January 31, 2025

Beer Travel Vignettes: Füchschen, the “Little Fox” of Düsseldorf

Pubs line the center of Düsseldorf, packed tight like sardines. It’s not for nothing that the streets around the Rathaus (city hall) have earned the nickname “the longest bar in Europe.” Unless mass-market Pils is your thing, you can safely ignore most of these establishments and make for Düsseldorf’s fabled Altbier pubs. Many of them are clustered in the Altstadt, but if you venture northeast of the city center, you’ll find a fox’s den of Altbier.

A Dance Called Altbier

Shops line the cobblestoned street that passes in front of Füchschen, and there’s an unmistakable urban vibe that pervades the neighbourhood. But it’s quieter here than in the city center. Don’t let the relative calm fool you. Step inside Füchschen and you’ll find a lively bunch of thirty-somethings and old-timers doing their level best to keep the Köbes* on his toes.

And they do a fine job of it. The Köbesses swirl around the interior of this classic tavern as if in a choreographed dance piece called Altbier. I still remember glancing surreptitiously at a few of the beer coasters fanned out in front of old-timers the first time I took a seat in this cozy tavern. I couldn’t help but notice that the Köbes’ pencil notches were adding up prodigiously.** I was sold on the place.

*In the pubs of Cologne and Düsseldorf, the Köbes reigns supreme. Sharp-witted and cordially gruff, he (and it’s almost always a he) derives his name from St. James of Santiago de Compostela (St. Jakobus in German, shortened to Köbes). It’s said that the name is a nod to the servers who staffed the taverns that provided food and drink to the pilgrims making the trek to the town of Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain.

**Each time the Köbes drops off a Becher of Altbier, he marks the rim of your beer mat. Place your beer mat on your glass when you’re done as a signal to the Köbes that it’s time to tally up the notches and settle the bill. A Becher is a 250-mL squat cylindrical glass that holds a bit more beer than the Kölsch Stange of Cologne.

It’s Alt Here: 1848 in Düsseldorf

Though the building itself is a product of postwar rebuilding (Düsseldorf received its share of ordinance courtesy of Allied bombers), the tavern’s interior has the feel of 1848, the year of the Füchschen’s founding. Paintings depicting Old Düsseldorf line the walls beneath the stucco ceiling supported by wooden beams, and the field of ceramic tiles above the benches adds a certain flair. Wooden chandeliers cast a soft light that, when combined with the dark brown wood, makes the place feel older than it is.

And that soft light flatters the Alt here, a tawny beer the colour of a fox’s coat. From the first sip, Füchschen Alt is a beer with staying power. It’s like maple syrup mixed with mugi-cha (Japanese barley tea). Toasty malt fragrances and cocoa-dusted dried cherries predominate, followed by hazelnuts and a Lebkuchen spiciness. A dash of roasted malt contributes a suggestion of cherry wood smoke balanced by spicy hop flavors, a mineral note, and a Campari-like herbal bitterness. Deeply flavorful and eminently drinkable. Go ahead. You know you want another one.

*Like many other Düsseldorf breweries, Füchschen brews a seasonal Altbier. If you’re in Düsseldorf during the winter holidays, be sure to order the Weihnachtsbier, a ruby-tinted beer that’s almost black. With a colour like that, it’s hardly surprising that roast notes carry the day.

Brauerei Schumacher, Where Düsseldorfer Altbier Began

The Origins of the Contemporary Wirtshaus

Cologne and Its Kölsch: A Rough-and-Ready Guide

Images by Franz D. Hofer