Josef Schneider Märzen

The last beer that I had that I have not blogged about before is Josef Schneider Märzen (5.5% abv). Now I have to say that I have scoffed down my fair share of this beer style over the last few weeks, but this one was the best by a country mile! It is so thick and chewy, that it really tastes like you are eating dried malt extract. The flavour is that distinct!

Here is Andy's commercial description;
"This amber coloured filtered bottom fermented beer comes from the smallest brewery in the Altmühltal region in Essing in the Oberpfalz near Regensburg in Bavaria. Märzen beer, literally means March and was historically brewed in March/towards the end of the brewing season on St Georges Day (23 April) to last the summer until brewing could resume on St Micahel‘s Day (29 September). You may now be seeing some historical similarities with the Saison, Biere de Garde and Lambic beer styles....."

Just a bit of background on the brewery Josef Schneider (not to be confused with the wheat beer mob) is a small microbrewery located in Franconia, Germany. They produce a number of malty beer styles such as a Pilsner, Maibock, Marzen and Dunkel. The beer is available from the brewery direct only, or in the attached pub. There is no distribution or marketing amazing!

Stuttgarter Hofbräu Volksfestbier

We managed to sleep in on the Sat morning, which was also the last day of our tour. We eventually made it into town, by walking through the nice park that traverses all the way through the city. Upon reaching the other end of the park we found a sausage shop in the station. Rich opted for currywurst - he is fascinated by the slice and spice machine that cuts up and seasons the sausage, apparently its a sign of quality, who am I to argue?? I opted for a random sausage called a rindwurst or something similar, it went down ok. We then wandered through the main centre of the town and finally headed back to Canstatter wassn to grab some lunch at the fest. This time we chose the Stuttgarter Hoffbrau tent owned by a dude called Hans-Peter Grandl. It was about 11 am and full to the brim already, we settled on a table that was reserved from 4pm. We still had to pack up out tent and get to the airport for our 6.30 flight so we thought we would be long gone by then. The beer in this tent was similar to the Schwarbenbrau, and I couldn't tell the difference although they did serve in glass kruges (its 5.5% abv as well). I also smashed down half a chicken which definitely hit the spot! We got chatting to some German guys next to us, who were friendly. They couldn't understand me, as I have an Australian accent! I found this rather strange, as it has definitely flattened out after living in the UK for a number of years. Anyway to cut the story short, 5 Kruges later we were still there and it was quarter past four and we were asked to vacate the table. realising that we had lost track of time, we sped back to the campsite and pulled the tent down, packed our bags and bid Stuttgart good bye as we headed to the airport. Being pissed and in a rush is a bad idea, as we made a schoolboy error and took the wrong U-bahn which cost us some more time. Luckily enough on arrival at the airport our flight had been delayed and we proceeded to the departure lounge. http://www.stuttgarter-hofbraeu.de/The kegs are delivered every mornibg by horse and cart!

Schwaben Bräu Volksfestbier

We finally made it to Stuttgart and caught the U-bahn across to Mercedestasse to try and find the camping ground. we soon found out that the camping ground backed on to the festival grounds - ripper. Upon locating reception we were informed that by a big burley German dude that if we didn't have a reservation then their was no place there for us. At this stage we were a little peeved - there is no mention of reservation on the camping ground website, and the Stuttgart tourism website mentions that the camping ground does not take reservations! After a little bit of chatting, we were permitted to stay one night due to the small is size of our tent and the fact that we had no chance of finding any other lodgings in Stuttgart that late in the evening, especially during the volksfest. Anyhow, we set our tent up quick smart and set out to explore the party!

For those of you who are unaware of the Cannstatter Volksfest, it an annual two week festival in Stuttgart, that starts a week after Oktoberfest. Although the Volkfest is not strictly speaking a beer festival, it is considered by many to be the second largest beer festival in the world after the Munich Oktoberfest. It attracts about 5 million people each year of which next to none are tourists. So basically its nearly as big as Oktoberfest, but you don't get hoards of backpackers, Aussies, Kiwis and college boys from the USA. For more detailed information, you can check out the Wikipedia entry.

After refueling on some currywurst, we hit the tents! The first couple of tents we tried to enter we were turned away from. I am not sure if this is because;

(a) We are not German?

(b) We were half cut after drinking all day?

(c) They were reservation only, and it was the opening evening of the fest?

Anyhow we were finally let into the Schwaben Bräu tent, and a nice local family let us sit at their reserved table. The first thing we noticed was that the beers were being served in porcelain kruges here, which are way heavier and keep the beer way colder than glass.The second was that it was a lot more rowdy that Oktoberfest! Everyone was getting into it. The beer was pretty similar in style to Oktoberfest beers, but only 5.5%, but was still malty in a Marzen style.

We made a few friends throughout he evening and stayed until stumps. I ended up acquiring a T-shirt that loosely translates to "What's your name" in drunk style slurred German on it.. classic. Being quite tanked up, we refueled on a meter long bratwurst baguette and headed back to our tent. At least Stuttgart was not as cold as Munich!

Crazy going on within the Schwarbenbrau tent! http://www.schwabenbraeu.de/

Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest

The rain finally subsided and we ran into some friendly locals in the beer garden for the Hacker-Pschorr tent. The security guards at this tent were like little commandos with berets on. I don't think they realized just how camp they looked,. but that didn't matter as they were letting people into the tent freely, but it seemed that all the action was happening outside.

The Hacker-Pschorr Brewery traces its ancestry back to 1417 in Munich, Germany, a whole 99 years before the enactment of the Reinheitsgebot Purity Law of 1516.
In the late 18th century, Joseph Pschorr bought the Hacker brewery from his father-in-law. He subsequently founded a separate brewery under his own name. His two sons divided his estate by each taking control of one of the two separate breweries. In 1972, Hacker and Pschorr merged to form Hacker-Pschorr, but the beers were sold as separate brands well after 1975. Even with a history that makes takeover artists like InBev and SABmiller look tame, the brewing process has remained virtually unchanged for over 580 years. The brewery is most well renown for its Weisse, but the Oktoberfest was pretty good as well. Come to think of it, all the tent beers in Munich where exceptional - a very rare occurrence in the life of this accidental ticker! http://www.hacker-pschorr.de/

Augustiner Oktoberfest

After an afternoon nap, I felt sorted and ready to head back to the main 'fest grounds. being highly impressed with the Augustiner beers earlier in the day we made a bee line for the main Augustiner tent - but not before stopping off and eating a 1/2 meter bratwurst on the way! As per usual, the tent was not letting anyone in unless you had a confirmation of reservation receipt, so we opted for a heated section in the beer garden. The Oktoberfest (6% abv) was excellent, not as creamy as the beers we had enjoyed the day before, but bursting with malt flavour with a nice grassy hop edge. As we were finishing our round, the heavens opened up and we had to retreat to shelter, which happened to be near a fish smoking pit! Website

After the rain subsided, we went in search of more beer, but on the way we stumbled across pork knuckle heaven. Check this joint out!

Augustiner Hell

The next day waking up a little worse for wear, we headed back into Munich to do our bit for the local tourism. After walking around for an hour or so trying to get some heat back into our partially frozen bodies, we ended up in the Augustiner beer hall (the one across the road from the Hofbrau Haus). Both Rich and I ordered a pork dish each, of which I barely touched and I ordred a German Pils (as a radler, I was struggling) and Rich opted for the Dunkel. I can't comment on the beer too much due to my declined and hungover status forcing me into the world of mixed drinks, but Rich reports his Dunkel was awesome. I was on struggle street big time, barely eating my lunch and having difficulty drinking my diluted beer. A sleep was in order, so I headed back to the camping grounds for a couple of hours shut eye. I needed to sort myself out if I was to have a big night again! Website

Hofbräu-Festzelt Oktoberfest

We went searching for dryness and warmth and we found it, in the Hofbräu-Festzelt. The Hofbräu-Festzelt is the biggest tent at Oktoberfest and the only one that has a dedicated standing area. As such it is polluted with thousands upon thousands of Australian/Kiwi and American backpackers who are more interested in getting drunk and shagging members of the opposite sex than enjoying the beer. Not that I am against these activities, I was young once myself, but why travel all the way to Munich to do something that you can do in any club/pub in Sydney or any Walkabout in London? Anyhow, we had a couple more krugs and then apparently we left. I can't recall much about the beer except the website linked below claims its 6% abv. I say apparently we left, because I can't recall the specific details but Rich informs me that we did stop for Pizza on the way back to the camp site. All in all we had a good evening, even if I did spend part of the night with my head hanging out the tent door! http://www.hb-festzelt.de/en/festzelt.html

Spaten Oktoberfest

After a couple of tasty Krug's in the Paulaner beer garden, the evening started to draw in and we headed for the heated beer garden offered by Spaten. My memory started going a little hazy at this point, but I remember slipping over and landing on my ass as the ground was wet with beer, and I also remember that the beer (Spaten Oktoberfest 5.9% abv) was good, more bready with a string melanoiden taste than the Paulaner, but less hoppy as well. I think we were here for quite a while, but ultimately we headed off in search of somewhere dry as it started to rain. http://www.spatenusa.com/

Paulaner Oktoberfest

After outstaying our welcome in the Weiss tent, (ok, when the folks who had reserved the table we had claimed arrived) we headed outside for a feed. Being simple folks we chose to refuel on Currywurst, one of my favourite traditional German dishes. For those who are unfamiliar with this delicacy, its basically two bratwurst sausages covered with tomato sauce and curry powder. We were lucky this time and scored a free side of frittes (potato chips) on the side. Then it was time to try our luck in the Paulaner tent! A quick wander through quickly revealed that we had no chance of scoring onto a table, so we pleb'ed it in the beer garden for a while. The Paulaner Oktoberfestbier (6.0% abv) this year is better than it has been for a while, and was probably the best beer of the 'fest. Rich and malty with a noticeable hallateur hop kick it went down all too easy and went to our heads quite fast! After two steins we decided to move on, in search of more amber goodness. Website