Saturday, June 30, 2012

Beers of Europe: Part 6 - Amsterdam

There are two well known beers that come out of Amsterdam and they are Heineken and Amstel. I told myself I was going to try these here just because I wanted to see if they were worth it when they were fresh. Of course every time I went somewhere with a tap list there was something else just that much more interesting so I never did try either. From chatting around I found out that the Dutch are on the verge of a craft beer craze but at this point the specialty beers in this area were mostly from Belgium. We did find some real nice ones at a local bar that only served local beers.

(This is as close to a Heineken as I got)











Monday, June 25, 2012

Beers of Europe: Part 5 - Cologne

This was one of my favorite stops of the whole trip. Köln has the perfect mix of history and new age. Unlike Munich there is pretty much only one style of beer in this city and that is Kölsch. I had some amazing ones while I was here and hope that more of these become available in the states. The beer comes served in a small .2 liter glass and they have specialized 12 glass carriers for the servers. As soon as you run out another is replaced until you put your coaster on top of the glass signaling you are ready for your check.  Kölsch has a strict set of rules in order to be called that defined in 1986. Kölsch cannot be brewed outside the city of Cologne (except for a few breweries grandfather in), must be brewed with a top fermenting yeast, and the brewery must be within view of the "Dom" (Central Cathedral).





(My Favorite)






Thursday, June 14, 2012

Beers of Europe: Part 4 - Munich

Ahh Bavaria....We arrived in Munich on Easter Sunday. When we were planning the trip we really didn't think about it but luckily everything I was interested in was open. What's better than Easter dinner at Hofbrauhaus? I believe most if not all of the beers we had in Munich are commercially available here in the states.

Easter Dinner




(this was breakfast...)




(At one of the English Garden's Biergartens.)

Lowenbrau


Augustinerhaus









Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Beers of Europe: Part 3 - Prague

From Barcelona the REAL beer countries started. We took a train from Barcelona to Lyon, France (only there one night and only had one beer) then flew out the next morning to Praha. This was one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen in my life. On top of that the beer was outstanding. I don't think I found a bad one in the bunch; let alone with the conversion they were a buck or 2 American.







Steiger (no link)



The following are all from the Prague Beer Museum. Not really a museum, just a bar with a ton of Czech Micros.