At least, a quick trip back to Norwegian Beer! I have a few more Norwegian brews, so I thought I would drink one tonight.  I went back to the Tromso brewery: Mack – the northernmost brewery.

Before I had had their Pilsener Light — this time I had the standard Pilsener.  It was OK.  Wouldn’t call it my favorite, but not the worst I’ve had either.

Beer Mentor

The weather has finally improved enough for me to get out and enjoy my bicycle.

It’s been tough — all the snow and ice and cold weather.  However, as you can see from the pictures, the vineyards are getting prepped for the spring too.  Oh, thank goodness!

What better way to kick off the renewed bike riding than with a really nice beer.  I choose another Weltenburger bier — the UrTyp Hell (another Export).  I must be on an Export kick lately … even so, it was delicious after a nice ride!

Beer Mentor

You bet — tonight we went back to the Mexican Restaurant.  Ok, he may be starting to run out of beers I can have, but he hasn’t yet!  Today’s beer was another from Augustiner Brewery — it was the “EdelStoff (Export Bier).”

I have to say, yes, I do like this beer.  It is a nice export … dry … just right.

Beer Mentor

Today is one of my daughter’s birthdays, so I chose to drink another special beer to commemorate the occasion!  Today’s beer? Another nice beer from the Ettaler Kloster — their Kloster Pils.  It was definitely in style, it went down smoothly … I just wish my daughter had been here to sample it with me! LOL

Beer Mentor

Today was a little bit of a let down for me.  This is my favorite holiday, St Patrick’s day.  I usually am playing my bagpipes somewhere (either with a band or by myself).  It’s usually a pretty crazy time with a lot of nice Irish Stout flowing.

This year, Stuttgart happened to be playing Barcelona in Soccer on this day, so all of the pubs were ‘reservered’ to watch the game.  Wow.  How disappointing.  So, I just settled for drinking a German Green Beer … Beck’s Green Lemon.

Probably won’t do this again next year, but it was an interesting Radler…

Beer Mentor

Today is a very special day for me — it is my 25th wedding anniversary.  Of course, I’m married to a fantastic woman … a little know fact; she was named after a Bond Girl … so I have my very own Bond Girl — yes.

So to celebrate, I’ve picked a very nice beer:  Weltenburg Hefe-Weizen Dunkel.  This particular beer has won both a Gold and Silver medal.   Not too bad … I will be trying some of the other Weltenburg Beers later…

Beer Mentor

Since we just came back yesterday from the oldest Kloster brewery, I decided to drink one of the beers I had from another German Kloster Brewery: Ettal.  I had their Edel Hell … well, this was a nice beer … it is an Export.  The previous one of theirs I had was not that great, but this one hit the spot tonight!

Beer Mentor

Ok, we are slightly recovered.  I’m cheating today and counting last night’s / this morning’s beer as my beer for today: The Aventinus Weizen Doppel Bock.  This is an award-winning beer and deservedly so.  Wow.  This beer kicked my behind — but it was awesome!  I brought some home to enjoy again … And I have to say, Schneider-Weisse makes great beer.

We continued our journey today (actually concluded it) by visiting the Weltenburg Kloster.  This place is beautiful … and they make award-winning beer as well.  I will tell more about the beers as I drink my six-pack of beers (over six different days).  In the meantime, enjoy a couple of pictures from this Baroque style Abbey/Church.

Oh, for the successful trip — see this picture of my “Beer Booty.” LOL

Beer Mentor

Today my friends and I started on a journey.  It was to visit 4 different breweries … we figured two a day would work for us!  The rough itinerary was as follows:

SATURDAY

1) Visit Weihenstephan Brewery (oldest active brewery in the world: 1040 AD).

The “German Beer Purity Law” was announced on the steps of the Weihenstephan Monastery in 1516 … We planned on stopping here for lunch at their “Braustuberl” … it was excellent!  The beer for today was actually the Weihenstephaner Vitus.  “Nummy … this beer is delightful.”  It is a Weizenbock (a theme for the day …) and really went down smooth.

2) Visit Schlossbrau au Hallertau (brewing since 1590 AD).

(We are visiting this place because it’s in the middle of the Hallertau hops growing region.)

After a short drive, we arrived at the Schossbrau au Hallertau … we went down into their beer cellar and took the time to enjoy one of their cold brews … very nice, very smooth.  They had several interesting displays set up — many incorporated hops/hops flowers.  In one of the pictures below, I’m standing in front of a large wort chiller — yes!

From here, we made our way to our hotel in Kelheim (and our hotel was actually in an old brewery …).  From the hotel we walked over to the next stop on our trip.
3) Visit Schneider-Weisse Brewery (oldest Wheat beer brewery in Bavaria).

This brewery in Kelheim has been brewing wheat beer since 1607 AD.  This place was the highlight of the trip! We were very lucky (in the right place at the right time) and were able to tour the brewery (that will be another post).  We were also trying to find some tickets to this brewery’s annual (38th actually) Aventinus Fest — this beer is their Weizen (doppel) bock.  Wow!  What a kick this beer had!

We were very fortunate to meet the Braumeister himself – Georg Schneider the sixth.  He was a very nice man and humored us by taking a picture with us.

We eventually did get tickets to the fest … and it was a grand time.  The beer glasses kept getting bigger … yes.  A great evening at a great event!

Tomorrow’s post will follow up on the fourth stop on our oldest brewery tour:

SUNDAY
4) Visit Weltenburg Kloster Brewery (oldest Kloster brewery in the world: 1050 AD).

Beer Mentor

My friend recently made a trip to Croatia and graciously brought back a beer for me to try.  It is called Karlovacko (except the c has a little thing over it on the can).

This was a pleasant enough beer.  It is brewed by Karlovačka pivovara in Karlovac. (thanks Wikipedia!)  This lager beer was in style for the type of beer .. and since it was free, it was even better!

Beer Mentor