Posts under ‘Europe’

The tapping of Oktoberfest’s first barrel is only 86 days away so it’s time to talk about another of the major tents at the huge Munich festival. Other than the beer and amazing atmosphere many of the 6 million visitors come for the great food, digging in to the pork knuckles, the oxen and chicken, well that’s not why they come to the Fischer-Vroni hall- it’s for the crisp Augustiner ber and the fish- yes fish- salmon, trout, walleyed pike you name it all smoked and barbequed on long skewers, but the most popular fish is the Steckerlfisch, which is said to be quiet tasty. This beer hall is not one of the huge ones, it only has seating inside for just under 2700 people and 700 outside, but it’s not hard to find, just follow your nose to the bouquet of fish. The Fischer Vroni is also a great place for some of the best oomph music with the Sepp Folger und seine Munchner Musikanten’s entertaining every day. The Fischer-Vroni has been a part of Oktoberfest for over 50 years and is know for one of the more family friendly tents with a quaint and friendly ambience. The Augustiner beer is brewed at Munich’s oldest brewery dating back to 1328 and is one of Bavaria’s most popular beers brewing in excess of 90 million litres of beer a year. Unlike many of the other Oktoberfest tents which pour their beers from stainless steel vats the Augustiner beer is poured from traditional wooden kegs.

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This week’s Oktoberfest tent is Ochsenbraterei, which offers visitors to Munich’s massive festival a great atmosphere and plenty of partying. The huge hall is easily identifiable along the Wirtsbudenstrabe it’s the one with the giant rotisserie ox on top. THe Ochsenbraterei features Spaten beer and you guessed it the menu has plenty of ox on it, and the cooking alone is quite a spectacle. With the huge rotisserie machine last year 104 giant beasts were cooked up for the hungry visitors, being transformed into soup, roasts, grills and goulash to name a few specialties. The Ochsenbraterei is one of the festival’s most popular tents and has been a big draw card ever since 1881. Today 5900 can be seated inside and another 1500 outside making it one of the largest tents at Oktoberfest, but with all the seating doesn’t mean you will be able to get in and have a beer or some beef, you are best to book a spot to avoid any disappointment.

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Stiegal Beer is the beer of Salzburg Austria and has a rich history dating back to about nearly 800 years, the current recipe is belived to date back to 1492 brewed using the same brewing purity laws that many of the German Beers brew to, with only barley, hops and fresh mountain water used. Stiegal make a range of products including a Goldenbrau, a Pils, a leicht, a very tasty Gtielbock and quiet a range of other branded products including soft drinks like the Gaudi range, but outside Austria you will usually just see the one beer labeled Stiegl which is a very refreshing pils style of beer.  

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Well it might seem like a while away but Oktoberfest isn’t really that far away, and if you are planning to go you better get cracking and book a spot in the tents. Starting next week and weekly until the big event we will feature a different tent at Munich’s biggest party. This year’s event is the 175 annivesary so it promises to be huge, over 6 million people are expected to attend.  The first keg gets tapped on the 20th of September at noon by the Munich Lord Mayor and continues through to October 5.

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This is story no 266 on Hoppsy, I can’t believe we waited until now to talk about Dab one of Germany’s best and most popular beers. Dab comes from the city of Dortmund which is in the North Rhine district just north of Cologne. Beer along with mining are the city’s major business. Dab dates back to 1868 when three German businessmen Laurenz Fischer and brothers Heinrich and Fridrich Mauritz and a master brewer Heinrich Herberz came together to form the a brewery called Herberz & Co. The brewery had a chequerd history and was destroyed in World War II, but was rebuilt in 1949. The brewery is today is controlled by the huge German food company Radeberger which owns a suite of breweries. The brewery makes a few products but the most readily available throughout the world is the Premium Lager which is very refreshing. It like most German beers is brewed to the traditions of the purity laws and has a fresh smooth taste with a hint of sourness similar to many of the beers in the Rhine region like Becks and even Cologne’s very tasty Kölsch.

Being a Sunday we thought we would pause for a religious moment and tell you about good old St Arnoldus or Arnulf or Arnold to his mates. St Arny is the patron saint of the hop pickers and the Belgian brewers. He was born in Flanders in Belgian around 1040 and lived to a ripe old age in those days of around 47 and was a career solder before joining the Benedictine monastery in Soissons France. He became a hermit for a few years before becoming the Abbot of the monastery before becoming the bishop. The abbey brewed beer under leadership at the monastery. Today in Brussels they have a special day in July where they remember Saint Arnoldus with a huge parade which they call the ‘Day of Beer”.

We don’t usually do stories on alcohol free beers but we accidently tried this one on a road trip through Belgium recently. To wash down our sausage and frites we grabbed an interesting looking Stella Artois bottle and proceeded to the cashier, only to find a few minutes later it was alcohol free- the horror, but no the beer was good. It had a similar taste to the Stella we know and love but it was a little sweeter and a perfect ‘beer’ for the driver, although after a couple the rest rooms stops got a bit closer together. The beer has 0.5% alcohol content and is most enjoyable served about 2 degrees. The beer is available throughout Europe and hasn’t reached many other markets but when it does it will make welcome change to the sickly sweet soft drinks the dedicated driver has to stick to, keep an eye out for the red and white label. Read the rest of this entry »

Scharzbier pronounced “shvahrts-beer” is a interesting black beer with very dark chestnut red hues and a tan head. You would expect this beer was a heavy beer but no it is fairly light and has a very chocolatly malt flavor with very smooth malt finish with a slight bitterness. Nothing like it looks. It comes from the Kulmbach region of Germany in Bavaria and is best enjoyed with a meaty meal. The beer evolved like many of Europe’s great beers from Monastery brewer’s who have perfected their crafts over centuries. There is documentary evidence of beer being brewed in Kulmbach area from way back as 1174. As we have mentioned before in Hoppsy the beer glass makes the beer, and to best enjoy this lovely dark beer a tulip shaped glass with narrow opening is best it allows the beer to breathe properly and helps form the beautiful rich creamy head.

Bitburger Premium Beer is Germany’s no draft beer and once you have tried it it is no wonder why. Bitburger Brewery pump out an amazing 4.12 million hectolitres of beer every year the Premium Pils makes up a large propotion of it. With over 200 years of brewing expertise the brewery makes this full bodied clear golden beer in accordance to the strict German Purity Law. The beer has a dry finish and fairly hoppy taste and has a 4.8% alcohol vol. It is exported all around the world, look out for the handy 5 litre keg at the bottleshop next time you are looking for a great beer.

Kellerbrau is a beer brewed by the Monchshof which is situated in the Kulmbach of Germany’s Bavaria. The town is famous for the beautiful Plassenburg castle which is one of the most spectacular in all of Germany. The Kellerbrau is one of seven varieties the brewery bottles, this rich beer is kept in oak kegs to mature before bottling and is fairly cloudy with a golden colour and a rich although mild taste. The brewery has been brewing this beer using traditional methods for centuries and the quality and the taste of the product shows. The beer is exported to some international markets including the US where it is sold at 5.4% alc volume in 500 ml bottles and also at some specialty pubs and restaurants on tap.