Where should I go in Germany?

I'm headed to Germany soon with my family and we'd love to stop by some great German Breweries to tour and taste. Any suggestions? Preference towards destinations in the Frankfurt / Heidelberg area.

Thanks guys, this place is great.

dgoldberg said:

I'm headed to Germany soon with my family and we'd love to stop by some great German Breweries to tour and taste. Any suggestions? Preference towards destinations in the Frankfurt / Heidelberg area.

Thanks guys, this place is great.

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How long will you be there? You have a rental car? Everything in GE is close..........takes longer to drive across texas than all of central europe.

I spent almost 4 years there (Wuerzburg). If I was going to go back........my must see again list would include

Ludwig's castles (including the famous "disney" castle).
Garmisch, and the Zugspitz
Drive into the Czech Republic, to Plzen..........and tour the Pilsner Urquell brewery---birth place of the pils style lager. The sampling is off the charts.

The beer is awesome.........there are lots of little brewerys that offer tours.........you'll need a brewery guide for that (they used to sell them at the Frankfurt Airport), but you don't need to hunt for brewerys to get the good stuff.

Every po dunk biergarden will have awesome brews.

A couple years ago, I stayed at a BB&B* in Zuzenhausen, which is about 20km south of Heidelberg. Highly recommend it. the town has a population of about 2,000. the butcher shop restaurant makes the best the best liverwurst on the planet. Oh yea, the beer kicks ass as well!




* bed, breakfast and brewery

now to find the name.....


EDIT: damn, can;t find it. It;s the only hotel in Zuzenhausen, should not be hard to find. I HIGHLY recommend it. If you run into the burgermeister of Zuzenhuasen, tell him I said hello, and stay away from his schnapps!!

Takes a few hours to get from Frankfurt to Garmich.

I lived in Friedberg from 85-89. Lots of good beer to sample. In Frankfort search out an area called saxenhusen.

The local brewery in Friedberg is Licher. Google it. Pretty good beer.

Anything near Berlin you gents might suggest?

If you're able to find it (it's out on the internet somewhere for download! Or perhaps at your local library?) I highly recommend watching The Beer Hunter with Michael Jackson, specifically the episode entitled "Germany - The Fifth Element". That will give you a fantastic feel for the beer culture in Germany.

By the way, anywhere in Bavaria (Munich area) is worth visiting in terms of beer!

You could try Bitburg they have a large one and then Primasens they have the strongest beer I have ever had.

I'm not familiar with the beer scene in Frankfurt, but Munich is only about a 3 hour drive away. Hoffbrau House, Lowenbrau House, Paulaner House, all within walking distance and definitely worth the effort. I have very fond memories of Munich. I second the recommendation to drive into Czech Republic. Pilzen is not particularly nice, but the Urquell brewery is legend. A 3 or 4 hour drive. Definitely worth pressing on into Prague if you do this ('cause it's just so darn nice) if you get the chance. I also recommend a small town just north of the Austrian border as a nice route back. I can't remember the name of the town (it's quite unpronounceable) but this is where the Budvar brewery is (though you can get the stuff here; I think it's been renamed to Czechvar or something). By accident I stumbled across an underground Gothic beer hall. That was fun, it was like drinking in an ancient underground church.

Or... you could go West if you like Belgian beers and want to try some of their best (that you won't find anywhere else). Brussels is also only about a 3 hour drive, and Cologne is an excellent place to stop and is about half way.

I'm jealous. I wish I could tag along for the ride...
PS. You'll love Heidelberg.

fastricky said:

Anything near Berlin you gents might suggest?

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In what used to be west Berlin there is a cool Irish pub but I forget the name. It is near a polish army base.

Chips said:

If you're able to find it (it's out on the internet somewhere for download! Or perhaps at your local library?) I highly recommend watching The Beer Hunter with Michael Jackson, specifically the episode entitled "Germany - The Fifth Element". That will give you a fantastic feel for the beer culture in Germany.

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Download you say? Prost!

I lived and worked in the Frankfurt - Heidelberg area for 5 years. This particular area is known for the German wines. Bergstrasse runs from Zwigenburg to Heidelberg along Autobahn 5 and there are lots of vinyards to check out. There are a number of local breweries and one in particular to visit would be Schmucker Brauerei in the Oldenwald. It's a beautiful drive and they do tours from 8:30 to 4:00 Mondays through Saturdays for 6 Euros.

Privat-Brauerei Schmucker - Brauerei-Besichtigung (Bild 2 von 16)

Another good one would be Darmstädter Privatbrauerei in Darmstadt which is half way between Frankfurt and Heidelberg.

Darmstädter

If you like Apfelwein, you have to check out Possman's in Frankfurt.

Possmann

In Heidelberg, first check out the Schloss, then head to the brewery.

Wilkommen in der Kulturbrauerei Heidelberg :::...

And in Heidelberg, in front of the the Dehner Garden Store is the Best Lamb Kebob place in all of Europe. It is very close to the American base in Heidelberg.

[ame="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=dehner&sll=49.400962,8.668631&sspn=0.005104,0.012928&gl=us&ie=UTF8&ll=49.401046,8.668631&spn=0.005104,0.012928&z=17&iwloc=B"]dehner - Google Maps[/ame]

dgoldberg said:

Preference towards destinations in the Frankfurt / Heidelberg area.

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If you can, head south of Heidelberg (roughly 2hr) to the Rothaus Brauerei, otherwise Stuttgart is also an option with Stuttgarter Hofbraeu, Schwabenbraeu and tons of smaller ones. Schwabenbraeu runs a huge, awesome Biergarten near the Stuttgart Int. Airport in Leinfeld-Echterdingen.

You definately should suck up Heidelberg. You gonna love it. In case you get home sick, go to Wiesbaden downtown and visit the "American Sports Bar."

Germany beer map | The Beer Mapping Project may help you, even though I think it is extremly incomplete when it comes to Germany's Southeast

Do not forget Bamberg.

70,000 people and 17 breweries.
Birthplace of smoked beer!!!
Original Schlenkerla Smokebeer from Bamberg / Bavaria, UNESCO world heritage site - The original smoked beer specialty in Germany

If you're in Frankfort then you won't be too far from Dusseldorf where you can hit all of the alt brewers. Cologne isn't far either for kolsch.

SPLASTiK said:

Download you say? Prost!

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Swwweeeet link! I searched the internet everywhere for that video and had no success.

After watching that series it has made me pine for a 'beer vacation' that involves lots of small towns in Belgium, Munich and England. Definitely a series worth watching for anyone who loves beer (and I suspect there may be a few on this board).

maritimeclassics said:

You could try Bitburg they have a large one and then Primasens they have the strongest beer I have ever had.

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+1, Bitburg is just outside of Frankfurt. You can get Bitburg beer here too.

bierslayer said:

If you're in Frankfort then you won't be too far from Dusseldorf where you can hit all of the alt brewers. Cologne isn't far either for kolsch.

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YES! Definitely take the time to go to Koln and Dusseldorf. I think by train from Frankfurt it was about 1-1:30 hours to Koln and then from Koln to Dusseldorf it was another 30 minutes by train. The altstadt in Dusseldorf is phenomenal, and the brauerei Im Fuchschen is fantastic.

In Koln you have all the Kolsch breweries and a plethora of brewpubs.

When in Koln if you order a "beer", it is a Kolsch. In Dusseldorf when you order a "beer" it is an Alt. Do not try to order Kolsch in Dusseldorf or Alt in Koln.

If you do the Dusseldorf-Cologne trip, be sure to hit Cologne first. I did it the other way. After a week of drinking alt, kolsch was such a disappointment.

Arturo the name of that hotel in Zuzenhausen is Brauereigasthof Adler. Sounded interesting so i did some research.
Book Brauereigasthof Adler in Zuzenhausen easily and cheaply | hotel

http://www.brauereigasthof-adler.de/

-Dan- said:

You definately should suck up Heidelberg. You gonna love it. In case you get home sick, go to Wiesbaden downtown and visit the "American Sports Bar."

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You will not get homesick while in Germany! I personally could not get enough of it in the two weeks that I was there. I actually dreaded coming back to the States.

Some of my favorite cities are already listed, but I have to give a shout out to Dresden, Kaiserslautern and Baden-Baden!

oh yeah...Munich on the weekends!