Intellectual Ferment of a Different Kind
~Evoking Gemütlichkeit at the Wirtshaus~ It was the early 1990s. I had only recently discovered what German beer was all about, and was doing my level best to try as many of them as possible. Occasionally, my friends and I would find our …
Back in January I sat down with All About Beer Podcast hosts Don Tse and Em Sauter to talk about beer travel with co-guest Chris O’Leary of Brew York. The timing was fitting: I had just arrived back in Oklahoma after a 24-hour journey …
My Kind of Beer Around this time last year I penned a series that began with an account of my tastes in beer, followed by an exploration of the kinds of beers I like. The series ended with a list of twenty-five beers that …
The rain caught us unawares. A veil of mist rapidly descended, shrouding the hills in the distance. The first few drops announced themselves with a rattle through the leaves. Soon the path was a series of tiny rivulets. Leaves in autumn hues swirled around …
What could be more typical of Austrian cuisine than the Wiener Schnitzel? You see it on just about every menu in just about every type of establishment, from the most modest to the most elegant. And you’ll find it as Vienna’s culinary calling card …
We climbed the hill in the direction of the monastery as dark clouds began amassing. The storm broke loose with a crash of thunder and a biblical fury just as we reached the heavy doors. Inside, the heat melted away as we descended the …
‘Tis the Season If you’ve spent even a few days in Germany or Austria around this time of year, you’ll have developed an opinion about the weather. Rain, sleet, mist. Steel-grey skies you could reach up and touch. What daylight there is fades …
A few years back, the beer world came together to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reinheitsgebot (Beer Purity Law) promulgated in 1516. The atmosphere across Bavaria was festive. Breweries touted the Reinheitsgebot during their tours, museums staged exhibitions about the edict’s history, and beer …
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 colleague of mine at the Wien Museum (Vienna’s city history museum) asked me over lunch today about some of my favourite places to have a beer in Vienna. It was a fitting question. He had recently participated in a learn-to-brew day at Brauwerk and …