Intellectual Ferment of a Different Kind
Meeting the people who make your beer.
Weissenohe at the Gateway to Franconian Switzerland It’s a gloomy afternoon in late spring made slightly brighter by the cheerful yellow canola in full bloom and the several shades of green fields spread over the hills like a patchwork quilt. The bus from Forchheim …
Tucked away in northeastern Bavaria on the Czech border, the Oberpfalz is home to Zoigl, a beer style brewed the same way it was a century ago. But Zoigl is more than a beer style. It’s an ethos upholding a tradition that has long since …
Belgium’s compact size and its efficient transportation network make it a paradise for beer travelers. Say you’re staying in Brussels and want to head to Antwerp or Bruges for lunch and a few cultural excursions, followed by drinks in classic beer cafes. You can easily …
It was my last day in Bamberg, and the sun had finally dispersed all the clouds, gloriously illuminating the fall foliage. I had just spent the late morning hours at Greifenklau and still had a few hours before my train. The gravitational pull of Aecht …
What began life as a rough-and-ready list of Vienna Lagers to accompany “A Heavenly Drink, Like Concentrated Sunshine: Vienna Lager Past and Present” has morphed into something more than that. Below you’ll read about beer names that evoke colourful characters and aspects of Viennese history. …
A journey to Kelheim in eastern Bavaria is a journey to wheat beer nirvana. A charmingly unassuming town at the confluence of the Danube and the Altmühl Rivers, Kelheim began life in the ninth century as a county seat. Through the ages it has served …
A Beer Like No Other Over twenty years had passed since I stopped off briefly in Bamberg en route between Prague and Heidelberg with an old friend on a crazy road trip in my grandma’s rickety Renault 5. On that sunny afternoon in the …
I headed out to Stone Brewing’s Berlin outpost in Mariendorf with less than great expectations. Stone’s arrival in Berlin had, after all, been anything but auspicious. During a press conference in 2014, co-owner Greg Koch presided over the destruction of a pallet of main-stream European …
You’ve just arrived in Prague and have had a look at “Beer in Prague: A List to Get You Started” during your train ride. You’re thirsty after that long journey and need to fortify yourself before you brave the crowds of the Castle District, Charles …
It’s late 2008, about a month after I had arrived in Berlin to conduct research on Germany’s recent efforts to commemorate the Second World War. Another leaden gray winter afternoon, mist hanging low enough to obscure the landmark TV Tower on Alexanderplatz, leafless trees shivering …