Just time for another few 25 cl of Kolsch. This is very different to Alt and is similar to a pilsner. This pub was incredibly busy, serving huge portions of the normal Germanic fare. We only came for the beer and it was worth coming.
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
This fine little boozer can be found in the Altstadt in Koln about two minutes walk from the banks of the Rhine. We chacned on this pub after trying unsuccessfully to get into a pub that boasted that it sold 100 different beers. (It was closed and it was Saturday afternoon).
I thought the beer in here was excellent, again priced at 1.70 euros for a 25cl glass but we were served by the most miserable horsefaced cow we've ever had the misfortune to meet. She made us feel most unwelcome although this was quite probably her normal German demeanour. (See below)
Brauerei im Goldenen Ring - Dusseldorf
Originally three separate pubs were on this site, until 1704, when they were combined into one. The current building is a large establishment, in the beerhall style. Despite the name, it's no longer a brewery. It last brewed in the early 1970's. There are the standard pine-topped tables and tiled floor. The bar itself is enormous and runs almost the whole length of the pub. As is usual in this town, the blue-clad köbes are there to deliver a beer to your table whenever your glass is empty. We were served by an annoying Jap who insisted on replenishing our Alt before we'd even taken the top off the last one. The bratwurst comes highly recommended though.
Brauerei Zum Schussel -Dusseldorf
Another bar that serves Alt straight from wooden barrels, this time served by buxom waitressess instead of the blue clad waiters. Again it cost around 1.70 euros and can be found on the main street in the Altstadt. The whole street is full of bars and restaurants like this and should not be missed. We again sat outside taking in the fantastic Saturday night atmosphere. The only drawback is that you do get to meet some 'interesting' characters.
The Rhineland around Dusseldorf and Cologne
This was a first for four of the five who travelled to Dusseldorf to sample the Alt. Norm and Derek had raved about in the past and although Derek seems to have disappeared of the face of the earth we could always rely on Norm to show us the way. Hot from his travels around Mid America we might have forgiven him if he was slightly the worse for wear when we met at Manchester Airport, but he's made of stronger stuff and was swiftly into his first pint at 4:30 on a dark Friday morning.
Düsseldorf is the centre of one of the most interesting beer regions of Germany, because here, more than anywhere else, the pre-19th Century top-fermenting tradition has been kept alive. In contrast to Cologne, where Kölsch has, to some extent, mimicked the paleness and softness of pils, altbier has retained much of its individuality in terms of colour and flavour. Pretty well every pub in the city sells alt and even the most commercial versions could never be mistaken for a conventional lager. The altbiers of Düsseldorf are the classic examples of the style: copper in colour, dry and with a long hoppy finish. Complex, yet drinkable beers, Düsseldorf alts (I mean here those from the brewpubs) are as superior to caramel-coloured industrial alts as cask-conditioned beer is to keg. All four brewpubs sell bottles to take away (some litres some half litres), but the only way to taste alt is on draught, straight from a wooden barrel. How is Alt brewed?Superficially, in colour and flavour, alt has much in common with the pale ales of Britain or Belgium. However, the method of brewing alt, which includes an initial fast, warm top-fermentation followed by a long of period lagering at a low temperature, is in fact a hybrid. (You can see on some of the labels the confusing term 'top-fermented lager beer' - a statement which appears to be a contradiction in terms.) The result is a beer which combines some of the roundness of a bottom-fermenting beer with the more complex fruity flavours of an ale. There can be no doubt that the style has developed over the years, undergoing the type of industrialisation which occurred in London, Burton, Munich and Pilsen. The pre-industrial beers were probably darker, cloudy and with perhaps a touch of smokiness (I'm not 100% sure about this one - it depends on exactly how they kilned the malt), imparted by older methods of malt production.
Altbier is served in stubby 0.25l glasses (or eggcups as JH called them) delivered by a blue-clad Köbes, as the waiters are known here, looking appropriately more like brewery workers. Constantly reloading their aluminium trays with beers, they circulate dropping fresh glasses of alt down in front of anyone who looks in need of a new one. They keep score by putting a pencil mark on your beermat. When it's time to pay, they simply count the marks and multiply it by the beer price - fairly simple to do when you only sell a single beer. Currently, the price is around €1.70 for 0.25l (exchange rate is around 1 euro to the pound).
Zum Uerige
This was easily our favourite pub of the tour. This rambling and justly famous brewpub is located on the corner of a busy shopping street in the Altstadt. To the right of the entrance is an L-shaped taproom with beautiful stained glass windows depicting old Düsseldorf scenes and carved wooden panels with similar motifs. The walls are stained in various interesting shades of brown, presumably by a combination of beer and nicotine. Here you can watch the barrels come up by lift from the cellar, be tapped, very quickly emptied and then removed again. A heart-warming sight. The ceiling above the area for the barrels has an intriguing set of stains which must have been occurred when overactive casks were tapped. There is another small room to the left of the main entrance and a more cavernous drinking area to the rear. By the entrance is the usual take away section, where bottles and barrels are on sale. The outside seating seems to be gradually taking up the whole of the street running down the side of the pub. Immediately outside are the usual standup tables - handy for a quick bit of refreshment while shopping. Across the street are beer garden style tables and benches, offering the sheer luxury of sitting under the trees with a glass of alt. They also serve a wheat beer which is very palatable and makes a refreshing change after a gallon or so of Alt.
Sunday, 12 July 2009
Buffet Bar Crawl - Dewsbury, Huddersfield & Stalybridge
Norm, JH and me caught the train to Huddersfield at about 10:40 from Manchester Piccadilly. JP should have been there but Sue fell over the night before after a 'trip' to the Tunnes the night before so a visit to Stepping Hill put paid to his day out.
Forty minutes later we arrived in Huddersfield. After a short detour to the bookies, we made our way to the Grove. This fantastic pub is only about a five minute walk from the train station (it's just behind the bus station over the Ring road). Alas it was shut - it doesn't open until 12 on Saturday.
Stuck for somewhere to go, we popped into The PlumbersArms next to the bus station. I'm not sure what stunk most - the locals, the beer or the toilets. Ten minutes later after a very unsatisfactory pint of John Smiths we headed back to the train station to The Head of Steam. http://www.headofsteam.co.uk/default.aspx?tabid=10270 This is one of two bars at the station. Two excellent pints of 'Summer View - Rail Ale' later JH told us about a great pub called the Dog and Gun. After 10 minutes of fruitless walking we discovered that it had shut down about 7 years ago and was now a cafe.
With the day rapidly going downhill it needed an uplift so we decided to trek back to the Grove. http://www.groveinn.co.uk/index.htm
What a great pub. It is a two roomed pub with 8 regular and about 10 guest beers. Two pints of Springhead and a pint of RCH Steam Silver later we were in a better mood. There isn't much choice of food in this pub although there are loads of unusual bar snacks such as flavoured insect larvae worms and smoked elk and salami we decided on a quite marvelous herby pork pie, had a swift pint of Sprinhead and headed back to the station.
Ten minutes later we were in Dewsbury at the West Riding Licensed Refreshment rooms. This bar is set in the old waiting room and is full of old railway memorabilia. Yet again the choice of beer was fantastic, including the regular Black Sheep and Timothy Taylor. We tried a pint of High House Sundancer and another RCH beer. We could have stayed longer but the music was bit too loud so we hopped on the next train to Huddersfield.
This time we went into The Kings Head which is the other of the two bars at the station. Yet again the choice of beers was first class, Timothy Taylor Landlord and best bitter, Farmers Blonde, Golcar dark mild, Oakhams JHB plus numerous others. We had two pints although not surprisingly I can't remember what they were.
We then junped on a train to Stalybridge to visit the Stalybridge Buffet Bar. This is exactly what it says on the tin. The conservatory has been updated and as it was such a sunny day, there was a good crew both inside and outside the bar. The beer choice was again extensive, Millstone, Copper Dragon, Castle Rock amongst others. The pub consists of four rooms, again full of railway posters, stained glass, railway memorabilia. It is famous for it's black peas and pies although we didn't bother as we just stuck to supping. Three more pints were enjoyed in the evening sun and alas soon it was time to get the 8:44 train back to Piccadilly.
A great day and we'll be doing it again soon.
19/12/09
Well we did it again! This time JP joined us and on a cold snowy day what better than a visit to the Head of Steam.
The first pint was a simply marvellous pint of Old Bear from the Empire Brewery in Halifax. A light zippy hoppy ale of 3.9% at a reasonable price of £2.40. We followed this with a quick walk to The Grove again and had another Empire beer - The Grove grog at £2.20 a pint. Another hoppy 3.9% beer. Beautiful. This was swiftly followed by a 4.2% Brighton Rocks from the White Brewery. This was a malty beer at a cost of £2.30. It seems they charge an extra 10p for a stronger beer. Norm, JH and I then tried a York beer called Nook. Another hoppy 3.7% at £2.20 a pint while JP tried the trusted Tomithy Taylor Landlord (4.34 at £2.30).
We were getting into the swing of things now and tried a Kirkham Island (Sheffield) beer - Santas Little Helper. A dark treacle, caramel flavour at 5.2% for £2.50. This didn't stay in the glass long so we decided to go for a stronger beer - Brewdog Hardcore. This cost £1.30 for a 33cl glass. It was a massive 9.0%. Really strong and nutty and a taste of marmalade. Although JH likened it to jet engines.
Not content with this stronger beer we tried a 56% vodka and a 70odd% Japanese whiskey before having our final pint in the Grove - a stoutish Stout from Thornbridge Brock. 4.1% at £2.30.
We bid a beery farewell and headed for the train. What seemed like minutes later we were in Greenfield and heading for The Railway. We needed food so had a pie for £1.30. Excellent and another hoppy beer - Golden Pippin. £2.48 - the most expensive so far (3.9%). This was followed by a couple of pints of Tiger Rut from the Millstone brewery. Again this was £2.48 for a lovely 4.0% ale. Back on the train to Victoria and a visit to the Marble and The Angel on Rochdale Road. I know we tried a 5.9% Dobber for £2.50 but by then I had almost lost the plot.
Good Day.
Forty minutes later we arrived in Huddersfield. After a short detour to the bookies, we made our way to the Grove. This fantastic pub is only about a five minute walk from the train station (it's just behind the bus station over the Ring road). Alas it was shut - it doesn't open until 12 on Saturday.
Stuck for somewhere to go, we popped into The PlumbersArms next to the bus station. I'm not sure what stunk most - the locals, the beer or the toilets. Ten minutes later after a very unsatisfactory pint of John Smiths we headed back to the train station to The Head of Steam. http://www.headofsteam.co.uk/default.aspx?tabid=10270 This is one of two bars at the station. Two excellent pints of 'Summer View - Rail Ale' later JH told us about a great pub called the Dog and Gun. After 10 minutes of fruitless walking we discovered that it had shut down about 7 years ago and was now a cafe.
With the day rapidly going downhill it needed an uplift so we decided to trek back to the Grove. http://www.groveinn.co.uk/index.htm
What a great pub. It is a two roomed pub with 8 regular and about 10 guest beers. Two pints of Springhead and a pint of RCH Steam Silver later we were in a better mood. There isn't much choice of food in this pub although there are loads of unusual bar snacks such as flavoured insect larvae worms and smoked elk and salami we decided on a quite marvelous herby pork pie, had a swift pint of Sprinhead and headed back to the station.
Ten minutes later we were in Dewsbury at the West Riding Licensed Refreshment rooms. This bar is set in the old waiting room and is full of old railway memorabilia. Yet again the choice of beer was fantastic, including the regular Black Sheep and Timothy Taylor. We tried a pint of High House Sundancer and another RCH beer. We could have stayed longer but the music was bit too loud so we hopped on the next train to Huddersfield.
This time we went into The Kings Head which is the other of the two bars at the station. Yet again the choice of beers was first class, Timothy Taylor Landlord and best bitter, Farmers Blonde, Golcar dark mild, Oakhams JHB plus numerous others. We had two pints although not surprisingly I can't remember what they were.
We then junped on a train to Stalybridge to visit the Stalybridge Buffet Bar. This is exactly what it says on the tin. The conservatory has been updated and as it was such a sunny day, there was a good crew both inside and outside the bar. The beer choice was again extensive, Millstone, Copper Dragon, Castle Rock amongst others. The pub consists of four rooms, again full of railway posters, stained glass, railway memorabilia. It is famous for it's black peas and pies although we didn't bother as we just stuck to supping. Three more pints were enjoyed in the evening sun and alas soon it was time to get the 8:44 train back to Piccadilly.
A great day and we'll be doing it again soon.
19/12/09
Well we did it again! This time JP joined us and on a cold snowy day what better than a visit to the Head of Steam.
The first pint was a simply marvellous pint of Old Bear from the Empire Brewery in Halifax. A light zippy hoppy ale of 3.9% at a reasonable price of £2.40. We followed this with a quick walk to The Grove again and had another Empire beer - The Grove grog at £2.20 a pint. Another hoppy 3.9% beer. Beautiful. This was swiftly followed by a 4.2% Brighton Rocks from the White Brewery. This was a malty beer at a cost of £2.30. It seems they charge an extra 10p for a stronger beer. Norm, JH and I then tried a York beer called Nook. Another hoppy 3.7% at £2.20 a pint while JP tried the trusted Tomithy Taylor Landlord (4.34 at £2.30).
We were getting into the swing of things now and tried a Kirkham Island (Sheffield) beer - Santas Little Helper. A dark treacle, caramel flavour at 5.2% for £2.50. This didn't stay in the glass long so we decided to go for a stronger beer - Brewdog Hardcore. This cost £1.30 for a 33cl glass. It was a massive 9.0%. Really strong and nutty and a taste of marmalade. Although JH likened it to jet engines.
Not content with this stronger beer we tried a 56% vodka and a 70odd% Japanese whiskey before having our final pint in the Grove - a stoutish Stout from Thornbridge Brock. 4.1% at £2.30.
We bid a beery farewell and headed for the train. What seemed like minutes later we were in Greenfield and heading for The Railway. We needed food so had a pie for £1.30. Excellent and another hoppy beer - Golden Pippin. £2.48 - the most expensive so far (3.9%). This was followed by a couple of pints of Tiger Rut from the Millstone brewery. Again this was £2.48 for a lovely 4.0% ale. Back on the train to Victoria and a visit to the Marble and The Angel on Rochdale Road. I know we tried a 5.9% Dobber for £2.50 but by then I had almost lost the plot.
Good Day.
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