European Advice

[roo_dr]

Work is taking me overseas for 16 weeks, mainly the UK, but also venturing onto mainland Europe for at least 6 weeks, France and Germany, and as yet unknown eastern europe / baltic states.

Would be interested and most grateful to receive the learned opinion on the best beers to sample. My happiness is in your hands, as it were... :chug:

 

[Dave70]

I will tell you this. We spent a month tooling around central Europe a little while ago, and you can't turn around without tripping over great beers.
And to that end, tripping over because of great beers.

 

[sinkas]

have you done any of your own research or do you want people to do it all for you

 

[jbirbeck]

Work is taking me overseas for 16 weeks, mainly the UK, but also venturing onto mainland Europe for at least 6 weeks, France and Germany, and as yet unknown eastern europe / baltic states.

Would be interested and most grateful to receive the learned opinion on the best beers to sample. My happiness is in your hands, as it were... :chug:

Just go to a shop/pub, buy beer.

 

[vicelore]

I just did 5 weeks over there man .. Search my username and u will see a few threads on what to do over theere..

Cheers Vice

 

[roo_dr]

have you done any of your own research or do you want people to do it all for you

Sorry, I should have been a bit more forthcoming with the story - Yes, I did 26 years of my own research when last over there.

I think it is impossible for me to have an impartial view in deciding what I'm going to be drinking. So I thought I'd see what johnny foreigner would drink if he were over there. It might just open my eyes to what I missed out on the first time, when I may have been younger, and certainly was more naive, than I will be this time

I guess the easy option is to just drink only what I've not drunk before, but even then I'll miss out on most things... (or be totally ineffective in the workplace).

 

[beersom]

My European advice in bad (very bad ) French

Mon conseil serait d'essayer toutes les marques locales que vous rencontrerez. Ainsi que tous les classiques que nous aimons tous et plus de bave il ya des dizaines et des dizaines de bires vraiment magnifique ce que nous voyons jamais, ou entendu parler de retour ici en Australie.
Pensez ce que les styles de spcialits locales et l'objectif pour les bires de ce type, par exemple si vous tes tourner vers le Nord Ouest de la France vers les dizaines de petites brasseries faisant bires de style maison de ferme plutt que l'abondance oft gnriques lagers ple dont le nom semble exotique une oreille Aussie - Cependant, dans un endroit comme la Rpublique tchque, une plaine de sondage lager nomme mai bien tre un traitement local tout fait dlicieux.
Et les habitants demandent toujours ce que la bire de spcialit rgionale est .....
Have Fun.



Edit - Edit pour l'orthographe du mot terrible europenne

 

[roo_dr]

My French is somewhat rusty, last spoken in Canada to much amusement, but here goes...

So what you're saying is drink local, especially the farmhouse ales of north-west France if I get the chance, and if it's got a boring name in Prague it's probably going to be a great beer!!

I'd have probably not thought much about drinking beer in France - normally stuck to the grapes there. I never really thought of them as a beer venue. Now I'll scorn the wine and look out for the beer, Thankyou!

h34r: We'll ignore the dig at the Australians, for fear of reprisals!!

 

[beersom]

The French was poorly written but the basic gist was -
*drink local (style wise and brewery wise)
*watch out as there is boring generic beer every where in the world masquerading as something special
*but in some countries what might at first appear to be a boring generic beer may in fact be a spectacular treat




Yep, north west France has some AWESOME beer..... but don't shun the wine completely as some of it can be mighty tasty too

....didn't think I made a slight against my own country.... did I?

 

[roller997]

Work is taking me overseas for 16 weeks, mainly the UK, but also venturing onto mainland Europe for at least 6 weeks, France and Germany, and as yet unknown eastern europe / baltic states.

Would be interested and most grateful to receive the learned opinion on the best beers to sample. My happiness is in your hands, as it were... :chug:

There are plenty of good places in Germany that I have been to and I haven't had a bad beer while I was over there. It really depends on where you will stay and how far you intend on travelling.
A lot of the large breweries distribute their beers throughout the country, however like the craft brewers in Australia, the beer is often more interesting if it is not designed by marketing departments so there is definately value in visiting some local places.

In Bavaria, where I lived for almost 15 years just about every Gasthof / Wirtshaus / Braustube (Think of a pub but very cosy) will have some good local beer. I am sure the same applies in other states.
Weizen / Wheat beer is one of the local specialties in Bavaria and I would recommend trying some of them. Further North you get some good Pilsner's but they will be the german rather than bohemian pilsners.
A quick trip to Plzen where the Pilsner Urquell originates from is worth a trip as they serve a much nicer brew than the stuff you can get here (or even in the Getraenkemarkt / Bottleshops) in Germany.
The best places I found in terms of atmosphere and food / drink are the very old traditional places that are hundreds of years old. I remember a place near Gmund am Tegernsee ( a few KM's out of Munich if you head towards Salzburg A8) which had a Witshaus where the walls were almost a meter thick. They served up a brilliant bock beer along with some pork knuckles (Schweinshaxn). Another one is Kloster Andechs which is a very well known brewery run by monks. Great beer and excellent atmostphere.

As was mentioned, you can't help but trip over great beer in Europe. In Germany you have the advantage that the Purity Law is still going strong.

Enjoy your trip. If I am lucky, I might get a leave pass for this years Oktoberfest.


Roller

 

[Screwtop]

Sint-Sixtus Abdij
Westvleteren

Is all I have to say!

Cheers,

Screwy

 

[Howlingdog]

True, but make sure your there when the garage is open

HD