Bier in Berlin
Short answer to Mike - go to Franconia (northern Bavaria, in German: Franken). In Berlin, Becks seems to be the beer of choice. There is a beer known as Schultheiss but it was more of an old-mans beer. Berliner-Pilsner was a good alternative to Becks. I heard of Berliner Kindl too but can’t remember it being any good. Certainly didn’t try any green/red Berliner Weisse
Giving an uninformed guess, the beer in East Berlin was horrible and in West Berlin, you were happy if you had coal during the airlift. So a proud, continuous brewing tradition is unlikely. Even the new, hip, organic drink of choice, “Bionade” isn’t from Berlin.
The beer culture in Bavaria and Franconia is much stronger and even the wikipedia page reflects this EN. The German Wikipedia goes into more detail and states that Oberfranken (Upper Franconia) has more breweries than any other European country! Only the US (1383), China (420) and Russia (404) have more breweries but Oberfranken is much smaller of course and there are approx. 200 in Oberfranken and approx. 300 in all of Franconia). See:
Bierland-Oberfranken
List of breweries in Bavaria
www.franconiabeerguide.com
July 24th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Sounds like a plan.
North Bavaria is relatively remote from Munich, even with a somewhat compliant chauffeur, but I’m sure I’ll get there eventually. Setting up a trip o Heidelberg at the moment, so I can try Württemberg beer for a change.
July 24th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
But Heidelberg is even further away! And I can’t promise you good beer there. In fact, it may be more of a wine region - I saw this which looks interesting http://www.hallo-rhein-neckar.de/de/regionales/sonderthemen/heidelberg_praesentiert_sich_als_kulinarisches_wein-_und_bier-erlebnis_1.php
btw - Heidelberg is in the former duchy of Baden, not Württemberg according to my sources
July 26th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
I think where you want to place Heidelberg is a matter of historical perspective. i would have considered it part of the Palatinate and in any case its been overrun and swapped between any number of people and places. Regardless its in modern Baden-Württemberg and I know a few places to get good beer and even 1 or 2 that brew their own. Even if they can be a bit overpriced and/or full of students and Americans.
Fladugen is a town in Northern Bavaria which seems to be a longer travel time from Munich than Heidelberg. Granted its Autobahn all the way to Heidelberg (well most of the way and via Stuttgart). But there you go.
July 26th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
Sorry. I meant Fladungen (<a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fladungen”wiki)