Intellectual Ferment of a Different Kind
~Setting the Stage~ I’ve been saying for years now that I’d post some of my material about the Reinheitsgebot (Beer Purity Law). Turns out it’s been one of the more difficult pieces of work to get across the finish line—not because I’ve had writer’s …
So many great beers and breweries, so little time. It’s no wonder cities like Augsburg get overlooked when you could easily spend an entire vacation sampling the liquid delights of Munich or Bamberg. But not only is Augsburg worth visiting for its cathedrals and …
For those who just want to get things over with and sign up for my Beerscapes Newsletter, here’s a link that’ll take you to the subscription form. For those who want to know what’s in store, read on! It’s been awhile since I …
Ayinger is affectionately known as Munich’s “country brewery,” and it’s easy to see why. When you take the train out from Munich, the cityscape gives way to the industrial margins of the city, and then suddenly you’re on a broad green plain with gently …
You’ll come to Kloster Reutberg for the beer and stay for the Alps. Or maybe it’s the other way around. Either way, the panoramic view from Kloster Reutberg’s terrace is one of the best beer garden views in Bavaria. If you get here in the …
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 …
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 …
American-style IPA, that beloved child of the craft beer renaissance, has left the building. In recent years, IPA has become detached from its local context on the West Coast of the United States to emerge as a globalized signifier of everything exciting and novel about …
I was at Schloss Belvedere a few days back, the famous Viennese museum that houses the even more famous Kiss by Gustav Klimt. Alongside some of his other iconic works such as Judith und Holofernes hung several paintings dating from the year of Klimt’s death …
~Confused about the difference between a Märzen, a Festbier, an Oktoberfest Märzen, and a Vienna Lager? “Autumn in a Glass” has you covered.~ As the leaves in the beer gardens begin to don their autumnal attire and the evenings hint of the harvest, …