Raschhofer

We awoke early in Munich and at a German's breakfast of ham and cheese before heading down to the local hauptbahnhof to score a Bayern ticket and a train to nearby Salzburg - our Christmas destination. You may be thinking: Why the rush? Well, my brother in-law and his girlfriend were flying in from Berlin early in the morning and the rush was on to beat them to the hotel. Anyway, we lost and they were waiting for us when we arrived. I must say though that the €30 for the Bayern ticket is a bargain! Anyhow we met up with them at the hotel and after briefly checking in we reconvened in the hotel café for a hot chocolate. Ok, I will clarify that while everyone else had hot chocolate, I got stuck into a Raschhofer which is a helles style of pale lager and was pretty drinkable. Apparently it's brewed in Innviertel. It is a family run small brewery and has a long tradition, since 1645! Anyway I thought the beer was pretty good, maybe you will too? Website

Hacker-Pschorr Hell

The time came to finally say goodbye to Munich and the Oktoberfest and head for greener pastures in Stuttgart - just in time to catch the opening of the Canstatter Volksfest. Before we headed on our way we decided to pick up some roadies/travellers for the two hour train ride. The station newsagents had an offer on Hacker-Pschoor Helles, which was too much of a temptation to resist and I bought a few bottles. Again this beer failed to live up to the awesome fest beers we had been quaffing over the last few days, but still was very respectable by any standards. I guess when in an environment that is packed with really good beers, you start to take things for granted! Anyhow the train ride didn't last long and we even made friends with a few German Squaddies on the way. Oh, also worth mentioning, the bottles were cool swing tops!

Paulaner Hell

After our second night in Munich, we packed up our tent and headed into town to find some food before our trip across to Stuttgart. After wandering aimlessly through the worlds best markets (basically selling meet, cheese and beer), just across from Marienplatz we found our way to a small Paulaner tied bierhalle and hoofed our way into some pork knuckle (pun intended). To wash down such a splendid meal, I opted for Paulaner Hell (4.9% abv), the breweries premium offering. This beer, like all the hell beers I tried, tasted really ordinary in contrast to the oktoberfest beers, but was still a good quaffer. Rich being different opted for the dunkelweizen, which is a strange style in itself as it does not taste discernibly different from the pale variety!

Löwenbräu Original

After the tents closed we powered back to the campsite, but joined the back packing masses around the Löwenbräu vending machines for a beer to dull the cold and help us get to sleep - not that we were not tanked up to the hilt anyway! Löwenbräu Original (5.2% abv) is a helles style lager that tasted pretty ordinary in light of the malty 'fest beers we had been drinking all evening. But I know from past experince that it is an excellent beer. I have always considered Löwenbräu as the lesser of Munich's breweries, mainly as they have beer halls in many capital cities and teh beer is distributed/brewed under licence around the world by SABmiller. But compared to your average megaswill, its a winner. http://www.lowenbraubeer.com/

Paulaner Original Münchner

Feeling hungover and slightly hungry, I decided to compromise with Mrs CB and let her select a place for lunch on the bank holiday Monday. To my disapproval she chose All Bar One (ABO). For those international readers, ABO is a chain bar - which is themed upmarket and is actually not that dissimilar from Weatherspoons (except its full of wankers rather than the socially inept). One thing that ABO does have going for it is the international beer selection. I opted for Paulaner Original (4.8% abv), a pale Helles style lager. This beer was ok, it came in a fancy glass, but I guess that they don't sell a whole lot of the stuff as it tasted past its prime. Hopefully I will not have to go back to one of these drinking factories anytime soon!

As an aside, I think I have an aversion to any pub (chain or not) that identifies each table as a number which you have to quote at the bar when ordering food.

http://www.paulaner.com/