipment can still be seen covered by dust and unused in the building next to the Goldener Gans pub which has survived.
A visit to the Augsburg 'Plärrer' and the city’s spring beer festival on its opening day allowed us to see the head brewer from Augusta Bräu officially open the festival in the Schaller Beer Tent by tapping the first barrel of beer with the cry of "O’zapft is" (it’s tapped!). Beers on offer were Augusta Fest Märzen (a maltier and slightly stronger version of Helles) and Hefe Weisse from the Charly Bräu brew pub. The Binswanger Fest Tent offered Hasen Bräu Helles and Hefe Weisse. Here the colourful brewery dray from Hasen Bräu was pulled by six beautifully decorated horses to officially open the Binswanger tent festivities. Yet another beer tent offered Helles, Dunkel and Hefe Weisse from Thorbräu Brewery. A scattering of 'pilsner' bars, numerous food stalls and a large fun fair certainly made the 'Plärrer' a must visit.
Day trips found us sampling beers from breweries further afield. The first trip was to Traunstein near the Austrian border to experience a ceremony dating back 400 years that celebrates St George called 'the Georgi Ritt'. This proved to be a good day out with an entertaining procession of sword dancers and hundreds of horses and riders in traditional dress, which we followed with visits to two brewpubs. The Schnitzlbaumer is a bright and airy upmarket brew house and restaurant which offered Ursprung - an unfiltered Keller Bier, Schnitzl Weisse, Schnitzl Weisse Dunkel, Edel Pils and Bernhardus Bock. The Wochinger Brewery, a rambling farmhouse, combining brewery and pub, was well supported by locals and beers available were Helles, Urtrunk (also a Keller Beer), Dunkel, Hefe Weisse and Pils.
From Traunstein we stopped in Munich on the way back to Augsburg and visited the Augustinerkeller. This huge pub and beer garden at the rear of the Hauptbahnhof offered Edelstoff (export style lager) straight from large wooden casks. This is brewed by the Augustiner Brewery, founded in 1328, the oldest independent brewery in Munich. We then headed to the Weisses Brauhaus near the famous Marienplatz. Here we enjoyed traditional Bavarian food and the products of Schneider & Sons which included the classic Schneider Weisse and their wonderful wheat dopplebock, Aventinus. The original Schneider Brewery started life at the Weisses Brauhaus in 1872 and later moved north to the town of Kelheim where it remains to this day.
The second day trip took us south of Augsburg to the medieval city of Kaufbeuren where we enjoyed a walk through meandering streets and along a short section of its well preserved city wall. The Aktien Brauerie which can trace its roots back to 1308, is based there and we tried their Hefeweizen, Helles and Pils at the brewery tap, the Traube. We then took a bus to the small village of Apfeltrang. With fantastic views of the Alps, the up-market Hubertus Landgasthof offered excellent local dishes alongside the house brews, Apfeltrang Landbier and Hefeweizen which are unfiltered and served slightly cloudy.
A chill-out day at the Botanical Gardens on the outskirts of Augsburg found us enjoying beautifully laid out grounds and a variety of individual gardens with the stone, rose, herb and Japanese water gardens the highlights. We viewed exotic plants in the tropical greenhouse which also offered us a fabulous butterfly display. Although surrounded by botanical wonders, we still found time to sample Dunkel, Helles and Hefe Weisse from Riegele Brewery in the relaxing beer garden under a blazing sun...in Bavaria beer is everywhere!
Of historical interest in Augsburg is the Fuggerei, founded by the Fugger family in 1516. It claims to be the world’s first social housing and is still in use today. With formally laid out streets and gardens, it has the feel of a self-contained town and Augsburg’s elderly and poor live in tidy terraced houses for an annual 'peppercorn' rent. A secluded café within the Fuggerei grounds offers bottled beers from the Augusta Brewery which we enjoyed in pleasant surroundings. Also of interest was the Rathaus (city hall) in the main square which houses numerous historical displays, has a grand 'Golden Room' and offers an excellent view of the city.
Augsburg is both historically interesting and a fun place to visit and offers something for everyone. Prices for food, drink and accommodation are a bit lower than in the main tourist destinations. Although you may not choose to make it your main choice for a holiday, if you ever find yourself in Munich, jump on the train to the 'Fugger' city of Augsburg for a day. It will definitely be worth the effort!
Prost,
Printed in Alesman, Autumn 2009
