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!

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

Paulaner Weissbier

After alighting the train in Munich, we negotiated the drunks and freaks at the station and on the U-bahn and made it to Thalkirchen camping ground. After a few schoolboy errors, we had our tent erected and we were ready to hit the town. Before heading out though, we took a photo of our manor so we could find it when we came back three sheets to the wind! Upon arriving at the Oktoberfest grounds we scuppered into the first tent we found which happened to be a Paulaner Weissbier (5.5% abv) tent. This tent was quite small, and was already full. After traveling for 12 hours to get there, we didn't care and got stuck into the beer. The Paulaner Weiss is at the banana and lemon zest ester end of the wheat spectrum and was tart and refreshing. We felt a bit sorry for the old guy next to us though, as he looked like he was dead. the only bit of him that moved was his eyes! I think his beer evaporated as I didn't see his hand come to his mouth once and it was full when we got there, and empty when we left. Website

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/

Paulaner Premium Pils

Not a supermarket pickup, but a beverage found in a homely Hungarian restaurant: Paulaner Premium Pils was an ideal companion to the pork knuckle I ordered for dinner. The only problem was that they didn't serve me up Pork Knuckle, but bits of sliced pork. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised as it wasn't the first, or last time I got ripped off on the weekend!

Paulaner Pils is what is generally known as a Bavarian Pilsener. The style differes from Bohemium Pilsner in that it is driven more by a malty and low hop profile rather than a bitter, fragrantly hopped profile. All in all it is a cracking beer and did manage to go well with my pork, potato and oil meal! In terms of the style it can be considered a pretty ordinary example and is at the mass production end of the brewing scale, but with things being the way they are it is an excellent lager none the less. Anyhow the mission has been put forward, I need to consume some knuckle!