German Beer Vignettes: Memories of Franconia, Mönchsambach Edition

A Visit Long Overdue

The stars finally aligned with bus schedules, opening times, weather, and my schedule for a trip out to the illustrious Brauerei Zehendner, brewers of the highly regarded Mönchsambacher Lagerbier. I arrived an hour early, so I turned the outing into a short beer hike, because why not?

Up into the wooded hills I went to drink in the cool air of the forest, then wandered back down into the radiant heat of the valley. I arrived at Brauerei Zehendner shortly after it opened its doors at 3:00 p.m. to a terrace already filling up with locals quaffing mugs of the house tipple.

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A Sterling Reputation

Mönchsambacher Lagerbier’s reputation precedes it. Aficionados of Franconian beer speak about it in reverential tones. The beer has even found a following among Berlin’s craft beer devotees, with Mönchsambacher Lagerbier a fixture at Muted Horn in Neukölln and Biererei in Kreuzberg.

But I had never quite understood the hype. When the beer’s “on” in bottles (and I’ve had it often enough in bottles), I find it on the bitter side, with hop notes that go beyond meadows and hay to bracingly grassy. That’s not to say it’s in any way a bad beer, just not my favourite. And then there are the times I’ve had it gravity-dispensed on cask at Rotenschild in Bamberg (the diacetyl day and the vegetal day). Now, that could just be some sort of quirk of storage at Rotenschild, or the occasional cask or batch that’s slightly off (beer’s a living thing, after all), but it all added up to a beer that didn’t quite live up to its sterling reputation.

A Revelation

Then came May 2024. Not only is the entire family running the show some of the friendliest folks you’ll meet (Oma Zehendner even pulled me my mug of beer, then recommended what food I should order to go with it), but the Lagerbier was divine. Rich, round, and creamy, with white nougat, milk caramel, honey, freshly mowed meadows drying in the sun. And a whole lot of hops that added a fruity Sylvaner grape note, something that I find to be a hallmark of Perle hops, depending on how they’re used during the process, and with which malts. And, of course, that snappy bitterness that’s also a calling card of Mönchsambacher’s beers, balanced here by the malt heft. I asked Stefan Zehendner, owner/brewer, about the bitterness. He told me that their water is extremely hard: 28 degrees on the German hardness scale. So there’s one for all you terroir buffs out there.

Unique Beer, Consistently

I’m not sure there’s a moral to this story, but if there is, it goes something like this: If you have a well-respected beer and it doesn’t quite taste like its reputation, give it another chance. (I know this isn’t often feasible when you have one shot at visiting a region and drink a beer that doesn’t live up to expectations.)

That’s not to give less-than-stellar beer a pass — after all, there’s enough sub-par beer out there using the fig leaf of artisanal production as a cover for their foibles — but merely to acknowledge three things.

One, beer is constantly evolving, especially beers that are gently filtered/unfiltered and unpasteurized. Two, brewers have little control over their beer once it leaves the brewery. Even the most shelf-stable beers will suffer if the innkeeper doesn’t store them properly before serving. Three, unlike larger breweries with their labs and batteries of quality control tests, these small family operations brew an artisanal product that won’t always taste exactly the same, even as they aim for a modicum of consistency.

One last moral of this story: Beer’s always better at the source. But we all know that already.

Happy beer explorations, everyone!

Nuts and Bolts

Zehendner also taps a delicious Export Bier that’s a touch leaner than the Lagerbier, and with more of a bitter edge. You’ll also find seasonal beers in the rotation. I was there in May, and the Maibock was still on tap. In cooler seasons you’ll even find styles like Weizenbock.

For the brewers in the crowd, Stefan Zehendner mentioned to me that he was amused to find out recently that his Lagerbier is a SMaSH (single malt, single hop) beer. He uses just Pilsner malt and Perle hops, getting the richness from a single decoction mash that lasts two hours, followed by a two-hour boil.

Bus 991 from Bamberg train station or bus station (ZOB) towards Ebrach runs hourly on weekdays and takes a little over half an hour. The last bus back to Bamberg leaves at 17:57, which doesn’t leave much time to enjoy things.

If you’re there when the weather’s warm, consider renting a bike in Bamberg. Depending on which route you take, figure on about 22–25 kilometers one way. You can combine your trip with a visit to places like Schwana Keller in Burgebrach, the Hermann Keller and Max Keller in Ampferbach, Brauerei Kaiser in Grasmannsdorf, Müller in Debring, or Mühlenbräu in Mühlendorf. Just take your pick and hop on your bike!

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All images by Franz D. Hofer

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