This post is a part of the 2015 New Beer Every Day Beer Diary Challenge, #ottbeerdiary. Over the course of 2015, I will be trying a new beer every day. Please read the background in the link above, and enjoy reading about the most recently tasted beers below. If you’d like to join the challenge as well, let me know in the comments below, and be sure to check out Grown-up Travel Guide and his #grownupbeerdiary, where Andy Higgs came up with the diary format in use below. You can catch up on all of our posts as part of the challenge under the tag ottbeerdiary.
Day 364: December 30, 2015
Diary entry:
A very early morning today, earlier than I initially planned! Luckily for some reason I woke up an hour before my alarm was set, and decided to check on my brother’s flight, in time to see he was scheduled to arrive an hour earlier than planned!!!
OK, airlines. I have no problem with padding the arrival times to allow for delays, but to arrive an hour early, when the arrival time is already scheduled for 7:30AM and I have an hour+ drive to get to the airport? That ain’t cool!
So 5:00 AM and I’m up and making some last minute clean-up at home, backing up my phone, showering, and running to the car to drive to Brussels to meet my brother.
It was around 7:15 when he got his bags and we met in the terminal…way too early for staying in Brussels for the Christmas Market (which opens at noon) or even Cantillon, so we decided to get moving towards our destination for the evening, Bamberg, Germany.
But while talking in the car once we got moving, he mentioned he had never been to Belgium before at all! I was shocked we never made it to Belgium on his previous visit in early 2006, but as that was the case, and timing-wise it looked to be working out, I detoured into the center of Antwerp so we could watch the sunrise from the Grote Market of Antwerp and have a coffee before heading east into Germany.
Today’s drive was very uneventful, and we made it to Bamberg with no issues at all. A beautiful old town, with a rich beer history, especially if you like Rauchbier – Smoked Beer.
We wandered the town a bit, catching a couple remnants of their Christmas market, and lucked into one of the best traditional restaurants in town, Kachelofen, for dinner. We didn’t realize it at the time, but in the time we took to devour our wonderful Bamberg Platter (my god, you must try this if you’re with 2+ people!), they must have turned away 20 parties hoping to dine there! We chose just the right moment to arrive…
Got to try a number of nice beers in town:
Lager Rauchbier by Brauerei Spezial – 4.7% Smoked Lager – Very smokey aroma. More balanced flavor. Bacon and bitter, with the smoke flavor dissipating a bit in the glass.
Pilsener by St. Georgen Bräu Buttenheim – 4.9% Pilsener – Basic pilsener. Nothing special. But a basic pilsner.
aU / Kellerbier Ungespundet – Hefetrüb by Mahr’s Bräu – 5.2% Kellerbier – Slightly sweet, but good malt and a lingering slight bitter.
Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier – Märzen by Schlenkerla – 5.1% Rauchbier – From the cask in the brewery’s tasting room / tavern. Like a rasher of smoked bacon. Very strong smoke flavor.
Weizla Hell by Brauerei Fässla – 5% Hefeweizen – At the brewery’s tasting room / tavern. A decent, but standard Hefe.
E.T.A Hoffmann by Mahr’s Bräu – 5% Dunkel Lager – Sweet, dark aroma. Continues to the favor.
And the beer of the day…
The Beer:
Name: Märzen Rauchbier
Style: Märzen Rauchbier
Producer: Brauerei Spezial
Alcohol content: 5.3%
Bottle size: 0.5 l
Purchased from: Brauerei Spezial in Bamberg, Germany
Märzen Rauchbier by Brauerei Spezial. A nice, smokey Marzen. Like a well-prepared rasher of smoked bacon. I had their smoked lager earlier in the evening, which I did not like quite as much as this one, but was still quite good.
